"a true genius rigs the game so they always win"
Does that mean that everyone should
stop being good at what they do? Is it
evidence that we throw the baby out
with the bathwater? The baby being
merit. If so, this will be our future.
Keynesianism = idiocracy because it
stops people & corps from learning.
nobody is suggesting that "merit" is bad and we'd all love to live in a "meritocracy"
the sad fact is that "merit" is not always rewarded
What you say is true. Additionally, in the realm of business, merit is more rewarded than it is not. The cream rises to the top more often than not, but sometimes the shit does too. When stool floats, it is unhealthy. For example, in some countries like Japan, you will have some excellent CEO examples who got where they got based on their merit. Other times CEOs are just designated fall guys who assume all the risk. Just because bad things can happen to people who do well, that doesn't mean we should abandon the practice of doing well. People who exhibit merit can get assailed as people are just flesh and blood. However, the idea of rewarding the meritorious is bulletproof. What's the alternative, pay people who suck at doing what they do? That'd be bad for business and illogical.
ALSO,
PLEASE BE SO KIND AS TO MAKE YOUR PERSONALLY PREFERRED DEFINITION OF "MERIT" EXPLICIT
In the case of business,
"conduct deserving reward."Someone who works well and with quality has merit.
In this case, the CEO demonstrates fiscal responsibility.
He was clearly the man for the position he occupied.
response to "genuine hierarchies of competence"
She seems to think that venture capital and academia are everything. Although I resonate with many things being a scam or a hustle, not everything is. There are plenty of real people doing tangible jobs that need to get done. She may have gone into school with a notion that academia + whatever I decide to learn = success. Perhaps she had the idea that she'd like to be a venture capitalist because venture capitalists can earn a lot of money.
She failed to realize that capitalists who venture their capital in a startup in exchange for stake equity do so with their own money. So she'd have to start wealthy to have the money to invest. She put the cart before the horse. The best she could do is strive to become an associate for a venture capitalist. Ideally, this person would have a good eye for recognizing successful businesses before they become successful.
I feel bad for her because the chances are she went and enrolled into some training to become a VC, and it probably wasn't explained to her how unrealistic the goal is if you don't have money from the start. I'd concede that most of academia, especially nowadays, is on a par with predatory lending. Even though the collegiate institution is not the lender, they're selling the pipe dream and steering people to the lender. In a day in age where race and gender studies abound, trade schooling is more likely to lead to a successful career path.
perhaps this has something to do with their remarkably low crime rate
Well, that's just one example of one good CEO.
I'm sure their are corrupt CEOs in Japan too.
However, schooling in Japan seems way
different than in America. They instill
qualities of accountability and
responsibility very early on.
i'm also wondering how this "merit" is being "rewarded" ?
perhaps in "peace of mind" ?