> The work is the same, yet if the take home is different, you've proven that your income is not in fact earned through work in a moral sense.
You could say the same about musicians and authors. Are they immoral as well?
You could say the same about musicians and authors. Are they immoral as well?
But note that I have been very careful not to call the fund managers individually immoral.
Making great art is wonderful, but it's certainly not "work" the same way that digging a ditch or answering tech support calls is.
I was talking specifically about the moral implications of books that can be read without any additional work from the author. This statement is about books, not authors.
> but it's certainly not "work" the same way that digging a ditch
I don't think so. Value comes from utility, not from toil.
I agree, writing great novels is a wonderful thing and a moral positive.
The moral problems begin when writing that book gives you extraordinary power beyond what is healthy for society (which is extremely rare for authors, of course; the discussion isn't really about authors, you just invoked them in an attempt to conjure a moral shield for the people who are the real problem).
And again, even that in itself is still not a moral failing of the individual. It's primarily a failure of the system in which the individual operates.
It does become a moral failing of the individual if the individual uses that power to perpetuate the system.