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Nonsense. In order to focus on the supposed injustice of inheritance itself, suppose that someone becomes wealthy through ethical means. If they then turn out t

Nonsense. In order to focus on the supposed injustice of inheritance itself, suppose that someone becomes wealthy through ethical means. If they then turn out to have a mutation that causes them to be immortal, at what point does it become just to simply take their wealth away from them? If your answer is “never”, why is it any different if they gift their wealth to their descendants? Why is gifting wealth wrong?

the_gipsy 2y ago
> suppose that someone becomes wealthy through ethical means If you dig deeper and deeper at this point, your argument will eventually come to a halt, before even getting at crazy theoretical mutations.
Eridrus 2y ago
The reason to let rich people keep their money is twofold: ethical economic activity is positive sum and rich people have shown an ability to generate these positive spillovers, and letting them keep it gives them an incentive to engage in this economic activity in the first place. The former does not apply to heirs, and the latter only weakly applies.
- c22 2y ago
  One effect of wealth is the ability to dictate the direction of development over physical assets in the real world. I've come to realize that the personalities of those who are able to amass large amounts of wealth over their lifetime tend to coalesce around a certain mean that results in somewhat predictable development patterns everywhere I go. These patterns, which are concerned with maximum efficiency and return on investment, result in an overwhelming bland, commercial, "sameness" that is taking over the globe. As it turns out, some of the most unique and interesting things I observe in the public sphere are owned by trust fund babies who took a different path to development (or just inefficiently left some ancient thing alone to decay). Either way, personally I appreciate this diversity in ownership of the world around me and this observation has changed the way I view the transfer of wealth through generations.
  - Eridrus 2y ago
    It's a huge mental leap from "I like the output of nepo babies" to "the blandness in the works is due to the psychology of wealthy people". I would suggest reading more about the history of development and ask yourself why we used to make prettier buildings, but generally no longer do. Rich people have not changed.

the_gipsy 2y ago

> suppose that someone becomes wealthy through ethical means If you dig deeper and deeper at this point, your argument will eventually come to a halt, before even getting at crazy theoretical mutations.

Eridrus 2y ago

The reason to let rich people keep their money is twofold: ethical economic activity is positive sum and rich people have shown an ability to generate these positive spillovers, and letting them keep it gives them an incentive to engage in this economic activity in the first place. The former does not apply to heirs, and the latter only weakly applies.

c22 2y ago
One effect of wealth is the ability to dictate the direction of development over physical assets in the real world. I've come to realize that the personalities of those who are able to amass large amounts of wealth over their lifetime tend to coalesce around a certain mean that results in somewhat predictable development patterns everywhere I go. These patterns, which are concerned with maximum efficiency and return on investment, result in an overwhelming bland, commercial, "sameness" that is taking over the globe. As it turns out, some of the most unique and interesting things I observe in the public sphere are owned by trust fund babies who took a different path to development (or just inefficiently left some ancient thing alone to decay). Either way, personally I appreciate this diversity in ownership of the world around me and this observation has changed the way I view the transfer of wealth through generations.
- Eridrus 2y ago
  It's a huge mental leap from "I like the output of nepo babies" to "the blandness in the works is due to the psychology of wealthy people". I would suggest reading more about the history of development and ask yourself why we used to make prettier buildings, but generally no longer do. Rich people have not changed.