Subject:
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Re: Preaching to the Choir
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Wed, 11 Aug 2004 19:51:55 GMT
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Viewed:
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1869 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Larry Pieniazek wrote:
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Christopher L. Weeks wrote:
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You can give gifts of your time. You can not institute an exchange that
values your time more highly than another’s.
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OK.
So if I know that it takes the average hole digging person an hour to dig a
hole of a certain size, and that’s an accepted market value, can I charge 50
minutes to dig it instead of an hour (giving a discount or a gift if you
like)?
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There isn’t exactly an accepted market value. I’m thinking about this.
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Is that OK if it took me 60 minutes to do it?
How about if it took me 50?
How about if I am super efficient and it only took me 40? Another’s time is
worth 60 and I’m only charging 50... isn’t that OK?
If your answers are “yes, yes, no” (as I think they should be if I understand
your system correctly, which I may not)
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My first reaction is yes, yes, no. But maybe it really does need to be no, yes,
no or it falls apart due to a breach in internal consistency.
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then there is no incentive to come up
with more efficient ways to dig holes.
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I think people do stuff for reasons of pride every day all the time. I’ve seen
it. I’ve done it.
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How do we then make progress?
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People who want to pioneer that kind of art will do so whether or not there is
significant financial incentive. Those people think it’s cool. Those people
could also be paid by prospective excavators to teach their new technique so
that their students would be more highly demanded.
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But then, after all, I’m a lousy
hole digger. I’m OK with that because I think the world as a whole benefits
more from my working an hour at architecting computer software systems (to do
things like let bigbox retailers shave 5-50 cents a pallet off their
logistics costs or make money transfers go faster and cost less, to pick two
examples where we help out) than it does from me digging holes. (and the
labor market tells me I’m right)
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If remuneration were no object (because they paid the same), and those were the
only two jobs available, which would you do? I have a coworker who answers that
he’d rather be digging ditches than managing his team because the money is the
only thing that keeps him in his stressful position. That, to me, indicates
someone who would be better off digging ditches. But there are, I believe, many
others that would prefer to manage a team.
Chris
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Preaching to the Choir
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| (...) OK. So if I know that it takes the average hole digging person an hour to dig a hole of a certain size, and that's an accepted market value, can I charge 50 minutes to dig it instead of an hour (giving a discount or a gift if you like)? Is (...) (20 years ago, 11-Aug-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
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