Re: Dry Under the Waterfall

[tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)]

At 7:47 PM 7/31/96, Duncan Frissell wrote:

>This is provably false.  People can learn whatever they have to.  (Within
>very broad intellectual limits.)  If they *choose* not to learn (and you are
>not their parent or employer), it is a violation of their autonomy to
>browbeat them.  You should leave them alone in their ignorance and, of
>course, not waste any money helping them since they have demonstrated that
>they aren't interested.  An economist might say that those who reject
>education are making a choice.  They are deciding that, for them, the value
>of today's leisure (L) plus today's income (I) is greater than the
>recreational value of education (R) plus the present value (PV) of future
>financial and psychic gains from education.
>
>L + I > R + PV

Indeed. People make tradeoffs all the time. They choose "easier subjects"
to major in, to take classes in, etc. They join fraternities, they "party
hard," they snort coke, they do whatever they do. (James Bugden will no
doubt claim that I am making moral judgments....no, just stating the
situation.)

>In other words, all those people who were drinking beer or working
>construction while TM was going to college, graduate school, studying
>physics, and working for Intel were making the decision that *for them* the
>value of all that time off, plus current income, plus lack of skull sweat
>was greater than the chance of becoming a millionaire and retiring at
>30-something.  And they may well be right.  In any case, we should honor
>their choices as we expect them to honor ours.  To intervene in a big way in
>their lives (or in TMs) to challenge their choices is deeply wrong.  We
>can't tell from the outside what the value of the education/work/leisure
>tradeoff is for an individual.  All we can do is observe their actions.

And even "education" is not enough. I recall folks around me spending their
Intel salaries and stock options about as quickly as they earned them--on
speed boats, BMWs, trips to exotic locales, and, yes, on drugs.

I opted for the lesson of "The Grasshopper and the Ant," and prepared for
the future, purchasing my stock options out of salary savings and "holding"
on to the stock. Some of those around me probably wondered why I was still
driving my beat up Mazda RX-2 and buying stock in funny companies like
Apple, Sun, and Coherent.

I hear that "The Grasshopper and the Ant" is no longer considered proper
reading material for children, that they need to have their self-esteem
raised, that "I Have Two Mommies" is a more important book for them to
read.

"Feh."

--Tim May

Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software!
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
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Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
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