Question: Are the major ethical, political, and social problems / tension in human society an extension of the dichotomous means for realizing the Law of Diminishing Returns?
Thoughts :
Law of Diminishing Returns → there exist ideal ratios of input to output (effort v. returns) compared to which all other levels are ineffective
Humans, consciously or not, strive to act in accordance with the LoDR (true?)
The LoDR can essentially be optimized by:
Maximizing returns while minimizing effort
Minimizing effort while maximizing returns
A variety of stressors (nature + nurture) influence the individuals choice of the above methods (1 or 2)
The Results of 1: Capitalism, Social Darwinism, Work Ethic, Ubermensch (Republican?)
The Results of 2: Communism, Equality, Laziness, Parasites ( Democrat?)
Anyone who’s read Atlas Shrugged should immediately recognize the rift (its what Rand highlights)
I’m sure that I’ve left some things out, but I’d love to hear what y’all think.
No, the major tensions in human society come from individuals aggressing on other people. Without aggression, individuals would attempt to supply the desires of consumers using the best technology and their success or failure will earn them profits. With aggression, there are individuals who will steal property from legitimate owners or even harm individuals themselves. This aggression even in the most local of circumstances creates the tension.
Humans do not strive to diminish marginal returns. The LoDR applies because the resources to satisfy human desires are scarce and the future desires of people are not known. Therefore humans must make decisions on how to employ those resources to satisfy the ever changing human desires. The more resources a supplier adds to satisfy a human desire the more management that supplier must provide.
I am not sure what you mean by methods. There is no formula for maximum output given a set of returns and there is no telling how that output will be received by consumers who ultimately provide the profits to the supplier.
Bogart, i think that what you’ve said is very valid and at the same time believe that it is not necessary in opposition with what i’ve said. conflict will inevitably arise because of an imperfect spread of information amongst individuals and the ability to profit at another’s loss; however, if all individuals were to seek 2 optimize their ratio by maximizing their returns, major ideological rifts would (perhaps) cease to exist. the focus here is not meant 2 be individual tensions but broad scale philosophical discrepancies