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One way to frame this that I find fascinating is that increased equality of opportunity directly leads to decreased equality of outcomes. I think we're seeing b

One way to frame this that I find fascinating is that increased equality of opportunity directly leads to decreased equality of outcomes. I think we're seeing both. While opportunity is still very unequal, it is arguably more equal than it ever has been -- both for cultural reasons, but also for technological ones, especially the internet. The combined knowledge of humanity is basically freely available to anyone with the skill to use it. Likewise it is much easier, as PG mentioned, for individuals to reach an audience, whether their field is business, art, politics, etc. As a direct result, it is easier than ever for exceptional (and/or lucky) individuals to become exponentially more successful than others, leading to an increase in inequality of outcomes. I've never thought of it in those terms before, and find it really interesting, as both forms of inequality are often lumped together as issues to be solved, whereas it now seems to me they may be in direct conflict.

hiAndrewQuinn 3y ago
>The combined knowledge of humanity is basically freely available to anyone with the skill to use it. It's fascinating how differently people react to the knowledge of this phenomenon. When I was a kid, basically as soon as I realized this was the case I started arguing with my parents that we had to have an Internet-connected computer in the house now. As soon as we got one I basically started reading Wikipedia every non-school hour of every day for 2 years straight. I doubt I remember more than 0.1% of everything I actually read from that period of my life, but it felt formative and healing in a way I just never expected to be the case. I have also never met anyone else who did something like this and it makes me sad!
- bombcar 3y ago
  I read both the complete set of the Book of Knowledge and whatever version of Britannica my parents had, cover to cover. Then again I also printed the DooM FAQ out.
- foobarian 3y ago
  Can you please think back very hard and try to remember if it's something that you ate or drank that made you like this that I can feed to my kids :-D
  - hiAndrewQuinn 3y ago
    Coffee! Caution: YMMV.
- nindalf 3y ago
  I read Wikipedia a lot too as a kid. I think it was because it loaded quicker than other websites while not using much of the data cap.
- TeMPOraL 3y ago
  I binged on Wikipedia too. In a way, it was the OG "infinite content website" way before scoundrels perfected this and made it into a business model (notifications, infinite scroll, etc.). I would search for something I needed or was curious about, read the article, find some links expanding on adjacent topics, start reading those, and suddenly it's 2-3h hours later, I have 20+ Wikipedia tabs open, I am reading something entirely unrelated to the original topic, and I have no idea how I got there. Rinse repeat over my high school and early university years.
- narag 3y ago
  I have also never met anyone else who did something like this and it makes me sad! Decades before, I did the same with Enciclopedia Larousse, an Atlas, the Historia Universal Aguilar, the Diccionario ideológico by Casares and some others. Those were made of paper, you know :) I wasn't impressed with Wikipedia. But I enjoy IMDb very much. And many illegal/semilegal stuff online.
didibus 3y ago
> increased equality of opportunity directly leads to decreased equality of outcomes You're going to have to back this up. Places and periods without high equality of opportunity for example appear to me to have terrible equality of outcome. And with what I think you're referring too, which is the increase in the wealth gap between the top 10% and bottom 50%, I'd argue that's actually seen because of a decrease in equality of opportunity, because our system never resets the brackets, the only opportunities left are those not taken. It's harder than ever before to compete in existing opportunity market, since we're in an unprecedented level of market consolidation.

hiAndrewQuinn 3y ago

>The combined knowledge of humanity is basically freely available to anyone with the skill to use it. It's fascinating how differently people react to the knowledge of this phenomenon. When I was a kid, basically as soon as I realized this was the case I started arguing with my parents that we had to have an Internet-connected computer in the house now. As soon as we got one I basically started reading Wikipedia every non-school hour of every day for 2 years straight. I doubt I remember more than 0.1% of everything I actually read from that period of my life, but it felt formative and healing in a way I just never expected to be the case. I have also never met anyone else who did something like this and it makes me sad!

bombcar 3y ago
I read both the complete set of the Book of Knowledge and whatever version of Britannica my parents had, cover to cover. Then again I also printed the DooM FAQ out.
foobarian 3y ago
Can you please think back very hard and try to remember if it's something that you ate or drank that made you like this that I can feed to my kids :-D
- hiAndrewQuinn 3y ago
  Coffee! Caution: YMMV.
nindalf 3y ago
I read Wikipedia a lot too as a kid. I think it was because it loaded quicker than other websites while not using much of the data cap.
TeMPOraL 3y ago
I binged on Wikipedia too. In a way, it was the OG "infinite content website" way before scoundrels perfected this and made it into a business model (notifications, infinite scroll, etc.). I would search for something I needed or was curious about, read the article, find some links expanding on adjacent topics, start reading those, and suddenly it's 2-3h hours later, I have 20+ Wikipedia tabs open, I am reading something entirely unrelated to the original topic, and I have no idea how I got there. Rinse repeat over my high school and early university years.
narag 3y ago
I have also never met anyone else who did something like this and it makes me sad! Decades before, I did the same with Enciclopedia Larousse, an Atlas, the Historia Universal Aguilar, the Diccionario ideológico by Casares and some others. Those were made of paper, you know :) I wasn't impressed with Wikipedia. But I enjoy IMDb very much. And many illegal/semilegal stuff online.

didibus 3y ago

> increased equality of opportunity directly leads to decreased equality of outcomes You're going to have to back this up. Places and periods without high equality of opportunity for example appear to me to have terrible equality of outcome. And with what I think you're referring too, which is the increase in the wealth gap between the top 10% and bottom 50%, I'd argue that's actually seen because of a decrease in equality of opportunity, because our system never resets the brackets, the only opportunities left are those not taken. It's harder than ever before to compete in existing opportunity market, since we're in an unprecedented level of market consolidation.