Comment by CoffeeDregs | Hacker News Reader

Comment by CoffeeDregs | Hacker News Reader

Putting aside is-this-right-or-wrong?: this is unsurprising: lawyers (many in my family), police, doctors, sales people, etc represent mechanisms to reduce more problematic inefficiencies in our society. No one (including lawyers I know) wants lawyers; but a world-with-lawyers is better than a world-without-lawyers. Doctors: why do you go to the doctor? To improve your body? Almost never; it's always to reduce problems or prevent them, a cost you only incur because of the fallibility of your body. Sales people: imperfect information in society. Police: lovely folks; would be much better if we didn't have people being assholes so that we needed police.

Then add in all of the secondary effects of exploitation/corruption of these not-productive-and-shouldn't-exist positions...

Further for every $1 you spend on an attorney, someone else has to spend $$ and the society has wasted that $$$ plus that time, none of which is productive.

On the other hand, get rid of lawyers and you're going to spend $$$ on mercenaries...

Most medicine does seem to be about fixing what's broken in your body (which is what you described), but some medicine is about bring your body to a healthier state. (Or maybe that's just "fitness"?).

I suspect it's possible to have a society where doctors focus on improving the health of people rather than focusing on fixing things when they break; and I suspect there's a way to adopt that mindset with lawyers, as well. Police too, actually - if police are social workers first, and enforcers last.

Doctors are “only fixing things” only because people are presenting with broken bodies. There is already a huge shift towards preventative medicine. But no one goes to see their doctor when they’re asymptomatic with their unhealthy life choices. Doctors are already doing the best they can with what they’re given.

I went to my doctor while in good health at 35. He told me to lose 5 pounds and not come back unless I had problems ️

> no one goes to see their doctor when they’re asymptomatic with their unhealthy life choices

People outside America do.

> Further for every $1 you spend on an attorney, someone else has to spend $$ and the society has wasted that $$$ plus that time, none of which is productive.

I’m not sure that money spent on lawyers is, by any measure, money that society has wasted.

Every dollar that society spends is a dollar that society earns. Economic activity isn’t a pie that is split up and expended. If I give you a dollar to do something and then you give it back to me to do something else, we’ve generated $2 in GDP with a single dollar bill.

Besides, lawyers are providing an important service of ensuring that the rest of the economy can chug along with confidence. Also, how many lives are saved because of conflicts resolved by law instead of lawlessness?

The ability to transact confidently is a very valuable service.

> On the other hand, get rid of lawyers and you're going to spend $$$ on mercenaries...

The true alternative for most people is they’re out the additional baked in cost of the lawyers and they can’t afford their own lawyer to “even the odds” so it’s asymmetrical warfare.

Well, not entirely. They benefit from that 'baked in' cost as well, companies and individuals are less willing to be negligent or exploitative because of the fear of lawsuits.

True of the police as well: calling them doesn't benefit me much, but they do play a role in making the streets (relatively) safe at night.

In both cases we might imagine a better way of doing these things, I'm speaking about the world we happen to have.

Theoretically and ideally, doctors improve the lifespan and health of human beings beyond what natural selection gave us. In an ideal world, the budget for social healthcare would just collapse due to incredibly effective medicine.

Whereas lawyers and police must deal with the imperfection of people and society, no matter how much it is reduced.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com