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Comment by javajosh | Hacker News Reader

>How do you raise your kid not to cheat or lie OR ELSE he will live a life of leisure?

An interesting problem. The answer is partly that there is more to life than money - and as another poster mentioned, there's really not much leisure involved. The cheaters legitimately work very hard!

Essentially, I think the Gervais principle [1] is largely true. And therefore it's fine, and from a spiritual perspective, strictly better, to be a loser. (And I don't think there's any harm in trying to find an exception to the principle - tilting at the windmill of an honestly made fortune!)

https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-...

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+1 for the Gervais principle. It's a short book that makes you depressed for a week, but also makes it very clear why our societies work this way. The book doesn't say anything new, but it explains with examples a few simple facts about us.

However, the Gervais principle book is a very shallow version of lamrim that aims at explaining how the real world works. It also puts people into 3 categories: the clueless majority driven by forces, the small minority that's trying to escape these forces and the those who've largely escaped them and are now free. The sociopaths from the gervais principle are on the right track in general, but they make a common mistake on this path that lamrim discussed at length and so they slide into the nihilism dead end.

> However, the Gervais principle book is a very shallow version of lamrim that aims at explaining how the real world works. It also puts people into 3 categories: the clueless majority driven by forces, the small minority that's trying to escape these forces and the those who've largely escaped them and are now free. The sociopaths from the gervais principle are on the right track in general, but they make a common mistake on this path that lamrim discussed at length and so they slide into the nihilism dead end.

Bingo. That's also the best explanation of the concept I've seen.

It's a good read, in an entertainment sense, and there are some lesson to be gleaned -- but the same is true with the Bible, the Koran, or the Rig Vedas.

There is more to life than money for people who already have enough money. For the billion others, no. And let's be clear, these millions did not get created out of thin air. They are the product of the real work of real people.

And no, bullshitting your way for a mere 5 (?) years of your working life cannot be compared to the 40+ years of work of anyone else.

And no, putting a name on a principle does not make it common sense.

But yes, making a small fortune from your hard work and genius is totally acceptable. Fair and square

I'm a bit confused, and a little saddened, by your tone. Not to mention content (creating out of thin air? working for only 5 years? Gervais principle is common sense?). It's like you're responding to a different comment!

But they are created of thin air. Govs print more money to keep up with population and productivity growth. How these new money are distributed is a different question. The only thing that makes these money worth anything is a general consensus to accept them for some real work. And that consensus is driven by the desire to own things which is fueled up by the media. If everybody chooses to become a monk, these billions won't be worth anything. Overall, riding this wave of human greed isn't a bad thing: all these things around us, built by capitalism, allow us to have at least a few hours of free time per day. Before that people had to work 5am - 11pm to grow and hunt food.

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