Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83 v7 ucbtopaz-1.8; site ucbtopaz.CC.Berkeley.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!whuxl!whuxlm!harpo!decvax!ucbvax!ucbtopaz!mwm From: mwm@ucbtopaz.CC.Berkeley.ARPA Newsgroups: net.politics.theory Subject: Re: Who deserves what? Message-ID: <854@ucbtopaz.CC.Berkeley.ARPA> Date: Tue, 26-Mar-85 23:48:30 EST Article-I.D.: ucbtopaz.854 Posted: Tue Mar 26 23:48:30 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 28-Mar-85 02:44:39 EST References: <356@gargoyle.UChicago.UUCP> <5183@utzoo.UUCP> <754@bunker.UUCP> <5284@utzoo.UUCP> <4993@ukc.UUCP> Reply-To: mwm@ucbtopaz.UUCP (Praiser of Bob) Organization: Missionaria Phonibalonica Lines: 38 Summary: In article <4993@ukc.UUCP> ncg@ukc.UUCP (Nigel Gale) writes: >Does an unproductive ne'er-do-well deserve the benefits of his >father's hard work? No. >Does an Etheopian child deserve a life measured in days rather than >years? Why should an Etheopian child be notably different from the norm for humanity? >The problem is that no-one deserves to inherit anything, as they >haven't lived long enough at birth to have shown great worth. And here we have a basic mistake that everybody is making in the question of inheritance. More often than not, by the time anyone gets an inheritance, they are *well* past birth, and half way to retirement themselves. Inheritance usually has little, if anything, to do with how well a person is going to do in life. >Surely in a system based on competition, it is unfair if one man >starts out better equipped to compete than another? As previously pointed out, inheritance has little or nothing to do with this. More important will be the environment provided by your parents, in the form of books, encouragement and schooling. Most important will be the set of attitudes your parents give you: are you responsible, hardworking, thrifty, trustworthy, brave, loyal etc. Of course, even if you flatten out these differences by bundling up everybodies kids at birth and sending them to a creche to be raised (at which point, I'm leaving - even if it involves dying trying to get around the emigration restrictions.) you still haven't made everybody equally well equipped to compete. I would do much better moving furniture than my boss. She'd make a much better jockey than I would. It behooves us to avoid fields we aren't well equipped to compete in.