Posts by BenWilson
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Up Front: Submission Pun Goes Here, in reply to BenWilson,
I consider it clear there must be an upper limit simply by the definition of equality.
I should be more precise. This pertains to any individual quantity. There could be an infinite quantity of things to be equalized. Are there? If there are, is this infinity mainly caused by subdivision of a larger thing, in which case the basic size of the problem does not grow? Perhaps we discover new facets of the concept of equality that were not previously considered, but is there an infinity of such new facets?
I guess I'm not so sure, now. You can't put an upper limit on something that has a changing definition. But it's almost slandering the idea of equality to say that it has an ever-changing definition.
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Up Front: Submission Pun Goes Here, in reply to Bart Janssen,
And we laugh at how foolish they were
Do we? We might laugh at where they drew the line, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist, just because they got it wrong. They also had ideas about the limits about how fast humans can travel that were laughable then, but our new, revised limits are considered pretty sound.
I consider it clear there must be an upper limit simply by the definition of equality. It's things being equal. If they are equal, the limit has been reached. If you find this hard to agree with, try considering the negation. Can equality continue to improve, forever, at a constant, or even increasing rate? I'm certainly interested to hear how you could see that working.
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Up Front: Submission Pun Goes Here, in reply to Emma Hart,
Maybe that's enough to be getting on with, but there is a sense that one day we might have done all the obvious stuff and be a bit lost.
Yes, there must be an upper limit to improving equality. It could be approached as an asymptote, so that more and more effort and/or time are expended for less and less gains. Which does mean that there will always be more to do, but it will seem less and less important.
But if you're worried about the end of the fight, fear not. There are plenty of forces seeking to backslide to contend with. And actual backsliding, too, as you say. There's the whole rest of the world, too, a great deal of which is awful on the liberality front.
I personally doubt that we will reach an equilibrium on equality in my lifetime, because that's not a state that is easily maintained. And economic inequality is still one of the greatest inequalities, and it's still built into our system, so normal that questioning it is difficult. Indeed, it's not even clear that it can be eliminated without more cost than return (and I mean all costs, not just money).
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Up Front: Submission Pun Goes Here, in reply to Martin Roberts,
Most of my friends who have gotten married did so after living together for many years, and co-incidentally had kids real soon afterwards.
Indeed. If they got married at all. Few are the people who thought it was wise to get into a permanent live-in-with-sex, with someone they had neither lived with nor had sex with. The reasons for this are so obvious that you'd need years of training/indoctrination not to see them.
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Hard News: Tired and emotional, for reals, in reply to Steven Price,
though the broadcasting codes contain good taste and decency requirements
And yet, somehow, Paul Henry lasted years.
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Hard News: Tired and emotional, for reals, in reply to Russell Brown,
We actually have super-powers. They make up for the crappy pay and poor future job prospects.
So Peter Parker rather than Bruce Wayne?
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Hard News: Tired and emotional, for reals, in reply to Tony Siu,
Ben is right. NZ political Blog are so Boring
Me? But I don't even think that! Dull, angry, male and repetitive is actually my bio.
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Hard News: Tired and emotional, for reals, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
Blazing Saddles: The cowboys sit around a fire, flatulently.
Heh, brilliant. They beat the crap out of some cardboard cutouts, and then are blown sky high by a single pistol shot from 5 miles away.
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Which western is to be channeled? Four main options I see:
- High noon. Some isolated old fart decides to have a fight and no one else wants to join in so he has to take the gang by himself. Nope, not applicable here.
- Once upon a time in the West. A battle of honour, in which a couple of old saws spend hours getting themselves ready for something that is blissfully short. Not seeing it.
- The Gunfight at OK Corral. Getting closer, a good pack vs a bad pack. But which is which?
- Unforgiven. A drunk old assassin turns up by surprise, murders a couple of people before they get a chance, and everyone else is so surprised that he manages to pick them off while they shoot wildly. Then he threatens the entire town if they don't bury his buddy properly, and rides off with a bottle of whiskey for company. Hmmmm....
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I've been consciously spending less time with political blogs and blogging because it's so often dull, angry, male and repetitive.
Yes, if we wanted that, we'd join the army.
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