Subject:
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Re: Goodness of Man? (was: Re: Merry Christmas from the Libertarian Party
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Fri, 31 Dec 1999 16:23:18 GMT
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Viewed:
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1508 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Larry Pieniazek writes:
> 1. People aren't as lazy(1) as you think. Most people are industrious
> and hard working, even in this screwed up society of today. It's only in
> Legoland where the majority of buildings are police stations and rescue
> bases. The vast majority of us real-figs work our tails off and look at
> all we've produced! This has been a grand century, despite its problems.
I disagree here, but I'm a cynical little punk. :) I think people in general
are only as industrious as they have to be. I don't think the mean is quite
as low as "lazy" tends to imply, but I do think the mean is too low for a
system that relies heavily on individual participation and responsibility to
work on a large scale.
> 2. People are lazy because they are *enabled* to be lazy. There weren't
> very many lazy people on the american frontier 100 years ago.
Biased test sample. 100 years ago, there were lots of lazy people who chose to
stay where they were instead of going to the american frontier.
> Set society up to ensure people suffer the consequences of their actions and
> you'll soon stop complaining about how lazy everyone is.
This isn't the part of libertarian theory (disclaimer- as I understand it!)
that I have a problem with. What I think is unworkable is the high level of
awareness the system asks of individuals. (yeah, I know - see point #3.
Under my analysis, virtue "awareness" is required to be higher than you feel
is necessary.)
> It'll take time to shake off 60+ years of bad habits but it's doable. We have
> to break the "entitlement mentality". People aren't entitled to anything,
> really, other than rights protection.
Hmm. I think I'm entitled to anything I work for, and anything I'm given -
assuming the giver worked for it (or that it was worked for somewhere back
along the giving chain).
> 4. Finally, constructive laziness as a vice is way overrated. It's
> actually a virtue. We have constructively lazy people to thank for just
> about every labor saving device ever devised. Edison was one of the
> laziest people to ever walk the face of the earth. Thank goodness. Each
> and every productivity improvement is basically an instant creation of
> wealth, because now we can spend less time doing what we have to and
> more on what we want to... I remain boggled that I had to work only
> about an hour to earn enough to buy 3 (!!) portable CD players.
Yeah, I'm a big fan of constructive laziness, too. I'll quite happily put in
several hours of work now to save me 5 minutes a day going forward. I don't
think, however that most people will transfer their constructive laziness to a
societal model unless it's made very clear that they'll get more out of it
than they're putting in. People who raise the bar (like Edison) are also
exceptions to the norm - no matter the trying, most people do not (IMHO) have
it in them to clearly conceive and execute the proverbial light bulb.
James
http://www.shades-of-night.com/lego/
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