Comments on: Assumptions http://larison.org/2007/09/26/assumptions/ n. the principle of good order "Observe the strange inversion of all order and sense! Dignity debased; how vilely is the function of a consul prostituted!" ~The Craftsman Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:45:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: Pithlord http://larison.org/2007/09/26/assumptions/#comment-7758 Tue, 02 Oct 2007 17:28:51 +0000 http://larison.org/2007/09/26/assumptions/#comment-7758 You make an important point about the "brain drain": that is a far bigger problem for the least developed countries than whatever advantages those countries would get from sending surplus labour to Europe or America. From talking to Ethiopians about this, I think there is great ambivalence. On the one hand, individually, people usually want to get out and give their children a better life. On the other hand, they are also proud of their civilization (hard as that might be for Willkinson to imagine) and want their country to develop. No one there really imagines that mass migration is an overall solution -- Wilkinson's views would be received politely but skeptically -- and everyone knows immigration means fewer doctors and engineers, along with fewer people who might have the wherewithall to oppose the government. You make an important point about the “brain drain”: that is a far bigger problem for the least developed countries than whatever advantages those countries would get from sending surplus labour to Europe or America. From talking to Ethiopians about this, I think there is great ambivalence. On the one hand, individually, people usually want to get out and give their children a better life. On the other hand, they are also proud of their civilization (hard as that might be for Willkinson to imagine) and want their country to develop. No one there really imagines that mass migration is an overall solution — Wilkinson’s views would be received politely but skeptically — and everyone knows immigration means fewer doctors and engineers, along with fewer people who might have the wherewithall to oppose the government.

]]> by: Maximos http://larison.org/2007/09/26/assumptions/#comment-7726 Thu, 27 Sep 2007 19:07:55 +0000 http://larison.org/2007/09/26/assumptions/#comment-7726 That's just the thing, Chris, the libertarians don't have an argument for so thinking. That’s just the thing, Chris, the libertarians don’t have an argument for so thinking.

]]> by: chrisgbr http://larison.org/2007/09/26/assumptions/#comment-7723 Thu, 27 Sep 2007 16:08:43 +0000 http://larison.org/2007/09/26/assumptions/#comment-7723 Can someone please explain to me why it is "abhorrent" to think that we have greater responsibility for those that depend on and interact with us, than we do to those who do not? Surely if no relationships are to merit special value, then none will have any at all. Can someone please explain to me why it is “abhorrent” to think that we have greater responsibility for those that depend on and interact with us, than we do to those who do not?

Surely if no relationships are to merit special value, then none will have any at all.

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