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How to Make Trillions of Dollars

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Re: How to Make Trillions of Dollars

#41

Post by genieyclo »

jacquesm wrote: post #18
mmaunder wrote: post #11

Modern industrial civilization has developed within a certain system of convenient myths. The driving force of modern industrial civilization has been individual material gain, which is accepted as legitimate, even praiseworthy, on the grounds that private vices yield public benefits, in the classic formulation. Now, it has long been understood, very well, that a society that is based on this principle will destroy i…

The question is, taking all that in to account and conceding that it is (1) true, and (2) a real problem how will we do better?

Some would argue there is no point in doing better. Some would argue the "we" is populated by stupidity that knows almost no bounds, and the only solution is to join the ranks of the Man on the quest to the mythical (in a probably hyperinflationary environment) trillion dollars. Cash in while the shit house goes down.

Re: How to Make Trillions of Dollars

#42

Post by [deleted] »

jacquesm wrote: post #18
mmaunder wrote: post #11

Modern industrial civilization has developed within a certain system of convenient myths. The driving force of modern industrial civilization has been individual material gain, which is accepted as legitimate, even praiseworthy, on the grounds that private vices yield public benefits, in the classic formulation. Now, it has long been understood, very well, that a society that is based on this principle will destroy i…

The question is, taking all that in to account and conceding that it is (1) true, and (2) a real problem how will we do better?

[deleted]

Re: How to Make Trillions of Dollars

#43

Post by jat850 »

corin_ wrote: post #13
jat850 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't fully agree with your math. Mine is potentially no better, but: A single customer, spending $500/year on whatever it is you do, wherein you make 5% compounding profit off of their $500/year, nets $100,000 in 45 years. I feel that's a bit more realistic of an approach.

I wasn't taking interest into account in my example. 5% profit of $500/year is $25/year. I'm too lazy to work out compound interest over 45 years considering that a new $25 is being added each year, however: 45 * $25 = $1125 If you invested $1125 for 45 years at an interest rate of 4%, you'd end up with $6571. (And investing $1125 over 45 years gets you more back than only adding $25 a year to the investment.) Obviou…

I think my math was right (unless my compound interest calculator was wrong) but I did make a typo - the investment would have to be $600 per year at 5% compounding interest, not $500. Sorry 'bout that.

Re: How to Make Trillions of Dollars

#44

Post by [deleted] »

jacquesm wrote: post #18
mmaunder wrote: post #11

Modern industrial civilization has developed within a certain system of convenient myths. The driving force of modern industrial civilization has been individual material gain, which is accepted as legitimate, even praiseworthy, on the grounds that private vices yield public benefits, in the classic formulation. Now, it has long been understood, very well, that a society that is based on this principle will destroy i…

The question is, taking all that in to account and conceding that it is (1) true, and (2) a real problem how will we do better?

[deleted]

Re: How to Make Trillions of Dollars

#45

Post by jacoblyles »

jacquesm wrote: post #18
mmaunder wrote: post #11

Modern industrial civilization has developed within a certain system of convenient myths. The driving force of modern industrial civilization has been individual material gain, which is accepted as legitimate, even praiseworthy, on the grounds that private vices yield public benefits, in the classic formulation. Now, it has long been understood, very well, that a society that is based on this principle will destroy i…

The question is, taking all that in to account and conceding that it is (1) true, and (2) a real problem how will we do better?

>"But the conditions of survival, let alone justice, require rational social planning in the interests of the community as a whole"

Translation: we will just put the right people in charge. Most totalitarian ideologies boil down to this point, which includes all anti-capitalism since capitalism is simply the state of free human exchange.

Re: How to Make Trillions of Dollars

#47

Post by StavrosK »

ljordan wrote: post #33
StavrosK wrote: post #9

I would say, don't get too hung up on the "the Man" aspect of the article. For me, the most profound part was the one about keeping people wanting useless gadgets more and more and thus keeping them in jobs they hate. People can easily live with much less and do work that will allow them to be much happier. From what I've seen, higher earning potential doesn't correlate well with happiness.

In the study I heard about from a family member it correlates strongly up to a threshold, say $90,000 for a family of 3-4 living in the midwest (ex-Chicago, etc.), but thereafter increasing income doesn't increase happiness (and possibly erodes it).

Yes, obviously having a very low income would come with worries, but above that, as you said, there's not much correlation...

Re: How to Make Trillions of Dollars

#48

Post by klbarry »

jacoblyles wrote: post #32

Hey guys, it has been too long since our last self-righteous anti-consumerist circle-jerk. This one is good! You can smell the smarminess right through the screen. We live in a time where the individual has more freedom to do what he wants with his life than ever before. When people live longer, survive perviously unsurvivable diseases, and can get by with the least work. When the glorious knowledge produced by human…

It's the paradox of choice, as written about in many places. Give people many choices and many options and they will be, on average, less happy. Someone who assumes the only way to be is by being a subsistence farmer is not so unhappy.

Re: How to Make Trillions of Dollars

#50

Post by jacoblyles »

redemade wrote: post #23

reminds me of a Carl Sagan monologue from Cosmos: "Those worlds in space are as countless as all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the earth. Each of those worlds is as real as ours and every one of them is a succession of incidents, events, occurrences which influence its future. Countless worlds, numberless moments, an immensity of space and time. And our small planet at this moment, here we face a critical…

That's an inspiring quote. But it is flawed. It is designed to instill passion and motivation in the listener's heart. But it is missing a virtue which is a strictly necessary ingredient for making an actual positive impact on the world: subtlety.

If you are motivated by addressing humanity's long-term challenges, please do not attempt to bludgeon others into being more thoughtful or compassionate. Instead, learn first how human society works. Learn how to motivate social change in the least destructive way (all change is costly to someone). Learn why people oppose you, and what their interests are, and try to come to a common ground. Don't go off half-cocked. Learn subtlety.

Nobody talks about subtlety. It is an under-appreciated virtue, and one of the most important.

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