apathy maybe
30th June 2004, 04:17
There Ain't No Such Thing as a Free Lunch (TANSTAAFL) is one of Robert A. Heinlein's* most famous quotations. Let us examine it closely and see where it stands up, and where it falls down. (Ignoring the double negative.)
The TANSTASFL is basically this,
"Everything worthwhile has a cost. Whenever you think you are getting something for nothing, look again - someone, somewhere, somehow is paying for it. Behind every free lunch there is a hidden cost to be accounted for."1
In most cases this does apply. Most definitely in a capitalist society, but also in a socialist one to a lesser extent. That 'free' education (that most of you didn't get) was paid for by the tax payer (or someone anyway).
This principle is used by capitalists to argue that socialism and most definitely communism wouldn't work. You can see in a capitalist society how this applies; when someone thinks there is a free lunch, generally the tab is being picked up in China, India or by the poor of their own country. It's how capitalism works.
It doesn't prevent Socialism from working however. Sure, there maybe no free lunch. But seeing as we all work for government (and we don't get paid), they should pick up the tab. As you can see, under socialism the principle still applies, just the burden is falling equally on all shoulders rather then just the poor.
Under a Communist society it starts getting difficult. The principle still applies, but in different ways. These I will leave as an exercise to the reader.
Ultimately where there is no free lunch, the impact falls on the environment. Sure you can have a new plastic bag every time you go shopping, but where did the oil come from? and where is that plastic going?
This principle doesn't apply to digital (you know what I mean, don't be difficult) things. If something is stored digitally it can effectively be copied an unlimited amount of times, with little or no cost to anyone. (Which is why "music piracy" isn't, it is more akin to someone copying the music to CDs then handing them out then someone stealing CD's. But both examples are in the real world, the Internet is not the real world.)
It also doesn't apply if you created a robot that was capable of finding material then building stuff out of it. Send it off to Mars, come back in 20 years and have a perfect city awaiting ('cept for that fact that you can't breath the air and a few other minor points). In this case it is not Humans that are losing anything, it is the ecology and environment (though some would argue that 1) Mars doesn't have one and 2) that humans are superior anyway).
Do as search for there Ain't No Such Thing as a Free Lunch (http://www.google.com/search?q=there%20ain%27t%20no%20such%20thing%20as% 20a%20free%20lunch&sourceid=mozilla-search&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8) on Google. You'll find it being used for a number of things, from ecology to capitalism. Enjoy.
*for those of you that don't know, Heinlein is a (was a?) Science Fiction author (a good one too, but not the best). He was also not a socialist. Do not let this detract from the rest of my post.
1) Shamelessly lifted from http://www.mgtaylor.com/public/2001/tanstaafl.html, why bother writing stuff when someone already has?
The TANSTASFL is basically this,
"Everything worthwhile has a cost. Whenever you think you are getting something for nothing, look again - someone, somewhere, somehow is paying for it. Behind every free lunch there is a hidden cost to be accounted for."1
In most cases this does apply. Most definitely in a capitalist society, but also in a socialist one to a lesser extent. That 'free' education (that most of you didn't get) was paid for by the tax payer (or someone anyway).
This principle is used by capitalists to argue that socialism and most definitely communism wouldn't work. You can see in a capitalist society how this applies; when someone thinks there is a free lunch, generally the tab is being picked up in China, India or by the poor of their own country. It's how capitalism works.
It doesn't prevent Socialism from working however. Sure, there maybe no free lunch. But seeing as we all work for government (and we don't get paid), they should pick up the tab. As you can see, under socialism the principle still applies, just the burden is falling equally on all shoulders rather then just the poor.
Under a Communist society it starts getting difficult. The principle still applies, but in different ways. These I will leave as an exercise to the reader.
Ultimately where there is no free lunch, the impact falls on the environment. Sure you can have a new plastic bag every time you go shopping, but where did the oil come from? and where is that plastic going?
This principle doesn't apply to digital (you know what I mean, don't be difficult) things. If something is stored digitally it can effectively be copied an unlimited amount of times, with little or no cost to anyone. (Which is why "music piracy" isn't, it is more akin to someone copying the music to CDs then handing them out then someone stealing CD's. But both examples are in the real world, the Internet is not the real world.)
It also doesn't apply if you created a robot that was capable of finding material then building stuff out of it. Send it off to Mars, come back in 20 years and have a perfect city awaiting ('cept for that fact that you can't breath the air and a few other minor points). In this case it is not Humans that are losing anything, it is the ecology and environment (though some would argue that 1) Mars doesn't have one and 2) that humans are superior anyway).
Do as search for there Ain't No Such Thing as a Free Lunch (http://www.google.com/search?q=there%20ain%27t%20no%20such%20thing%20as% 20a%20free%20lunch&sourceid=mozilla-search&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8) on Google. You'll find it being used for a number of things, from ecology to capitalism. Enjoy.
*for those of you that don't know, Heinlein is a (was a?) Science Fiction author (a good one too, but not the best). He was also not a socialist. Do not let this detract from the rest of my post.
1) Shamelessly lifted from http://www.mgtaylor.com/public/2001/tanstaafl.html, why bother writing stuff when someone already has?