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This strikes me as an excessively complex argument. Personally, I would zoom way out to work with some more abstract axioms, namely… - Money now is more valuab
by arthurofbabylon 2y ago
This strikes me as an excessively complex argument. Personally, I would zoom way out to work with some more abstract axioms, namely…
- Money now is more valuable than the same money later.
- The above applies for all parties to varying degrees.
- Some operations are money-constrained.
- There are ways to move money forwards or backwards in time.
Now most businesses are not in a position to financially engineer all that much, rendering the response to a given situation per the above axioms rather simple.
However I agree with the piece in its insistence that you shouldn’t just look to the obvious categorical solutions — there may be some interesting opportunities to find in the cracks. This point was well outlined in the example of the restaurant owner securing a discount by pre-paying for ingredients.
I would love to hear some non-monetary examples of axiomatic reasoning failures. Whenever I reflect back on a process I led a couple of years prior, I am startled by my limited awareness of dynamics/risks/opportunities — even though I was confident at the time and it went well. These reflections make it clear to me that we are always missing useful information, and I further laud the author for acknowledging this fact.
- ethbr1 2y agoThe best axiomatic reasoning failures I've seen are in Thomas Aquinas' Summa contra Gentiles, e.g. 13th century natural law Christian apologism. Don't get me wrong -- they are works of philosophical art and among my favorite texts in all of philosophy. But they also very much abuse the space between axioms to deduce truth which seems absolute but is incomplete.
- scott_w 2y agoThe axioms you state must be backed empirically by observing things that happen in the real world. The article explains the real world activities that back those axioms.
- RachelF 2y agoThe important axiom you forgot: - The government needs to take your money via tax on profits. Result: Via fancy accounting, businesses can pretend not to have profits and avoid tax.
- bluGill 2y agoThat isn't the axiom. The axiom is governments need money. They have many different options to get it and often there are ways to give it less of yours.