-20

Suppose you had seven children.

All of them, having reached the age of maturity, were jobless and were encouraged to find a job.

Child one keeps applying for different jobs in the technology industry but nobody will accept them. However, they keep trying and trying. They are like Sisyphus. They also aren't doing anything as they wait.

Child two makes themselves exclusive to doing odds and ends for a decent amount of money. While child one thinks jobs should be sought via the application process, child two is averse enough to this that the inconsistency of what they do day to day is intentional.

Child three applied an actual application for an "actual" job and found one. The catch? It's an organized crime job. However, it's not immoral even though it's illegal. They're the personal household assistant of the mob boss. They too get paid immensely.

Child four also applied an actual application for an "actual" job and found one. The catch? It's not illegal but has ethical issues involved. They mastermind ways to monitor and deal with those considered national threats. They too get paid immensely.

Child five, too, applied an actual application for an "actual" job, but it's something they're utterly terrible at doing, skill-wise. They're tasked with therapy but have so little skill it's considered useless. Child five, despite this flaw, gets paid decently by the office building.

Child six applied for a job and was appointed into one that had the completely foreseeable result of causing many dozens of people to lose their own job. They maintain a scenery-modifying machine which caused and still threatens to cause many scenery workers to become like spare cogs wandering the streets in search of a purpose. Child six too gets paid well, despite also having a version of their job that undermines the importance of the profession itself.

Finally, child seven is a volunteer, one with no ethical or legal issues involved, no issues finding a job, and no limits whatsoever in what they can do for others, and they do it all for free. However, after a few months of doing it, they think "that's enough for me" and they never do a deed again.

One day, you realize you are passing away and summon all seven children to your home. You have specific things, all of which only one child can inherit, and due to the nature of these things, it has to be the child whose deeds make them out to seem the worthiest, as it's the only tiebreaker. Which child do you prioritize as being the best candidate for the one with the highest worth?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Hunter232@programming.dev 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

#s2,6,7 are finalists. In my opinion they all contribute to society.

#2 seems to have low ambition.

#6 is framed as being unethical by lowering the value of scenery business. I interpret this as the AI art problem. My opinion is people do what they are passionate about. If their job puts people out of work they were just doing the job for the money. Handcrafted bespoke furniture is no less valuable due to cheap flat packed IKEA furniture's existence.

#7 provided value to society but seems to have a zero sum mindset.

So, not knowing what the inheritance is makes deciding between them difficult.

Blindly choosing I'd say #2.

If it were a one of a kind piece of art, say van gogh's "starry night" I'd say #6. As it might provide some perspective to them.

If it were something truly priceless... I might choose #7. The zero sum perspective is hard to hold when you can't calculate what it would take to get back to zero.

this post was submitted on 04 Jan 2024
-20 points (23.7% liked)

Ask Lemmy

26665 readers
1239 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS