Really nicely written and interesting post. I have one part I’d like to question.
Often defences of inequality take the form “You can either have rich and poor, or you can just have poor”. Which on the face of it is not just a zero-sum frame, but actually a negative-sum frame, which seems an unfair representation until you add the claim that it is inequality itself that allows for the sort of dynamic wealth generation needed to create the rich. The point about Michelangelo and Yo-Yo Ma makes an argument of the same type but regarding cultural riches. But I think this misses the point that cultural dynamism transcends wealth distribution. Take the idea of genius for instance.
I don’t doubt that Yo-Yo Ma is a genius, and that Michelangelo may have been one too, though I think Leonardo is a better candidate for genius. The framing goes if there wasn’t inequality that allowed for funding a life of contemplation for such geniuses they never would have arisen. I think the opposite is more likely.
Let’s assume that Leonardo is a genuine 1 in 10,000 genius. Let’s put him in a population of 1,000,000, where 1% of the population have the capacity to fully reach their potential, while the other 99% live in an agricultural or later industrial state of perpetual labour, and never get to reach their potential. Lucky Leonardo, he’s the one genius who arises in this situation 1,000,000 x 1% = 10,000 and one in 10,000 people are geniuses so, that’s one genius reaching their potential.
So, now let’s allow for a more egalitarian society, where everyone works, but not for ever hour of the day, they get some time to contemplate the world, and be creative. Now out of your population of 1,000,000 you have 100 genuine 1 in 10,000 geniuses, each with a chance of being discovered.
What world is more likely to create the greatest art and have the greatest progress? I think it’s obvious: the latter. You see, it’s important to recognise that we don’t necessarily live in the best of all possible worlds, the past isn’t by definition the best it might have been, so the depictions of old biblical stories by Michelangelo aren’t necessarily the best artworks that might have been created.
I don’t find the decision about Notre Dame difficult in the slightest. It’s a building, it’s not lives, lives have value, buildings only have value in as much as the serve lives, and it’s difficult to make the case that the pleasure or national income that Notre Dame generates gets even close to the benefit of saving the lives that the equivalent funds could save.
There are other interesting points in the post, but this is one I feel could be pushed back against. At the same time I completely agree with @Ian Turner when he points out that criticism of charitable choices is often more prevalent than criticism of not giving to charity at all. So, I think it’s advisable to use positive terminology when assessing efficacy, as “in which of these two good options is better” rather than the zero-sum framing that not effectively giving is tantamount to taking away from a more effective charity.
So, now let’s allow for a more egalitarian society, where everyone works, but not for ever hour of the day, they get some time to contemplate the world, and be creative. Now out of your population of 1,000,000 you have 100 genuine 1 in 10,000 geniuses, each with a chance of being discovered
Thanks, this changed how I was thinking about this!
Really nicely written and interesting post. I have one part I’d like to question.
Often defences of inequality take the form “You can either have rich and poor, or you can just have poor”. Which on the face of it is not just a zero-sum frame, but actually a negative-sum frame, which seems an unfair representation until you add the claim that it is inequality itself that allows for the sort of dynamic wealth generation needed to create the rich. The point about Michelangelo and Yo-Yo Ma makes an argument of the same type but regarding cultural riches. But I think this misses the point that cultural dynamism transcends wealth distribution. Take the idea of genius for instance.
I don’t doubt that Yo-Yo Ma is a genius, and that Michelangelo may have been one too, though I think Leonardo is a better candidate for genius. The framing goes if there wasn’t inequality that allowed for funding a life of contemplation for such geniuses they never would have arisen. I think the opposite is more likely.
Let’s assume that Leonardo is a genuine 1 in 10,000 genius. Let’s put him in a population of 1,000,000, where 1% of the population have the capacity to fully reach their potential, while the other 99% live in an agricultural or later industrial state of perpetual labour, and never get to reach their potential. Lucky Leonardo, he’s the one genius who arises in this situation 1,000,000 x 1% = 10,000 and one in 10,000 people are geniuses so, that’s one genius reaching their potential.
So, now let’s allow for a more egalitarian society, where everyone works, but not for ever hour of the day, they get some time to contemplate the world, and be creative. Now out of your population of 1,000,000 you have 100 genuine 1 in 10,000 geniuses, each with a chance of being discovered.
What world is more likely to create the greatest art and have the greatest progress? I think it’s obvious: the latter. You see, it’s important to recognise that we don’t necessarily live in the best of all possible worlds, the past isn’t by definition the best it might have been, so the depictions of old biblical stories by Michelangelo aren’t necessarily the best artworks that might have been created.
I don’t find the decision about Notre Dame difficult in the slightest. It’s a building, it’s not lives, lives have value, buildings only have value in as much as the serve lives, and it’s difficult to make the case that the pleasure or national income that Notre Dame generates gets even close to the benefit of saving the lives that the equivalent funds could save.
There are other interesting points in the post, but this is one I feel could be pushed back against. At the same time I completely agree with @Ian Turner when he points out that criticism of charitable choices is often more prevalent than criticism of not giving to charity at all. So, I think it’s advisable to use positive terminology when assessing efficacy, as “in which of these two good options is better” rather than the zero-sum framing that not effectively giving is tantamount to taking away from a more effective charity.
Thanks, this changed how I was thinking about this!