Would you take the deal and go back to 1973 if it meant you could pay 1973 prices while only enjoying 1973 goods and services?
Responses
John Greco
I wonder if people would answer similarly to this deal: live in today's world with 5 times the income you currently make, or live in 2073 with that same relative income. That would be an interesting questionnaire to run. Invariably I find myself considering things wholly apart from the relevant variable in the discussion question, which is wealth, and instead find myself wondering if the things I really feel matter to me exist in 1973 in the same proportion as they do today. I would say no, I would not take the deal, although I can understand why someone who was desperately poor would take the deal. As for my revised deal, it is hard to imagine the world 50 years from now being greater than 5 times better than today's world, ironically even though I have just asserted that in some abstract sense it HAS gotten more than 5 times "better" (according to me) in the previous 50 years because I declined the deal! So my own answers aren't exactly consistent perhaps, but this is hard work determining the conditions where my own human flourishing does best!
Responses
I wonder if people would answer similarly to this deal: live in today's world with 5 times the income you currently make, or live in 2073 with that same relative income. That would be an interesting questionnaire to run. Invariably I find myself considering things wholly apart from the relevant variable in the discussion question, which is wealth, and instead find myself wondering if the things I really feel matter to me exist in 1973 in the same proportion as they do today. I would say no, I would not take the deal, although I can understand why someone who was desperately poor would take the deal. As for my revised deal, it is hard to imagine the world 50 years from now being greater than 5 times better than today's world, ironically even though I have just asserted that in some abstract sense it HAS gotten more than 5 times "better" (according to me) in the previous 50 years because I declined the deal! So my own answers aren't exactly consistent perhaps, but this is hard work determining the conditions where my own human flourishing does best!