[quote]Headhunter wrote:
Heliotrope wrote:
But in the end the universe is precise. We live in a net sum zero gain reality and if you have gained it is always because another has lost.
So a man who invents a light bulb and gets rich does so at the expense of those who did NOT invent it?
You know, if you incorporate a philosophy into your consciousness, its a good idea to choose one that can’t be destroyed in one question, like I just did.
Whoever taught you your philosphy about zero-sum should be beaten with a stick. And you were dumb enough to believe him…pathetic…
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It is not a philosophy it is physics. A man that invents a light bulb still does it at the expense of many people, animals, and plants. This is a fact.
Entropy is a law and the more advanced and complex a life form gets the more lesser lifeforms are consumed to provide it’s existence.
Humans are not equal. A modern scientist or inventor consumes more energy and creates more chaos in his environment than the destitute worker that assembles his shoes. His achievement is only made possible because countless other humans and other lifeforms are providing him with the necessity’s of life.
His claim to superiority is valid. Many men are lesser by the definition that they consume far less energy and create far less chaos.
The great thinkers and inventors and politicians of antiquity are almost exclusively of a higher class or patronized by this higher class.
Human history has only very recently replaced slave labor as the basis of providing a higher class with the leisure to advance the human race.
Even now with fossil fuels and mechanized labor allowing for enormous amounts of people to exist at higher levels of energy even the most advanced society’s still rely on an incredibly poor segment of their populous to provide them with basic services.
Individual effort is a valid accomplishment and should be rewarded but humility is also a virtue. A man that creates a great innovation is a boon to all but the factors that allowed his contribution are complex and impersonal as well.
The first man to make a discovery is often not even the man that gets credit for it if you have studied the history of science.
For every scientist and innovator in politics and business there are countless unsung heroes that laid the foundation of his or her success and countless others that missed the mark of being hailed first by a few moments or even actually were first but did not receive credit.
And by the way you are an idiot if you think your simplistic response has destroyed the theory of entropy which the statement you quoted is clearly referring to.