Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not. We are all losing out because of this

https://ourworldindata.org/talent-is-everywhere-opportunity-is-not

by prakashqwerty • 4 months ago

5 3 4 months ago

anovikov2• 4 months ago

We see an example of another field - politics - of what happens if we make it too egalitarian. Now everyone and their dog can vote. It gives us truly ugly results and i just can't see a way to fix it: we are asking people who have no other way of deciding on their vote except vibes - because they don't vote with their money, they are takers - to make responsible decisions, this is simply not going to happen, they have no incentive.

In areas where there is no red tape to becoming an "innovator" and opportunity is open for everyone - people just do massive fraud and scams of all sorts, just look at crypto. Because these people are not connected so have no way to actually contribute.

What we need is "top hat elites" who will do things between themselves and won't accept outside inputs - both in politics, in business, and in science. They will have no incentive for populism - because outcomes will be effectively decided by their own peers, no incentive for academic fraud - because it removes them from the ranks of gentlemen, no incentive for business fraud - because they are already rich and set for life and their ability to stay that way depends on reputation.

I want to be governed by people better than myself, not by the likes of Trump. I want to see rich people who are also better than myself as humans, not some parvenue. Morally best people i know are those who were born into money. And they are all only 2nd generation, adding more generations on top of it should deliver better results (i think).

harmonic18374• 4 months ago

I agree with you overall and would even concede the trend, but everyone I know who was born into money is not a good person. (Of course, Trump was too.) They tend to treat people as fungible resources that output work.

anovikov2• 4 months ago

fungible resources that output work

Which they are.

Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not. We are all losing out because of this

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