[ExI] keynes vs hayek again, was: RE: 3d printers for sale

[Anders Sandberg]

On 28/08/2012 14:37, Stefano Vaj wrote:
> On Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 8:11 AM, Charlie Stross
>
>     <charlie.stross at gmail.com <mailto:charlie.stross at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     > Or even further: *why* do we consider it useful or morally good
>     for everyone to make a tangible contribution?
>
> For instance, a very traditional view is that a given community is 
> automatically entitled to demand that its members support each other 
> and the community as such.
>
> This is certainly true for anthills, eg, and human communities 
> factually governed by such views might even have an evolutionary/game 
> theory/memetic edge on other ones.
>
> In history, however, this contribution never needed be "tangible" in 
> the literal sense of the word. In fact, division of labours allowed 
> societies to have members specialised and permanently engaged in 
> poetry, history, medicine, politics, religion, mathematics, writing, 
> advocacy, trade, etc.


I think it is possible to make a social signalling argument here. 
(Channeling my model of Robin Hanson:) Doing something good for the 
other group members is of course good for them, even though it is costly 
for you. If everybody does it you benefit anyway, thanks to group 
economies of scale. But there is always a temptation to be a defector. 
Hence we look down on people who visibly do not contribute.

But even when we actually don't contribute we might do things that 
*signal* contribution. In fact, doing costly signalling is very 
convincing: if the poet spends so much time on writing, then we assume 
it must be a valuable contribution even though we do not understand the 
poem. Yeah, it is not useful, but it happens to be very patriotic. Or so 
he tells me. Of course, if he is not convincing he will be kicked out, 
so he will be motivated to make it look like he is essential.


-- 
Anders Sandberg,
Future of Humanity Institute
Oxford Martin School
Faculty of Philosophy
Oxford University

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