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Are we the baddies?

(geohot.github.io)
692 points AndrewSwift | 1 comments | 06 Jul 25 05:36 UTC | HN request time: 0.447s | source
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mhog_hn ◴[06 Jul 25 09:14 UTC] No.44479081[source]▶
What meta structure allows us to get rid of rent seeking behavior?

I don’t have an answer - is there scientific research on this?

Taxation? Loopholes will be found.

Lawfare against it? Lobbying will win.

I am amazed by capitalism, but at the same time it is a ruthless machine - and in democratic countries it is highly unlikely that a single political party can force the machine into a new direction. Perhaps that is a very nice feature, at the cost of also having to tolerate rent seeking, but it sure as hell sucks to see these downsides.

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1. lmm ◴[06 Jul 25 11:45 UTC] No.44479871[source]▶
Social cohesion. People are happy to rip off an outsider, a stranger, a schmuck. But people within a high-trust social group generally don't rip each other off - you still need to be on the look out for fraudsters, but you won't be doing it systematically and virtually openly.

It's not a coincidence that all this has happened as the US' national identity has gotten weaker and weaker. They're shifting from a cohesive nation to one of those "it's a single block on the map but it's actually 200 tribes who all hate each other" countries, and people's values and behaviour are shifting to match.