Comments on: Can You Change Something If You Don’t Love It?

by: Seth’s blog » Blog Archive » The Cost of Demonization and How to Avoid It

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:22:12 +0000

[…] Can You Change Something If You Don’t Love It? […]

by: seth

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:00:23 +0000

that’s a great point, Patri. I’m going to write a post based on it.

by: Patri Friedman

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:51:34 +0000

This seems like a good argument for social freedom and harm reduction rather than criminalization, for things like prostitution, gambling, and drugs. If they are illegal, we tend to demonize them, and the people who do them are people willing to do illegal things, who tend to be sleazier. You get a feedback cycle of sleaziness. And then when there are problems (drugs that are bad for you, STDS among sex workers), they are hard to fix.

If instead you acknowledge that these things are going to happen anyway, make them legal and regulated, when problems come up it will be much easier to find smart, competent people who respect drug users, prostitutes, and Johns, and can provide good suggestions for fixing the problems.

by: Seth’s blog » Blog Archive » The Paradox of Advice

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:38:01 +0000

[…] Can You Change Something If You Don’t Love It? […]

by: Tom

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 05:01:21 +0000

“The Gates Foundation, for example — could they crush HIV the way Microsoft crushed Netscape?”

Yes, they could crush HIV exactly the same way they crushed Netscape - by flooding the market with thousands of HIV-free prostitutes who would give their services away at no charge.

by: seth

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 13:18:19 +0000

MT, I edited the post make it clear I was talking about the usual attitude of people who work at the Gates Foundation. The average attitude. You’re right, there may be exceptions.

by: MT

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 07:48:27 +0000

I think it is likely that there are people at the Gates Foundation who are motivated by a love of and compassion for women — who are mothers, daughters, and sisters — and who happen to also be in the sex trade. Although there are a variety of motivations for working in philanthropy, and the Gates Foundation pays better than other non-profits, those who work there are still on average driven by different motivations than most people. There is more money for people of comparable talent in other sectors, so those working in non-profits are likely doing so out of empathy and compassion for others and would be aware of the economic and social conditions that conspire to put women into the sex trade.