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>But this is obviously not true, there is nothing that justifies the assumption that maximizing your gains will simultaneously maximize gains for society. That
by tsotha 12y ago
>But this is obviously not true, there is nothing that justifies the assumption that maximizing your gains will simultaneously maximize gains for society.
That's not clear to me at all. If society gets wealthier as people pursue their own interests there's more money to devote to things like cancer research.
- croon 12y ago>_If society gets wealthier_ as people pursue their own interests there's more money to devote to things like cancer research. The if is the crux. That money in very few countries find itself back into public good, in recent years.
- matthewowen 12y agoThat isn't the case if the way you're becoming wealthier is by frontrunning by a few milliseconds. By doing so you're effectively leeching off other participants in the stock market, including large institutional funds (like universities, which spend on basic science research). Sometimes people get wealthy because they help create value. Sometimes they get wealthy because they're leeches. So maximizing your gains clearly doesn't always maximize gains for society.