[rsweeney21]

This is such a bad analogy, I stopped listening to the rest of his arguments. Why did the four people get half the food? If it was because the organizer picked his four favorite people, sure, people would feel like it is unfair. That's a dictatorship.

If it was because they planted the crops, tended the fields, and did all the work to harvest and prepare it, I don't think any reasonable person would complain. We feel like that is a fair outcome because most nations have collectively agreed that owning property is a fundamental human right. In the US it's the 5th amendment.

[alpha_squared]

If I may fix a major assumption, I'd like to acknowledge it:

> If it was because they [enslaved or underpaid people who] planted the crops, tended the fields, and did all the work to harvest and prepare it, I don't think any reasonable person would complain. We feel like that is a fair outcome because most nations have collectively agreed that owning property is a fundamental human right. In the US it's the 5th amendment.

All of a sudden it doesn't sound so reasonable and yet comes off a fair bit truer than the original.

[rsweeney21]

That's a different scenario than the one I presented. Sure, people would be upset if the four people got their dinner by using slaves. Hence my point that the "why" really matters.

[alpha_squared]

Historically, and currently, slave labor is used.

However, I believe I've stated more than just slave labor. It's a very relative thing, but it appears many people are certainly underpaid compared to the wealth they generate for the few. It's starting to feel like people in tech believe otherwise because they're compensated better than average and therefore might be "above it all". I think that's alarming and short-sighted.

[ip26]

I don't think any reasonable person would complain

That depends on whether they are starving.

[rsweeney21]

That wasn't his analogy. "Imagine if dinner was carted into this room, and four people got half the food. The night would end in violence."

Hence my point that this is a bad analogy.

[tsimionescu]

Sure, but in reality the people who tended the fields never get that much of the food - whether it's feudal lords or modern capitalists, labour never gets paid the full amount of what they've produced.

[sillyphus]

>labour never gets paid the full amount of what they've produced

1) I am certain there are laborers who get paid more than they produce.

2) Labor never takes the risk of providing capital.