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>I also think Americans should be exceptionally generous (I think they could do a log better), but to believe that everyone just rolled the dice so many decades

>I also think Americans should be exceptionally generous (I think they could do a log better), but to believe that everyone just rolled the dice so many decades ago and current Americans just happened to end up on top is to have a real nihilistic approach to history, governance, and culture. For the record I wasn't implying that the wealth of nations is due to chance. I just meant roll of the dice in that, if there are N babies being born in a given moment, and K of those births are in a well-off country, then a given baby has a K/N chance of being born in a well-off country. Which country it's born in is not the result of any decisions on the baby's part, although I suppose as you point out it could be a result of decisions made by its parents. >I would argue that it's mostly fair for Americans to expect that their children, friends, and neighbors reap the benefits of their ingenuity and sacrifice. According to Forbes[1], 40% of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children, and if one assumes those companies are a net benefit to America then immigration isn't necessarily a zero-sum game. 1. http://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2011/06/19/40-percent-of-fortune-500-companies-founded-by-immigrants-or-their-children/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2011/06/19/40-per...

humanrebar 11y ago
Except baby souls don't come from a giant Pez dispenser in the sky. The chance that you would be born to someone other than your parents are zero. And your parents made decisions that affected your life. It's a short hop to extrapolate that to the community, city, province, and country you were born in.
- grinnbearit 11y ago
  Its less about the chance to be born and more about the fault of being born. This is a moral preference issue and so we can have different views. Take a less contentious example, good looking people are often thought of as better than their uglier (but equally skilled) colleagues.[1] This is a human cognitive bias, and it takes constant effort to correct for it. So the question is, would you prefer a world where the halo effect didn't exist? And since it does exist, would you be averse to compensating ugly people for their misfortune. Do you think because they were born ugly they "deserve" to be treated worse/have less opportunities than their prettier counterparts. Do you think their parents are to blame instead? Should we disincentivise ugly people from having their own children? After all, pretty people have been selecting each other for generations in order to have prettier kids. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_effect

humanrebar 11y ago

Except baby souls don't come from a giant Pez dispenser in the sky. The chance that you would be born to someone other than your parents are zero. And your parents made decisions that affected your life. It's a short hop to extrapolate that to the community, city, province, and country you were born in.

grinnbearit 11y ago
Its less about the chance to be born and more about the fault of being born. This is a moral preference issue and so we can have different views. Take a less contentious example, good looking people are often thought of as better than their uglier (but equally skilled) colleagues.[1] This is a human cognitive bias, and it takes constant effort to correct for it. So the question is, would you prefer a world where the halo effect didn't exist? And since it does exist, would you be averse to compensating ugly people for their misfortune. Do you think because they were born ugly they "deserve" to be treated worse/have less opportunities than their prettier counterparts. Do you think their parents are to blame instead? Should we disincentivise ugly people from having their own children? After all, pretty people have been selecting each other for generations in order to have prettier kids. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_effect