Nothing in life is certain except death, taxes and the second law of thermodynamics. All three are processes in which useful or accessible forms of some quantity, such as energy or money, are transformed into useless, inaccessible forms of the same quantity. That is not to say that these three processes don’t have fringe benefits: taxes pay for roads and schools; the second law of thermodynamics drives cars, computers and metabolism; and death, at the very least, opens up tenured faculty positions.
I would like to get rid of one or two of them. Its painfull to see how often really inevitable things get confused with those that could at least in theory be dealt with.
The difference being that with taxes nothing is actually ‘lost’ it is just relocated, where it can be accessed again. Whereas with energy you can only move from high to low concentrations, so there can be genuine loss of usable energy.
I initially like it as well, suppose its a good example of not believing something merely because it corroborates an already existing belief (most people dislike taxes).
Well, taxes can cause a genuine loss of wealth (as distinct from money) depending on how they’re spent and how they’re collected, however taxes can also cause a genuine gain in wealth, again depending on how they’re collected and spent.
-- Seth Lloyd
I would like to get rid of one or two of them. Its painfull to see how often really inevitable things get confused with those that could at least in theory be dealt with.
I read this as an argument against having taxes.
The difference being that with taxes nothing is actually ‘lost’ it is just relocated, where it can be accessed again. Whereas with energy you can only move from high to low concentrations, so there can be genuine loss of usable energy.
I initially like it as well, suppose its a good example of not believing something merely because it corroborates an already existing belief (most people dislike taxes).
Well, taxes can cause a genuine loss of wealth (as distinct from money) depending on how they’re spent and how they’re collected, however taxes can also cause a genuine gain in wealth, again depending on how they’re collected and spent.