4 ms·

Neither of those things will matter to people who love you but I suppose it would help a selfish person rationalize loving their jobs more than their family.

TeMPOraL 11y ago
That's kind of the point I'm making. Given a choice, why should I promote few people in my inner circle over hundreds, thousands or more other people? This really bothers me. There's a common mentality that says it's OK to harm countless of strangers in order to support yourself and your family. I think that is selfish.
- chrisbennet 11y ago
  Somehow we've gone from "Elon cares more about his business than he does about his employees - to the extreme." To: "Would it be OK to be a dick if you're curing cancer?" And when that didn't play, the argument was reframed again as: "You're harming countless strangers unless you're a dick." Twist it anyway you want, if someone wants to be a selfish dick, they should own it, not rationalize it. I'm pretty sure the conquistadors didn't do what they did because they wanted to bring Christianity to the New World... If you can't prioritize (what should be) the most important of your personal relationships above what you want to do, it's unlikely that the real reason you working is because you have a surplus of love for the world.
  - TeMPOraL 11y ago
    > If you can't prioritize (what should be) the most important of your personal relationships above what you want to do, it's unlikely that the real reason you working is because you have a surplus of love for the world. Is having a surplus of love for the world a bad thing? I believe a lot of problems would solve themselves if we have more. Also, relationships are also something you want to do, you aren't forced into them at gunpoint. Also the answer as it seems (without the context we don't know for sure) was dickish, but I wouldn't call it selfish. Just incredibly rude.
    - danielam 11y ago
      “I love mankind ... it's people I can't stand!!” ― Charles M. Schulz
    - loco5niner 11y ago
      You misread his statement. He is NOT saying that having a surplus of love for the world is bad. He IS saying that, in the scenario he describes, one likely does NOT have a surplus of love for the world. (tl;dr - it means that person is probably just being selfish and/or self-deceiving)
    - loco5niner 11y ago
      > Also, relationships are also something you want to do, you aren't forced into them at gunpoint. That's true. For example, people can choose to have a relationship with their kids, they can also abandon them. Happens all the time. :-(
- loco5niner 11y ago
  I disagree. The best thing we, as individuals, can do for future society is to guide and nurture our kids. If you don't have that responsibility (you don't have kids), by all means go all out. If you do have kids, take care of them first. I actually feel very bad for Elon's kids. Money and accomplishment isn't everything. Hopefully, they at least have a good mom. BTW, you can still accomplish other great things while doing this, but you certainly can't work 23 hour days.
- Houshalter 11y ago
  That only works if you really have an opportunity to affect hundreds or thousands of people, to the same extent you would affect your family. That seems incredibly unlikely, unless you are a scientist on the verge of curing cancer or something. A single employee at a space company missing a few hours of work isn't that, and it's certainly not "harming countless strangers", or "selfish".

TeMPOraL 11y ago

That's kind of the point I'm making. Given a choice, why should I promote few people in my inner circle over hundreds, thousands or more other people? This really bothers me. There's a common mentality that says it's OK to harm countless of strangers in order to support yourself and your family. I think that is selfish.

chrisbennet 11y ago
Somehow we've gone from "Elon cares more about his business than he does about his employees - to the extreme." To: "Would it be OK to be a dick if you're curing cancer?" And when that didn't play, the argument was reframed again as: "You're harming countless strangers unless you're a dick." Twist it anyway you want, if someone wants to be a selfish dick, they should own it, not rationalize it. I'm pretty sure the conquistadors didn't do what they did because they wanted to bring Christianity to the New World... If you can't prioritize (what should be) the most important of your personal relationships above what you want to do, it's unlikely that the real reason you working is because you have a surplus of love for the world.
- TeMPOraL 11y ago
  > If you can't prioritize (what should be) the most important of your personal relationships above what you want to do, it's unlikely that the real reason you working is because you have a surplus of love for the world. Is having a surplus of love for the world a bad thing? I believe a lot of problems would solve themselves if we have more. Also, relationships are also something you want to do, you aren't forced into them at gunpoint. Also the answer as it seems (without the context we don't know for sure) was dickish, but I wouldn't call it selfish. Just incredibly rude.
  - danielam 11y ago
    “I love mankind ... it's people I can't stand!!” ― Charles M. Schulz
  - loco5niner 11y ago
    You misread his statement. He is NOT saying that having a surplus of love for the world is bad. He IS saying that, in the scenario he describes, one likely does NOT have a surplus of love for the world. (tl;dr - it means that person is probably just being selfish and/or self-deceiving)
  - loco5niner 11y ago
    > Also, relationships are also something you want to do, you aren't forced into them at gunpoint. That's true. For example, people can choose to have a relationship with their kids, they can also abandon them. Happens all the time. :-(
loco5niner 11y ago
I disagree. The best thing we, as individuals, can do for future society is to guide and nurture our kids. If you don't have that responsibility (you don't have kids), by all means go all out. If you do have kids, take care of them first. I actually feel very bad for Elon's kids. Money and accomplishment isn't everything. Hopefully, they at least have a good mom. BTW, you can still accomplish other great things while doing this, but you certainly can't work 23 hour days.
Houshalter 11y ago
That only works if you really have an opportunity to affect hundreds or thousands of people, to the same extent you would affect your family. That seems incredibly unlikely, unless you are a scientist on the verge of curing cancer or something. A single employee at a space company missing a few hours of work isn't that, and it's certainly not "harming countless strangers", or "selfish".