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Comment by Fomite | Hacker News Reader

As with many things, this is also more complex. This article: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303694650_Primate_r... suggests that higher status animal in this particular group have a higher parasite burden.

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Nietszche says to measure one's strength by the number of parasites one can support.

"It is not impossible to imagine society so conscious of its power that it could allow itself the noblest luxury available to it, – that of letting its malefactors go unpunished. ‘What do I care about my parasites’, it could say, ‘let them live and flourish: I am strong enough for all that!’ . . . Justice, which began by saying ‘Everything can be paid off, everything must be paid off ’, ends by turning a blind eye and letting off those unable to pay, – it ends, like every good thing on earth, by sublimating itself. The self-sublimation of justice: we know what a nice name it gives itself – mercy; it remains, of course, the prerogative of the most powerful man, better still, his way of being beyond the law." -- Genealogy of Morals, 2nd Essay, Chapter 10

"In the spot where the strong are weak, where the noble are over tender, there the parasite builds its horrid nest; dwelling in the sick corners of the great man . . . and it is just the highest species that harbors the greatest number of parasites." -- Thus Spake Zarathustra, Part 3, Section 56: "On Old and New Tablets", Number 19

He's talking about Basic Income y'all.

Maybe. The funny thing is that, as is always the case, other interpretation it's possible too: only societies with excedents can afford super rich.

Low status is stressful. And so is high status.

The suggestion is more high status -> more exposure to any parasite whose transmission isn't environmentally mediated.

Forced, involuntary low status is stressful.

Opting out and just not giving a four letter word does not have to be.

I enjoy my stress with sauna, massages and whine.

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