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Comment by fifnir | Hacker News Reader

If I plant wheat and some of the plants don't produce fruit, should I stop watering all of them and demand that they each find its own water source ?

If I try breeding chickens and some of them stop laying eggs, should I abandon the whole endeavor and start buying my chickens from the local supermarket because some chicken are dicking around?

All national efforts are going to have some waste, it's inevitable and I think we can more than comfortably afford it. Our job should not be to scrutinize every detail in order to minimize waste (of course we should be doing that as well) but rather to make sure that every wheat seed and every chicken have all they need in order to fully develop themselves to the best of their abilities.

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Are you saying humans are basically farm animals to be tended to by the government? Personally I would prefer to be considered a sentient being in my own right with my own rights and responsibilities.

There is a reason we expend so much energy and care in looking after wheat and chickens. It's so we can eat them.

It's called a metaphor, typically children start distinguishing them in written speech at about 4yo.

It is a very telling metaphor in terms of attitudes regarding relative roles of individuals and government. I'm not sure if you're American or not, but many Americans would recoil at the idea that they should be treated like a farm animal.

An animal on a farm might be treated well (at the discretion of the farmer) (until they are slaughtered), but they aren't free. An animal in the wild has freedom, but not security.

America heavily favors the latter, or at least it used to, times may be a'changing.

>An animal in the wild has freedom, but not security.

An animal that gives up its freedom for security deserves neither.

I agree that the original metaphor was inappropriate because it compares people to domesticated animals and crops that have no free will and would not exist without the farm, not to mention the personal freedom implications of equating citizens to domesticated animals.

You're grasping at the words trying to force an irrelevant and unsubstantiated point. No, I'm not saying to treat people like animals, on the contrary, I was arguing for allowing people the dignity to study without debts.

And what I'm trying to tell you is that living as a ward of the state is not something many people would consider to be dignified.

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