3 ms·

"sub-optimal use of that money for the common good?" -- isn't that how communism started?

by hnriot 13y ago

angersock 13y ago
Hey, I didn't claim that it was morally repugnant, that the folks should be cast out in streets to live with the other homeless in SF and have their Teslas and iJiggers auctioned off to feed the poor. I just would appreciate some acknowledgement that, "Yeah, we don't fund things like this that could help the average person because it doesn't give us money." It's the same thing behind making money off of war, off of cancer, or off of scarcity in general--I don't ask that you admit that you're evil (if that exists in your belief system), but merely that you are profiting off of human misery and suffering.
- mh- 13y ago
  why don't you, personally, fund the things you want to see funded?
  - angersock 13y ago
    Ah, but I do, by offering up my time and sometimes money.
- ameister14 13y ago
  So...facebook for dogs contributes to human misery and suffering?
- HeyLaughingBoy 13y ago
  The companies making money "off of cancer" (http://www.texmed.org/template.aspx?id=16518 http://www.texmed.org/template.aspx?id=16518) have saved and improved the lives of quite a few people. Why do you have a problem with that?
  - angersock 13y ago
    Because those cures are quite expensive, and because they are prescribed by doctors who have no real feeling about what that cost does to a family. Perhaps most importantly, because the war on cancer has sidetracked the development of utilitarian things like anti-biotics, of which we are about to run out (depending on what you read, we've already run out). The folks that manufacture Lexus SUVs have saved and improved the lives of quite a few people, but one does wonder just how much good that has done everyone else who can't afford it.
    - clarky07 13y ago
      Right, because that cost is a bigger imposition on the family than dying. As my dad has had cancer twice and beat cancer twice so far, I am very thankful for those expensive cancer treatments. Keep them coming please.
      - angersock 13y ago
        How does your dad afford it, if I may ask? People buying your apps? Can't you see that these miracles may as well not exist for many families, or that by pursuing them at all costs they set themselves up for poverty? I don't deny your experience, but I don't think you should assume it is automatically applicable to anyone else.
        clarky07 13y ago
        Mostly though he's had to delay his retirement significantly due to huge medical expenses he and my mom have been unlucky enough to have to deal with over the years. They have spent more money on healthcare than most people could even imagine. I think their insurance, not counting out of pocket costs, just premiums (now that they both have bad pre-existing conditions) in some years have been over 20k a year. Yes, some of these treatments are really expensive. You have to also realize that these treatments are really expensive to develop. Why should I expect incredibly smart and highly specialized people to give away their time for free? It takes huge amounts of resources to solve a problem like cancer. I promise you I understand the problems caused by the cost of healthcare as much as or more than most people. That being said, the option to be poor and alive is still much better than being dead. You can always come back from being poor.
- jerf 13y ago
  If nobody is buying into this, the most likely reason is precisely that it doesn't make any money because it doesn't provide enough excess value vs. what we already have to support any profit. A guy can get up on stage and promise to save the world pretty easily. Investors, however, have to live in the real world where they actually have to manifest the promised tech. If they don't think they can, well, odds are they are correct. Incidentally, cancer researchers aren't profiting off of human misery... they're profiting off of reducing human misery. Is there a better thing to profit off of? The ones you have to watch out for are the ones who wish to extend your misery for their own gains, but that's not required for profit, and in fact is often against their own long-term interests anyhow.

"sub-optimal use of that money for the common good?" -- isn't that how communism started?

by hnriot 13y ago

"sub-optimal use of that money for the common good?" -- isn't that how communism started?

Hey, I didn't claim that it was morally repugnant, that the folks should be cast out in streets to live with the other homeless in SF and have their Teslas and iJiggers auctioned off to feed the poor. I just would appreciate some acknowledgement that, "Yeah, we don't fund things like this that could help the average person because it doesn't give us money." It's the same thing behind making money off of war, off of cancer, or off of scarcity in general--I don't ask that you admit that you're evil (if that exists in your belief system), but merely that you are profiting off of human misery and suffering.

mh- 13y ago
why don't you, personally, fund the things you want to see funded?
- angersock 13y ago
  Ah, but I do, by offering up my time and sometimes money.
ameister14 13y ago
So...facebook for dogs contributes to human misery and suffering?
HeyLaughingBoy 13y ago
The companies making money "off of cancer" (http://www.texmed.org/template.aspx?id=16518 http://www.texmed.org/template.aspx?id=16518) have saved and improved the lives of quite a few people. Why do you have a problem with that?
- angersock 13y ago
  Because those cures are quite expensive, and because they are prescribed by doctors who have no real feeling about what that cost does to a family. Perhaps most importantly, because the war on cancer has sidetracked the development of utilitarian things like anti-biotics, of which we are about to run out (depending on what you read, we've already run out). The folks that manufacture Lexus SUVs have saved and improved the lives of quite a few people, but one does wonder just how much good that has done everyone else who can't afford it.
  - clarky07 13y ago
    Right, because that cost is a bigger imposition on the family than dying. As my dad has had cancer twice and beat cancer twice so far, I am very thankful for those expensive cancer treatments. Keep them coming please.
    - angersock 13y ago
      How does your dad afford it, if I may ask? People buying your apps? Can't you see that these miracles may as well not exist for many families, or that by pursuing them at all costs they set themselves up for poverty? I don't deny your experience, but I don't think you should assume it is automatically applicable to anyone else.
      - clarky07 13y ago
        Mostly though he's had to delay his retirement significantly due to huge medical expenses he and my mom have been unlucky enough to have to deal with over the years. They have spent more money on healthcare than most people could even imagine. I think their insurance, not counting out of pocket costs, just premiums (now that they both have bad pre-existing conditions) in some years have been over 20k a year. Yes, some of these treatments are really expensive. You have to also realize that these treatments are really expensive to develop. Why should I expect incredibly smart and highly specialized people to give away their time for free? It takes huge amounts of resources to solve a problem like cancer. I promise you I understand the problems caused by the cost of healthcare as much as or more than most people. That being said, the option to be poor and alive is still much better than being dead. You can always come back from being poor.
jerf 13y ago
If nobody is buying into this, the most likely reason is precisely that it doesn't make any money because it doesn't provide enough excess value vs. what we already have to support any profit. A guy can get up on stage and promise to save the world pretty easily. Investors, however, have to live in the real world where they actually have to manifest the promised tech. If they don't think they can, well, odds are they are correct. Incidentally, cancer researchers aren't profiting off of human misery... they're profiting off of reducing human misery. Is there a better thing to profit off of? The ones you have to watch out for are the ones who wish to extend your misery for their own gains, but that's not required for profit, and in fact is often against their own long-term interests anyhow.