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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Pieter, <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>If, in your ideal world, their lives are “decent, ” how would you characterize the life that you are leading. The way you talk sounds a bit like the way we talk about “essential” workers here. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>N <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Nick Thompson<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="mailto:ThompNickSon2@gmail.com"><span style='color:#0563C1'>ThompNickSon2@gmail.com</span></a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/"><span style='color:#0563C1'>https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/</span></a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b>From:</b> Friam <friam-bounces@redfish.com> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Pieter Steenekamp<br><b>Sent:</b> Friday, August 27, 2021 1:49 PM<br><b>To:</b> The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam@redfish.com><br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [FRIAM] "All [persons] are created equal"<o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>Dave wrote <i><span style='font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'>Why this obsession with "equality?"</span></i><o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>I totally agree. But in South Africa we have a large portion of the population that do not have food on the table every day and I simply don't think it's right.<br><br>So, my view is that instead of obsessing with "equality", we should obsess that those on the bottom of the economic ladder should at least have decent lives.<br><br>Pieter<o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal>On Fri, 27 Aug 2021 at 19:11, <<a href="mailto:thompnickson2@gmail.com">thompnickson2@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p></div><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Dave, <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>I think of mathematical abstractions as aspirations. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Thanks for meeting me on my own ground, here. You will recall that my original project was to try and discover what the metaphysical foundations might be for my strong negative response to the idea that castes are tolerable. What MUST I assume in order to think as I do. I have for many years suspected that the fundamental difference between comfortable BHL’s like me and comfortable conservatives is that we liberals see our comfort as arising from good luck, and they see their comfort as arising from their merit. Now, all metaphysics is non-sense, except insofar as it explains and encourages an approach to other people that is … um …. Good. I think than mine encourages me to approach people less wealthy than I, not as people deserving of their fate but as people who have, in some sense, made me a gift. Thus if there is kharma, it should be that the fortunate “should” pay for the correction of any absence of randomness that intergenerational transfers might inflict on the children of the poor. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>I lay this out in this naïve way because I thought it might provoke a strong (and perhaps equally naïve) reaction from Sarbajit which would make it immediately clear what different places we are coming from. Sarbajit may not answer, in which case I am left having revealed my naivete metaphysics to you bozos with all the consequences that must follow. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Now remember, nobody ever claimed that <span class=gmail-m600939801068286562quotationchar>all [persons] are <s>created</s> equal</span>. I think that we all will agree that <span class=gmail-m600939801068286562quotationchar>all persons are created equal [ in] <s><span style='color:red'>and </span></s>that they are endowed … with certain unalienable rights …”</span> “– i.e., they should be equal before the law. Our differences lie between these two poles. I take the “and” seriously, and think that, above and beyond the legal rights implied by the “endowment” conveyed by the second clause, they have an obligation of humbleness and gratitude to all those what have their good fortune possible, and that, at the very minimum that obligation should be expressed in an overtly redistributive tax policy. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>But even if you don’t accept the further implications of severing the two clauses in the way that I do, the notion of equality before the law demands much more of the rich than they currently pay. For instance, when J. P. Morgan IX runs over the faithful k-9 companion of the homeless Max Morgan and Max decides to sue, J.P. can pay the requested amount, including Max’s court costs and be done with it. If he decides to contest, then both parties should pay into the court costs in proportion to their wealth and the lawyers should be assigned at random. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>To the extent that the list is laced with libertarians, I don’t expect much sympathy from the list for any of this. If one thing unites libertarians, I would wager, it is the idea that people get what they deserve, or at least, that they have the right to hang on to whatever they get. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>So, Dave: What is your naïve metaphysics? <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Nick <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Nick Thompson<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><a href="mailto:ThompNickSon2@gmail.com" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0563C1'>ThompNickSon2@gmail.com</span></a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><a href="https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0563C1'>https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/</span></a><o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b>From:</b> Friam <<a href="mailto:friam-bounces@redfish.com" target="_blank">friam-bounces@redfish.com</a>> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Prof David West<br><b>Sent:</b> Friday, August 27, 2021 11:17 AM<br><b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:friam@redfish.com" target="_blank">friam@redfish.com</a><br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [FRIAM] "All [persons] are created equal"<o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>OK, curmudgeon and misanthrope that I am, I still must ask:</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'> </span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Why this obsession with "equality?"</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'> </span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Outside of the abstraction of math, no one thing is equal, in any sense, to another, let alone all members of a set of things being equal to each other.</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'> </span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Narrowing our attention to human beings. it has already been noted that the dimensions of potential inequality are myriad. It would be impossible to "equalize" all dimensions simultaneously, so pick one, income for example, and equalize on that dimension.</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'> </span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>To what end? What outcome would you expect to see? Why would it not be the case that every possible outcome would result in persistent "inequalities" because all the other dimensions of difference would swamp your 'independent variable' of income?</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'> </span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>No two human beings are created equal, let alone all "men." (sic) But the unfounded conviction that this must be 'true' demands the invention of myth to explain why it is not. And those myths are, in my opinion, harmful and divisive.</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'> </span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>I agree with Pieter (and probably everyone else on this list) that the current state of income inequality is evil and untenable. But, I would disagree with any means of rectifying the situation that is grounded in any kind of myth of individual human "equality."</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'> </span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>davew</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'> </span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'> </span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>On Fri, Aug 27, 2021, at 1:34 AM, Pieter Steenekamp wrote:<o:p></o:p></p></div><blockquote style='margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt' id="gmail-m_600939801068286562qt"><div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>If you just look at the world then "all [persons] are created equal" is just nonsense. What I like to focus on is what can we as a society do, and what can I personally do to move towards making all more equal? It's obviously not practical to expect heaven on earth, but IMO the current state of inequality is just not acceptable, but that's no reason to do nothing. For now I just address the first one, what can we as a society do?<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>The current state of politics is to a large extent driven by ideology and I would like to see a movement towards a more practical, and humble approach. Like an approach based on the philosophy behind the 2019 economic Nobel prize winners Banerjee, Duflo and Kremer. Their approach to reduce global poverty is experiment-based, taken from science. <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>I quote from <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/camilomaldonado/2019/10/14/nobel-prize-in-economics-won-by-trio-tackling-global-poverty/" target="_blank">https://www.forbes.com/sites/camilomaldonado/2019/10/14/nobel-prize-in-economics-won-by-trio-tackling-global-poverty/</a> :<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>"Their work, which tackles one of humanities most pressing issues, is based on the idea that to battle poverty, the issues should be broken down into smaller pieces and studied via small field experiments to answer precise questions within the communities who are most affected."<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Another quote:<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>"Poor people are supposed to be either completely desperate or lazy or entrepreneurial but people don’t – we don’t try to … understand the deep root and interconnected root of poverty." - Esther Duflo<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>I don't mind if anybody wants to understand the deep root and interconnected root of poverty, it's just that I personally, like Esther Duflo, like to focus on what to do about it.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Pieter<o:p></o:p></p></div></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>On Fri, 27 Aug 2021 at 05:07, <<a href="mailto:thompnickson2@gmail.com" target="_blank">thompnickson2@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p></div><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt'><div><div><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal>Dave,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal>This is, of course, exactly the opposite of my creation myth in which the slate is wiped clean after every generation. But it would explain a belief system in which well-being was the deserved reward of having lived well in a previous life. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal>While I am here, please let me point out that “equal in law” seems a rather constrained understanding “born equal”, given especially that the passage goes on to add equality in law (well rights, actually) as an additional endowment. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-gmail-m483865265995499473quotation>“… and they are endowed by their Creator by certain <span style='color:red;background:yellow'>rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.</span><span style='color:red'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal>Where is John Dobson when we need him. Could somebody please forward this note to him. I don’t have his email address here with me.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal>Thanks, <o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal>Nick <o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal>Nick Thompson<o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal><a href="mailto:ThompNickSon2@gmail.com" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0563C1'>ThompNickSon2@gmail.com</span></a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal><a href="https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0563C1'>https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/</span></a><o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal> <o:p></o:p></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in;border-right:currentcolor;border-bottom:currentcolor;border-left:currentcolor'><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b>From:</b> Friam <<a href="mailto:friam-bounces@redfish.com" target="_blank">friam-bounces@redfish.com</a>> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Prof David West<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b>Sent:</b> Thursday, August 26, 2021 10:17 PM<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:friam@redfish.com" target="_blank">friam@redfish.com</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b>Subject:</b> Re: [FRIAM] "All [persons] are created equal"<o:p></o:p></p></div></div></div><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal> <o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal><span class=gmail-m600939801068286562font><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Purely from my academic understanding of the subject; the Nick that is, at this moment / in this incarnation, is a product of karma accrued and shed over multiple instances of existence. Hence, what you are now is precisely what you <u>deserve</u> to be. All persons may have been created equal some untold incarnations ago and before they had any opportunity to accrete karma.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal><span class=gmail-m600939801068286562font><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'> </span></span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal><span class=gmail-m600939801068286562font><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>davew</span></span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal><span class=gmail-m600939801068286562font><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'> </span></span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal><span class=gmail-m600939801068286562font><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'> </span></span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal>On Thu, Aug 26, 2021, at 2:04 PM, <a href="mailto:thompnickson2@gmail.com" target="_blank">thompnickson2@gmail.com</a> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p></div><blockquote style='margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt' id="gmail-m_600939801068286562qt-gmail-m_483865265995499473qt"><div><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-gmail-m483865265995499473qt-msonormal1>Sarbajit,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-gmail-m483865265995499473qt-msonormal1> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-gmail-m483865265995499473qt-msonormal1>If I understand the shape of the globe correctly, you are waking up pretty soon, and I would like to pick up the conversation about caste, if you don’t mind. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-gmail-m483865265995499473qt-msonormal1> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-gmail-m483865265995499473qt-msonormal1>I believe the proposition in the subject line. Given the many ways that proposition can be understood as plainly false, I feel that my belief in it must be defended.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-gmail-m483865265995499473qt-msonormal1> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-gmail-m483865265995499473qt-msonormal1>In what sense equal? Not in genes. Not in uterine environment. . Not in early nutrition and cognitive stimulation. Not in social capitol. Not in financial capitol. Not in access to health care. Not in exposure to future parasites. Not in almost anything that I can think of. So, why is the aphorism not just nonsense.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-gmail-m483865265995499473qt-msonormal1> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-gmail-m483865265995499473qt-msonormal1>I find, that if I examine my thinking in this matter, a very primitive metaphysics about the moment of an individual’s creation. What follows is flagrantly silly, but here it is. On my account, at the moment of birth a soul is taken out of storage and assigned to a body. By “person” in the aphorism, I mean the combination of a particular soul with the particular body. These assignments are at random. So, for good or ill, no soul deserves the body it gets. I cannot claim credit for my genes, my good uterine environment, my social capitol, my financial capitol, my bad hip, the draft deferment it provided, my getting a phd at absolute peak of demand for phd’s, my good education, even my FRIAM membership. They are all consequences of that initial, random assignment. Now YOU may credit me in some ways, because knowing that all these advantages have been assigned to me may make me useful or pleasing (or the opposite) in many ways, and that may bring me the advantages of your association. But <span class=gmail-m600939801068286562font><span style='font-family:Wingdings'>è</span></span> I <span class=gmail-m600939801068286562font><span style='font-family:Wingdings'>ç</span></span> do not <span class=gmail-m600939801068286562font><span style='font-family:Wingdings'>è</span></span>deserve<span class=gmail-m600939801068286562font><span style='font-family:Wingdings'>ç</span></span> those advantages. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-gmail-m483865265995499473qt-msonormal1> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-gmail-m483865265995499473qt-msonormal1>This odd metaphysics leads me to enormous gratitude for the life I have been allowed to live and great sympathy for rigorous taxation of the advantaged, so that so much a soul’s future is not determined by that moment of assignment.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-gmail-m483865265995499473qt-msonormal1> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-gmail-m483865265995499473qt-msonormal1>I have no idea what happens to this primitive metaphysics if I try to integrate it with my monism. The religious scholars among you might recognize as some backass weird perversion of Calvinism. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-gmail-m483865265995499473qt-msonormal1> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-gmail-m483865265995499473qt-msonormal1> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-gmail-m483865265995499473qt-msonormal1>Nick Thompson<o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-gmail-m483865265995499473qt-msonormal1><a href="mailto:ThompNickSon2@gmail.com" target="_blank">ThompNickSon2@gmail.com</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-gmail-m483865265995499473qt-msonormal1><a href="https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/" target="_blank">https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-gmail-m483865265995499473qt-msonormal1> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal>- .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. .<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal>FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal>Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 <a href="http://bit.ly/virtualfriam" target="_blank">bit.ly/virtualfriam</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal>un/subscribe <a href="http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com" target="_blank">http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal>FRIAM-COMIC <a href="http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal>archives: <a href="http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/" target="_blank">http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=gmail-m600939801068286562qt-msonormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div></blockquote><div><p 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