Justify your existance

srmeaney · 2005-08-12 17:56:29

Tell us all why you have a right to a market share of resources.

clark · 2005-08-12 20:25:07

Because we put up with you.

We all put up with each other, thus we each have an equal right to resources. When some put up with others in a less equitable manner, well, as they say, "Houston, we have a problem."

Josh Cryer · 2005-08-12 20:41:58

I was born.

clark · 2005-08-12 20:44:03

again?

get it? Oh, never mind.

Josh Cryer · 2005-08-12 21:09:42

I hid in the trunk of my parents car when everyone was getting babtized (at a lake rather than a Church babtismal pool). They couldn't find me, sent out a search team and everything, but I popped up when we got home, and was like "I was with you guys the whole time! What's wrong with you?"

They dared not question it for some reason.

The search was called off shortly after.

I'm going straight to hell probably.

clark · 2005-08-12 21:12:34

Well, not being baptized, yeah.

As for the the joke... well done.

reddragon · 2005-08-15 09:28:43

Tell us all why you have a right to a market share of resources.

It is generally assumed that everyone is born with a right to life. Some people beleive this right is inalienable, a view I tend towards, while others say it may be lost if abused. I will assume we are talking about someone whom we all agree has the right to be alive. From this premise we naturally arrive at the conclusion that one has a right to enough resources to stay alive. After that it gets trickier and more subjective. Does one have the right to only enough to stay alive? Or enough to have a real chance of accomplishing something? If the latter, how long should one be provided with opportunity if he does not avail himself of it. And to the original question: While we all have a right to something, I think that some have a right to a greater share of resources that others. Hard work should pay off. Great accomplishment should be rewarded. Ideally we should all get a good start with plenty of opportunities and should be able to advance ourselves from there based on merit.

Trebuchet · 2005-08-15 19:05:26

Tell us all why you have a right to a market share of resources.

I am armed.

clark · 2005-08-15 20:06:12

I have two. And hands.

C M Edwards · 2005-08-16 05:28:47

Tell us all why you have a right to a market share of resources.

I have a five finger discount plan. 8)

Stormrage · 2005-08-16 09:39:05

Tell us all why you have a right to a market share of resources.

I'm the token black guy .

Rxke · 2005-08-16 12:43:38

I'm Belgian.

Seriously, the Brits need us to make fun of in their shows.

Grypd · 2005-08-16 16:04:19

I oppose the space commonwealth with every fibre of my being

John Creighton · 2005-08-16 16:08:49

I think therefore I am.

Mad Grad Student · 2005-08-17 23:44:37

Tell us all why you have a right to a market share of resources.

Hmm, let's see. Well, I was born into an unbelievably wealthy and privilaged country for one thing. I suppose that doesn't give me a right to resources, but it does make it very easy for me to obtain them, for what that's worth. Perhaps more relevantly, I can think critically, feel emotions, and create informed opinions on complex subjects, as well as touch-type at 55 wpm. That may not justify my existence, but it would make me a target for SETI if I didn't have a genome with 99.9999% commonality with every other human on or off Earth.

I am also proficient in the Jitterbug, Macarana, and Electric Slide. If nothing else does, I'm sure that will make you tolerate my existence here.

Rxke · 2005-08-18 00:58:22

Reading all this, I sure hope Mr. Meaney Sr. didn't set his hopes too high re: getting an insightful answer to his question!

John Creighton · 2005-08-18 12:07:32

Reading all this, I sure hope Mr. Meaney Sr. didn't set his hopes too high re: getting an insightful answer to his question!

Ahh, maybe he got the answer he was looking for. Since everyone failed to give a good answer to the question it means that many of our ideas with respect to ownership of wealth are built on sand. (Waiting for Commander Cobra to jump in now)

Cobra Commander · 2005-08-18 12:29:26

(Waiting for Commander Cobra to jump in now)

Ask and ye shall receive.

Tell us all why you have a right to a market share of resources.

To be blunt, I don't. You don't. None of us have a "right" to any resources whatsoever. When standing in the middle of a desert under the blazing noonday sun your rights to the resources needed for survival are revealed to be merely our own little philosophical constructs. Neither the sand nor the sun gives the posterior of a rodent about "rights." The universe doesn't care.

On another level the question itself is flawed, for not only does this "right to resources" not exist but who are we supposed to be justifying our supposed right to? Mr. Meaney? The benevolent Space Commonwealth that sends dissenters to rot in lunar gulags? The eternal spirits of the universe? No, the mere act of formulating the question reveals a set of unsubstantiated assumptions. Asking one to justify their claim to a supposed right is silly. If it requires justification it implies it's conditional, in which case it ceases to be a right and descends to the realm of privelege.

Do we deserve to have a market share of resources? This can be debated but it's so subjective as to be meaningless. Riddled with assumptions, flexible to the point of irrelevance.

Though Grypd's answer comes close.

So in the end, Trebuchet is closest to the right answer. On what grounds do we individually lay claim to our share of resources? We take possession of them and with some level of overt or implied force maintain it. We all accept a certain level of tradeable currency because of the implied threat of force if we try to exceed that level. We maintain a hold on the things we purchase through the threat of force we call "property rights." Even then, sometimes the baseline threat is insufficient. People get robbed all the time.

Our claim to resources is based in essence on our capacity to hold them. We distort that with social constructs, but at the core that's what we've got.

clark · 2005-08-18 20:24:56

Bravo Cobra.

To "justify" to another implies that we each have no individual claim to any of the resources. If we accept that premise, then no individual can claim to be in a position to actually have ownership of the resources without some sort of "justification". If that is the case, then we become a market of "justifications" comparing and evaluating each others justifications against one another.

We end up with a situation where we are all peddling excuses why we are special, when in reality, none are.

So then we all end up having the same equal right and expectation to "gets whats we cans grab". From a pragmatic standpoint, this isn't very safe or very efficient.

So we subsume ourselves and our individual right to whatever we can lay claim to for a hierarchy based system that promises some opportunity for a certain level of "secure" access to resources, with varying amounts of opportunity to increase that share. Ah, Civilization!

It is part and parcel of being within a group. You give a little, you get a little.

srmeaney · 2005-08-18 22:22:30

To "justify" to another implies that we each have no individual claim to any of the resources. If we accept that premise, then no individual can claim to be in a position to actually have ownership of the resources without some sort of "justification". If that is the case, then we become a market of "justifications" comparing and evaluating each others justifications against one another.

Look Ma: A Martian Legal System.

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#1 2005-08-12 17:56:29

Re: Justify your existance

#2 2005-08-12 20:25:07

Re: Justify your existance

#3 2005-08-12 20:41:58

Re: Justify your existance

#4 2005-08-12 20:44:03

Re: Justify your existance

#5 2005-08-12 21:09:42

Re: Justify your existance

#6 2005-08-12 21:12:34

Re: Justify your existance

#7 2005-08-15 09:28:43

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#8 2005-08-15 19:05:26

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#9 2005-08-15 20:06:12

Re: Justify your existance

#10 2005-08-16 05:28:47

Re: Justify your existance

#11 2005-08-16 09:39:05

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#12 2005-08-16 12:43:38

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#13 2005-08-16 16:04:19

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#14 2005-08-16 16:08:49

Re: Justify your existance

#15 2005-08-17 23:44:37

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#16 2005-08-18 00:58:22

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#17 2005-08-18 12:07:32

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#18 2005-08-18 12:29:26

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#19 2005-08-18 20:24:56

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#20 2005-08-18 22:22:30

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