Eugine_Nier comments on I've had it with those dark rumours about our culture rigorously suppressing opinions - Less Wrong

26 Post author: Multiheaded 25 January 2012 05:43PM

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Comment author: Multiheaded 21 March 2012 10:09:35AM *  0 points [-]

Or are you saying that the 15% have zero marginal product

They would have had a pretty good marginal product if not for the top 25% of their minority, but they're only genetically predisposed towards one thing, and others like them (the top 25% who get hired) are superior to them at it. Nonetheless, the bottom 75% could still compete with people outside the group, if there was enough demand on the market for the only job they do so well. Yes, it's going to be a problem in any society - but it already is in some regards; there's no perfect solution, but what would you do about it in practice?

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 21 March 2012 11:27:46PM 2 points [-]

but they're only genetically predisposed towards one thing,

You seem to be confusing being "predisposed" to do something, with being unable to do anything else. Perhaps, I should have mentioned in my previous post how extremely implausible the zero marginal product scenerio, i.e., that they are literately incapable of doing anything else is.

Comment author: Multiheaded 22 March 2012 10:24:58AM 0 points [-]

Sigh. Of course they're perfectly able to do other things! It's just that all the other people on the market are better at those other things.

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 23 March 2012 03:43:18AM 4 points [-]

Read the Wikipedia article on comparative advantage I linked to above. From the first example:

Two men live alone on an isolated island. To survive they must undertake a few basic economic activities like water carrying, fishing, cooking and shelter construction and maintenance. The first man is young, strong, and educated. He is also faster, better, and more productive at everything. He has an absolute advantage in all activities. The second man is old, weak, and uneducated. He has an absolute disadvantage in all economic activities. In some activities the difference between the two is great; in others it is small.

Despite the fact that the younger man has absolute advantage in all activities, it is not in the interest of either of them to work in isolation since they both can benefit from specialization and exchange. If the two men divide the work according to comparative advantage then the young man will specialize in tasks at which he is most productive, while the older man will concentrate on tasks where his productivity is only a little less than that of the young man. Such an arrangement will increase total production for a given amount of labor supplied by both men and it will benefit both of them.

I realize I should probably have just quoted the above rather than dancing around the topic for two comments. My apologies.

Comment author: Multiheaded 23 March 2012 04:57:29AM 1 point [-]

That makes sense... I've got to try and figure out while things aren't so rosy in a real market, then.

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