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There is an implied causality in this article. Being rich -> Lose empathy. I'd be curious to know if there indeed is causality in either direction (Less empath
by tusharc 13y ago
There is an implied causality in this article. Being rich -> Lose empathy.
I'd be curious to know if there indeed is causality in either direction (Less empathetic people get richer) or is it just correlation masquerading as causality.
- jusben1369 13y agoI was waiting to find a comment like this! I tend to agree. I suspect being born with less empathy and concern allows you to acquire more wealth and my real life experiences have supported it. At least in the US (India seems to have deeper structural challenges) Be interesting to dig deeper.
- ryanmolden 13y agoI have always been a strong believer in the saying "Fortune does not change men, it unmasks them". Studying this area would be difficult though as you either need to know ahead of time who would be successful, or study such a large cross-section that you are statistically likely to snare future successful people in your population.
- trhtrsh 13y agoWell, with modern technology, it's harder for a newly wealthy person to conceal their past. The days of whitewashing personal history are fading.
- acjohnson55 13y agoI can see it working in both directions, and I'm sure it does.
- hcarvalhoalves 13y agoThere is a fundamental moral conflict in desiring to own more than the next person. That requires less guilt or empathy, no doubt about that. You can find elsewhere an study about how psycopaths are usually found in leading positions, like politicians (specially in 3rd world, where salaries are high) and CEOs, amongst others.
- bbbhn 13y agoYou're grossly simplifying things. A person may be driven to succeed and generate wealth for their family because they want to be able to send their children to the best schools possible, or they want to be able to access the best medical practitioners and technology if someone they cared about were to get sick. It may have absolutely nothing to do with owning "more than the next person."
- chii 13y agobut what you've said implies that the desire to own more than the next person does exist! If there was a limited amount of a certain resource, i would certainly have to own more than the next person in order to acquire that resource.
- hcarvalhoalves 13y agoI'm amazed you didn't see how much you contradicted yourself.