I agree a lot with this article but I think it’s not a reply to all definitions of the argument; ‘there are some things money can’t buy’.
I’ll start by saying what I agree with. Money does buy things. Having more money makes things easier/possible. Time is money and opportunities not taken are lost money. From that angle I fully agree.
But even still, money can’t buy everything. I read just moments ago a good quote which said something to the effect of; someone might say they have an apparent end goal of making lots of money but if asked what they would do if money was no issue they would have a blank stare reply. This is the territory where money doesn’t buy everything. It can’t buy you the intelligence or rationality to know your true objectives and what they are actually supposed to achieve. It also can’t buy what your desires or likes actually are, they exist in their own right. One man can earn less than 50k a year but have the intelligence and other personal qualities which make him able to efficiently use the money and satisfy his desires. The next man may earn 500k a year but have not enough good personal qualities to use the money to his (or anyone else’s) advantage. Considering we have existed as a species for thousands of years, for a long time without any currency, it seems like money isn’t actually required to live a life and be happy. Of course these societies without money had things which money could trade for but, as in the case of Australian Aboriginals for example, some people’s barely owned anything material anyway. I can’t confirm this in any way of course, but I believe these people had the potential for a life just as happy and meaningful as anyone today.
To clarify what i’m trying to say; I fully agree with the points raised in this article but I think there is another category of ‘money doesn’t buy everything’ that it doesn’t address- not by fault but just by it being an actual different topic which may be mistakenly lumped together.
The way I interpret ‘money can’t buy everything’ is that it’s not relevant to the material world (where money buys practically everything) but is talking about the fundamental things which exists in humans as part of who we are. I think these things are actually more important and are the end goals where as money/material things are the tools used to achieve them.
This is the territory where money doesn’t buy everything. It can’t buy you the intelligence or rationality to know your true objectives and what they are actually supposed to achieve.
Well, assuming you already have some necessary rationality to do this, you can use money to fine-tune your health (maximize your intelligence within your genetic limits) and buy all education and training you need, such as CFAR workshops (maximize your rationality and skills). Then you give yourself a multiplier by buying all the tools and assistants you need.
If you started decently intelligent and rational, you might end up extremely awesome. (Maybe even so awesome that the increased income will be greater than all those initial expenses.)
Yes but like you said, “you [need to] already have some necessary rationality to do this”- that’s the kind of thing i’m talking about. You can’t buy that original rationality and you can’t buy the fact that rationality exists.
The stuff you said is true but I think you are trying to answer to different topic than which it is relevant to.
Money can buy things and make you happy- but money can’t buy the fact that happy exists. When I talk about “money can’t buy everything”, it’s in that way that i’m talking about (not to be confused as saying ‘owning things doesn’t make you happy’).
I agree a lot with this article but I think it’s not a reply to all definitions of the argument; ‘there are some things money can’t buy’. I’ll start by saying what I agree with. Money does buy things. Having more money makes things easier/possible. Time is money and opportunities not taken are lost money. From that angle I fully agree.
But even still, money can’t buy everything. I read just moments ago a good quote which said something to the effect of; someone might say they have an apparent end goal of making lots of money but if asked what they would do if money was no issue they would have a blank stare reply. This is the territory where money doesn’t buy everything. It can’t buy you the intelligence or rationality to know your true objectives and what they are actually supposed to achieve. It also can’t buy what your desires or likes actually are, they exist in their own right. One man can earn less than 50k a year but have the intelligence and other personal qualities which make him able to efficiently use the money and satisfy his desires. The next man may earn 500k a year but have not enough good personal qualities to use the money to his (or anyone else’s) advantage. Considering we have existed as a species for thousands of years, for a long time without any currency, it seems like money isn’t actually required to live a life and be happy. Of course these societies without money had things which money could trade for but, as in the case of Australian Aboriginals for example, some people’s barely owned anything material anyway. I can’t confirm this in any way of course, but I believe these people had the potential for a life just as happy and meaningful as anyone today.
To clarify what i’m trying to say; I fully agree with the points raised in this article but I think there is another category of ‘money doesn’t buy everything’ that it doesn’t address- not by fault but just by it being an actual different topic which may be mistakenly lumped together. The way I interpret ‘money can’t buy everything’ is that it’s not relevant to the material world (where money buys practically everything) but is talking about the fundamental things which exists in humans as part of who we are. I think these things are actually more important and are the end goals where as money/material things are the tools used to achieve them.
Well, assuming you already have some necessary rationality to do this, you can use money to fine-tune your health (maximize your intelligence within your genetic limits) and buy all education and training you need, such as CFAR workshops (maximize your rationality and skills). Then you give yourself a multiplier by buying all the tools and assistants you need.
If you started decently intelligent and rational, you might end up extremely awesome. (Maybe even so awesome that the increased income will be greater than all those initial expenses.)
Yes but like you said, “you [need to] already have some necessary rationality to do this”- that’s the kind of thing i’m talking about. You can’t buy that original rationality and you can’t buy the fact that rationality exists. The stuff you said is true but I think you are trying to answer to different topic than which it is relevant to. Money can buy things and make you happy- but money can’t buy the fact that happy exists. When I talk about “money can’t buy everything”, it’s in that way that i’m talking about (not to be confused as saying ‘owning things doesn’t make you happy’).