Ep27 : Risk, Reward, Cost Abstraction, and some Religion Too
b'In this week\'s episode, Jad and I discuss one of Kevin\'s all time favorite political and economic topics: risk and reward. Jad starts our episode off with a fictitious example of how the concept politically works. And while there is humor in it, it\'s also all too serious in that it\'s entirely true. How is it that the fabric of our modern society is woven together such that a few hundred people in power can arbitrary steal an unlimited sum of money to do, really whatever they damn well please? Why should we allow costs to be hidden and abstracted from our view? Are we not to be entrusted with our own earnings?\\n\\nHalfway through the episode we segue from risk, reward, and cost abstractions to discussing the fundamental reasons why humans are tolerant of this kind of behavior. It would be amusing to consider just how much bullshit people are taught to accept if only the practice weren\'t so detrimental to our lives.\\n\\nSo yes, risk, reward, cost abstraction, religion, politics. All of the things you\'re not supposed to talk about at the dinner table rolled into a single twenty-minute radio show. Of course we\'re pretty certain the only reason those topics are taboo in the first place is because if we did discuss them regularly, we\'d discover at a much earlier age how patently absurd our societal views of the topics really are. But that\'s a future episode in the waiting.\\n\\nMaterial from Podcast\\nMusic\\n\\nLose Yourself by Eminem.\\nLose Yourself (instrumental) by Eminem.\\n\\n\\nAdditional Research\\n\\nAbraham Lincoln Brigade\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nTranscript of Podcast\\n\\nJad: This is somebody else\'s example - I can\'t remember who so I can\'t credit them - but if you know, a month after 9/11 they\'re like, this guy went door to door and was like, "we\'re going to fucking invade Afghanistan and take over their government, and hunt down Bin Laden and kill him", and then the person would be like, "yeah, fuck yeah. Let\'s do it." But if they were like, "OK all we need you to do is give us $10,000 dollars", nobody would do it - nobody cares that much. \\n\\nKevin: Hello and welcome back to the JK Podcast, and anti-authoritarian free speech zone dedicated to the pursuit of liberty, humanity, and equality for all people. In this week\'s episode, Jad and I discuss one of my all-time favorite political and economic topics, risk and reward. Jad started our episode off with a fictitious example of how the concept politically works, and while there is some humor in it, it\'s also all too serious in that it\'s entirely true. \\n\\nHow is it that the fabric of our modern society is woven together such that a few hundred people in power can arbitrarily steal an unlimited sum of money to do really, whatever they damn well please. Why should we allow costs to be hidden and abstracted from our view? Are we not to be entrusted with our own earnings? \\n\\nHalfway through the episode, we segway from risk, reward, and cost abstractions, to discussing the fundamental reasons why humans are tolerant of this kind of behavior. It would be amusing to consider just how much bullshit people are taught to accept if only it weren\'t so detrimental to our lives. This is Kevin Ludlow and Jad Davis - welcome back to our show. \\n\\nLet\'s go ahead and back that up.\\n\\nJad: - that if they were like, "OK, all we need you to do is give us $10,000 dollars", nobody would do it - nobody cares that much. And maybe they do care enough to contribute $20 dollars to a bounty, and you can have like the Abraham Lincoln brigade you know, Spanish Civil War, people can get together, collectively pool their funds, go over and try to find him, but they\'re not going to be able to bomb the fuck out of cities, and occupy countries, and assassinate leaders. \\n\\nThose kinds of resources can\'t be voluntarily raised because people aren\'t stupid. When there\'s a vague idea, they can be stupid. And when it\'s other people\'s you know, lives on the line, they can be stupid.'