Why are social programs necessary?
Most of the real wealth I see being created has ultimately come from the exploitation of natural resources. Far from being 'nothing', most of these limited resources (which in another theory belong to all life on Earth) require underpaid 'human resources' to turn them into the highly-profitable 'nothing' of which you speak.
Much of which winds up in the garbage. (E.g., here in the U.S. we build housing to last for maybe two generations.) If anything, much real wealth comes from turning valuable resources into nothing.
On average, the things you or I use consist of 6% exploitation of natural resources and 94% of labor after that. Natural resources are important, but now (as opposed to 19th century) they are a tiny part of what we make and use, they are not the main part of wealth.
I cant imagine how to estimate those numbers, but I do imagine they'd be significant.
That said, polluting the air and water is still not a good idea. Burning coal is still stupid.
Humanity had more than enough food to feed everyone but we are too greedy at the top to actually do so. We dump food in stupid ways for stupid reasons.
Yeah, and that theory is nonsense
But, it has to come from somewhere.
My beliefs on sharing the pie are summed up by the following quote "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement" the issue is, we've systematically deprived those of lower ability of paths to opportunity, and deprived those who do succeed of their fair share of the pie.
I've met far more smart people on the internet than I could ever meet in real life. In fact most people I meet in real life are stupid.
I've also felt like this for a long time before I grew up.
That said, a certain subset of the population doesn't have the wherewithal, drive or ability to do it - and for an even smaller, the best in life they can hope for is to perform some sort of manual labor.
We mustn't forget about the self selection bias of being smart - we tend to only socialize and know other smart people - meaning, don't fall into the fallacy of assuming you're the median.
No, but it is much, much harder. Assuming all human beings are equal, how can you justify working a lot harder for the same outcome?
As an example, we generally want to help the disabled, it is generally a good policy to remove barriers, install lifts etc. not for them to 'just learn to walk properly' or whatever.
I can't, that's my point we need to provide good opportunities for people of all abilities, not just for the smartest, we're failing at this goal.
I want a more just and equitable society not necessarily just an equal one.
I agree, I was talking about affordability. You can be super smart, but if you're 2/3 as smart and also rich, you're still likely to do better in life than the smart, poor kid would.