Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site dciem.UUCP Path: utzoo!dciem!mmt From: mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor) Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Re: Orphaned Response - (nf) Message-ID: <1223@dciem.UUCP> Date: Sun, 25-Nov-84 12:46:28 EST Article-I.D.: dciem.1223 Posted: Sun Nov 25 12:46:28 1984 Date-Received: Sun, 25-Nov-84 18:52:13 EST References: Reply-To: mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor) Organization: D.C.I.E.M., Toronto, Canada Lines: 33 Summary: In article nrh@inmet.UUCP writes: > The notion that one can never pay enough for "society" is the notion > that society is the source of all wealth. Not true. I'm not so sure that it isn't true. At least as good a case could probably be made that it is as that society contributes nothing to wealth, which seems to be the main libertarian argument. Consider: All wealth consists of re-structuring of materials, most of which cannot be done by any one individual. Without teaching, each individual has to be an inventor of every process used. Taeching proceeds by example, by language, and is the passing on of the combined discoveries of society. It is not the transmission of one person's knowledge to another, but the funnelling of many inventions through many teachers. Suppose that our learner now has learned all the arts and crafts. How then does he produce an automobile? Does he build steam-shovels to dig the ore? Not at all. Teams of other people provide the ore to other teams who turn it into steel .... No wealth can be created in the absence of society, whatever the means used to persuade people to give you what you personally want to have. I think it is silly to say either that society IS or IS NOT the source of all wealth. Without a properly functioning society there is no wealth, but individuals have to function properly within that society to create it. You might as well say that the sea is not the source of fish. It all depends on how you look at the question. -- Martin Taylor {allegra,linus,ihnp4,floyd,ubc-vision}!utzoo!dciem!mmt {uw-beaver,qucis,watmath}!utcsrgv!dciem!mmt