I get all these great book recommendations from you, Elle! Just bought and downloaded 'The Nordic View of Everything' -- looks like a fantastic read.
There's a story Warren Buffett tells that your post reminds me of. I heard him say it when I went to his Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting once, years ago.
I get all these great book recommendations from you, Elle! Just bought and downloaded 'The Nordic View of Everything' -- looks like a fantastic read.
There's a story Warren Buffett tells that your post reminds me of. I heard him say it when I went to his Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting once, years ago.
He says, imagine what you would design the world you were about to be born into to look like if you could, in any way you wanted. But there's a catch. You *don't* get to decide whether you'll be born male or female, Black or white, in the United States or in a country like Bangladesh, neurotypical or neurodivergent, healthy or with a serious illness, etc.
He calls it the "ovarian lottery," the most important decision that will ever be made about your life and you get *no* say in it. It's purely luck. So, if you don't know where, how or to whom you'll be born, what kind of world would you design then? Gets you thinking, doesn't it?
Very powerful ideas, and Elle's open borders/sales tax combo idea is definitely an interesting example where the idea of original position would be very relevant. If the underpinnings of your social structures have to serve to attract as many people as possible, you almost have to adopt the veil of ignorance by design.
I've heard Obama use that quote before too. It's a very interesting thought exercise, makes you realize how much of life is determined by where you are born. (Hence the need to focus globally, not nationally!)
I get all these great book recommendations from you, Elle! Just bought and downloaded 'The Nordic View of Everything' -- looks like a fantastic read.
There's a story Warren Buffett tells that your post reminds me of. I heard him say it when I went to his Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting once, years ago.
He says, imagine what you would design the world you were about to be born into to look like if you could, in any way you wanted. But there's a catch. You *don't* get to decide whether you'll be born male or female, Black or white, in the United States or in a country like Bangladesh, neurotypical or neurodivergent, healthy or with a serious illness, etc.
He calls it the "ovarian lottery," the most important decision that will ever be made about your life and you get *no* say in it. It's purely luck. So, if you don't know where, how or to whom you'll be born, what kind of world would you design then? Gets you thinking, doesn't it?
Sounds like the idea of 'original position' that John Rawls formulated in his "Theory of Justice":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Theory_of_Justice, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/original-position/
Very powerful ideas, and Elle's open borders/sales tax combo idea is definitely an interesting example where the idea of original position would be very relevant. If the underpinnings of your social structures have to serve to attract as many people as possible, you almost have to adopt the veil of ignorance by design.
I've heard Obama use that quote before too. It's a very interesting thought exercise, makes you realize how much of life is determined by where you are born. (Hence the need to focus globally, not nationally!)