Why We Banned Legos (2006)

Re:Why We Banned Legos (2006) by WalterBright on Friday February 18, 2022 @07:31PM (#30393168)

Taking turns and sharing is reasonable when there is a fixed pie, such as you're in a lifeboat with 3 others and a gallon of water, or you're in a classroom with a fixed supply of Legos. However, fixed pies almost never happen in a free market, and are not a valid model for a free market.

I've seen socialists before using fixed pie economics in classrooms to extol the evils of free markets.

The Monopoly game was invented by a socialist to show how bad free markets are. Of course, it's a fixed pie game.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why We Banned Legos (2006) by Aeolun on Friday February 18, 2022 @11:52PM (#30394517)

Yeah, clearly we can just fabricate our way to more land in desired areas, nothing fixed pie about that at all.

I agree that most things aren’t fixed pie. But some of the most important things in life are, and people who get lucky in that regard have a massive advantage.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why We Banned Legos (2006) by WalterBright on Saturday February 19, 2022 @04:20PM (#30400643)

> clearly we can just fabricate our way to more land in desired areas

We do it all the time:

1. multistory buildings

2. vertical farms

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why We Banned Legos (2006) by nickpp on Saturday February 19, 2022 @02:45AM (#30395173)

> land in desired areas

While we’re not fabricating land (yet), we are certainly manufacturing desire.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why We Banned Legos (2006) by mwcampbell on Friday February 18, 2022 @07:53PM (#30393341)

Isn't the whole world a fixed pie? Sure, technological advances let us make more efficient use of our resources, but they're still finite.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why We Banned Legos (2006) by WalterBright on Friday February 18, 2022 @08:26PM (#30393525)

> Isn't the whole world a fixed pie?

Nope. We use energy to transform valueless things into ever more valuable things.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why We Banned Legos (2006) by mwcampbell on Friday February 18, 2022 @08:42PM (#30393627)

Someday our current cheap energy will run out, and we'll just have to divide up what we have left. At least, that's what I hear. People have been predicting this for a while, and it hasn't happened yet (at least where I live in the US), but that doesn't mean it won't.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why We Banned Legos (2006) by WalterBright on Friday February 18, 2022 @08:56PM (#30393715)

The Earth is just a dot in the sphere around the Sun through which all the Sun's energy passes.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why We Banned Legos (2006) by Apocryphon on Friday February 18, 2022 @09:23PM (#30393858)

And eventually the sun will become a red giant, devouring the earth.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why We Banned Legos (2006) by leetcrew on Friday February 18, 2022 @10:15PM (#30394099)

we have about 5 billion years to figure out a solution to that. I'm not too worried.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why We Banned Legos (2006) by Apocryphon on Friday February 18, 2022 @07:54PM (#30393344)

Monopoly was invented by a Georgist to illustrate the ills of land grabbing.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why We Banned Legos (2006) by WalterBright on Friday February 18, 2022 @08:26PM (#30393533)

You can't subdivide a lot in Monopoly, nor build taller buildings on it.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why We Banned Legos (2006) by Apocryphon on Friday February 18, 2022 @08:29PM (#30393549)

So? That has no bearing on any ideology.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26881799

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9050666

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why We Banned Legos (2006) by WalterBright on Friday February 18, 2022 @08:40PM (#30393619)

It means it's not a free market. It is totally constrained by the made up rules making it a fixed pie game.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why We Banned Legos (2006) by Apocryphon on Friday February 18, 2022 @08:42PM (#30393631)

Not all ideologies that constrain free markets are socialist. Georgism even has libertarian variants.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geolibertarianism

I should also note that zoning laws and other regulations make the real world into a fixed pie game. And those are often completely apolitical, their only ideology being NIMBY.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why We Banned Legos (2006) by WalterBright on Friday February 18, 2022 @08:58PM (#30393729)

Zoning laws, rent control, etc., are not a product of free markets.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why We Banned Legos (2006) by Apocryphon on Friday February 18, 2022 @09:10PM (#30393786)

And yet, they exist.

[ Parent | on HN ]