That’s probably an even better summary of the article.
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My kids used that logic as toddlers. It was easy to use reverse psychology on them. Eventually they learned to evaluate what was said regardless of the source, then make a decision.
That my be my undoing as they become teenagers…
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There was a story I read as a teenager, that I wish I could track down again. I thought it was John Varley, but I could be wrong. My brain’s not what it used to be.
Anyhow, the gist of it was that this wealthy family came to visit their poor parents, and were doing everything they could to get their parents to take some of their wealth. the twist to the story was that to keep the economy moving, everyone was required to engage in capitalism as much as possible and spend a certain amount every year, and they were falling behind. If the parents had taken any of the wealth they would have been breaking the law.
Again, it’s been easily 30 years since I read it, so I may not be remembering it fully. But it made enough of an impression on me that after all this time I still remember some of it.
Hmm. So the advice, “Don’t inhale the water,” should be treated the same whether it’s coming from a lifeguard at a pool, or from the person holding your head underwater? In both cases, it’s sound advice, but in one case they are trying to make you inhale water.
ETA also, unless I’m misreading your comment, you’re equating me to a toddler. Thanks.
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The Midas Plague, by Frederik Pohl. A classic:
Part of a series of stories set in the same post-scarcity automated world where poor people have to be frantic consumers to maintain a sham economy. Very relevant as we discuss automation, UBIs, etc:
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Thank you! Now I need to track that down and read it again.
(edit) Or just read it from the link you provided 
But I’m a weird person that likes owning books, so I’m still going to try and find it.
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The first link goes to the whole story. Enjoy!
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@gracchus Get thee to the Science Fiction & Fantasy StackExchange, where you shall be put productively to work in the [story-id] mines!
@Pensketch you should know about https://scifi.stackexchange.com/ 'cause they (along with yer BBS homies) have got you covered for story IDs. :).
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What’s a tree?
I’m getting a “site not found” error on the link. But I am intrigued!
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Whoops! Edited now.
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If you haven’t recently done so, pick up Dickens’ Hard Times…
“All of this has happened before; all of this will happen again.”
(Quote not from Dickens, for the less geeky among us.)
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Looking at this, I’m most motivated to track down the politicians who voted to give Chase that bailout without any way of keeping the same thing from happening again, and gather a mob to run them out of the country on a rail.
Particularly relevant politicians who are just as much to blame for this as Chase, and who anyone who has a problem with this should never consider supporting:
Joe Biden
Hillary Clinton
Amy Klobuchar
Diane Feinstein
Chuck Schumer
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To be fair, I doubt I’ll find a new edition, so the tree that died for the book I would buy did it ages ago. Also, I would look digitally first. As much as I love physical books, nothing beats having an entire library in your pocket. Especially if your house catches on fire and you can only grab your phone.
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Uh, yeah. Duh. Why would you treat that advice differently? Should I inhale the water out of spite? You’re under no obligation to like them or thank them for the advice. But you ignore it at your own risk.
Advice, like truth, is not dependent on who is saying it. Some sources obviously require more scrutiny before accepting it. Maybe that’s what you mean.
It’s funny; when we hear that taxes on the rich are just too darn high, we never hear the banks chime in that hey, maybe you don’t need a new Mercedes, like, every single year, maybe you could keep one for two years and then you’d have enough money for your taxes.
Victim blaming isn’t at all symmetrical, is it?
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Advice has context and a point of view. It’s often deliberately snide, deceptive, divisive, derogatory, manipulative, or insincere. It often reveals more about the giver than anything else.
Advice is nothing like truth.
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Fair point. I meant and should have said good advice. Good advice, like truth, remains the same even if intended as snide, deceptive, divisive, derogatory, manipulative, or insincere. Figuring out if it’s good advice, or the truth, is far far more difficult in those situations. Probably not and often safe to assume it isn’t. But categorically insisting it can’t be is unwise.
Silly example: Antivaxxer hatefully advises you to get your infant vaccinated. The advice is from someone trying to be malicious, and who isn’t very bright. Normally that would be a flag it’s bad advice.
This is a medium long listen, but explains this phenomenon pretty well.
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