3 ms·

There are 2 things that drive people in my experience. Wealth and power. If you close off one (e.g. by making people poor, or very rich, they go for the other o

by waps 12y ago

There are 2 things that drive people in my experience. Wealth and power. If you close off one (e.g. by making people poor, or very rich, they go for the other one). If you do what capitalism does, and make real power very hard to come by, they go for wealth.

eli_gottlieb 12y ago
>There are 2 things that drive people in my experience. Wealth and power. Then your experience is woefully incomplete, as you've completely forgotten to account for sex. And, you know, all the more idealistic things I could list.
- waps 12y ago
  In my worldview sex is effectively the same as power. It certainly is for one participant in the event, but of course that goes for all interactions where power is a significant factor. All the more idealistic things, especially in youthful participants, are just ways to get power and sex. Or have you never visited a global warming related event in San Francisco ? Can you say with a straight face that those events are about idealism ?
  - eli_gottlieb 12y ago
    >In my worldview sex is effectively the same as power. It certainly is for one participant in the event Then I'm afraid I must recommend you receive psychotherapy for your dangerous misapprehension. Please tell me you're single.
ArkyBeagle 12y ago
We stipulate up front that wealth is a solved problem. There are incredible sources of energy driving incredible machines that do everything for us. The marginal product of anyone's labor is effectively zero. The people in Star Fleet aren't doing "labor" per se - food is by machine, I presume nobody has to do their own laundry, we've completely "enslaved" machines to do literally everything we don't want to. Just IMO, but power is a narrative artifact because stories want protagonists and antagonists. Social science uses the word "status", which is better.

3 ms·

There are 2 things that drive people in my experience. Wealth and power. If you close off one (e.g. by making people poor, or very rich, they go for the other o

by waps 12y ago

eli_gottlieb 12y ago
>There are 2 things that drive people in my experience. Wealth and power. Then your experience is woefully incomplete, as you've completely forgotten to account for sex. And, you know, all the more idealistic things I could list.
- waps 12y ago
  In my worldview sex is effectively the same as power. It certainly is for one participant in the event, but of course that goes for all interactions where power is a significant factor. All the more idealistic things, especially in youthful participants, are just ways to get power and sex. Or have you never visited a global warming related event in San Francisco ? Can you say with a straight face that those events are about idealism ?
  - eli_gottlieb 12y ago
    >In my worldview sex is effectively the same as power. It certainly is for one participant in the event Then I'm afraid I must recommend you receive psychotherapy for your dangerous misapprehension. Please tell me you're single.
ArkyBeagle 12y ago
We stipulate up front that wealth is a solved problem. There are incredible sources of energy driving incredible machines that do everything for us. The marginal product of anyone's labor is effectively zero. The people in Star Fleet aren't doing "labor" per se - food is by machine, I presume nobody has to do their own laundry, we've completely "enslaved" machines to do literally everything we don't want to. Just IMO, but power is a narrative artifact because stories want protagonists and antagonists. Social science uses the word "status", which is better.