Opportunism

I found that these articles were quite interesting to read. Regarding the fairness and game theory for children, I never realized how skewed the perception of fairness may be quite different for children as opposed to adults. They think that, if someone has something they want and that they do not have, they may want to equally split it as they view that as morally fair.  Reading that how through continuing research that these may be an innate quality that we have wanted since our beginnings as a species does put things into a new light though. If we examine that scarcity is the underlying problem of possibly most economic issues, then we see that everyone equaling sharing something is fairer as opposed to one person simply hoarding something. While most of us may want things to be fair, that is simply not the way the world works. But rather than simply suppressing it, it may however prove beneficial to work within the constraints of a child like's view of fairness.  If we were to say impose the different jobs the article suggested to try it such as an auction or tit for tat, it would allow children to realize that if they really desire something, they will have to work to get it. But they will not simply just be handed things that just because things do not seem fair to them and it would possibly get them more and more adapted to the real world where anything could happen.  If I examined my own past, I used to cry as a child when an other children won a prize or an award that I may have wanted myself,  not knowing possibly how much time and effort they may have put it in to achieve that. I thought it was only "fair" that we all shared an award or something, but eventually I came to terms how idiotic that sounded. 

Going to the article about altruism, I personally do not believe that there is a single altruistic action that we perform on a day to day basisThe reward of a giving gift makes someone feel good about themselves, so I believe that it is not wholly altruistic thing to do. Sacrificing a part or whole of yourself say, giving your time or money to a charity organization, while also beneficial to society, it does make you appear may noble and this may fulfill some kind of self satisfaction for the individual. I think we may all be guilty of that, whether we think about the actions do we hard enough or not. We want to keep our appearances to other people and I think your actions pretty much define who you are as a human being. So I would argue, that selfishness and empathy are not necessarily two polar opposites, bur rather would work hand in hand together. The world is not very often black and white where we can simply just deem acts as self serving and which acts are helping others. When I work with my local charity where we pack food boxes to ship around all the over world, I may be helping those people but it also makes me feel good about myself. Would you argue that my deeds were driven by the need to feel good about myself, or my desire to help others in a time of need? I don't think you can fully say one or the other in my opinion. Regarding more work oriented examples, getting compensated for doing something helpful to society is not necessarily not an altruistic action. If you dire some compensation for your work does that make you wrong for seeking it out? I think not. Our olden views of honor and just, may seem outdated in the sense that they have not been adapted for modern times, which is something that should be reflected on. 

I think the reason that the rich do not "share the marbles", is due to the fact that there is no incentive for them to do so. Some people view that taxing the wealthy does not seem fair for them as they believe it is their own hard earned money without often thinking how that may be earned off the backs of others. But to get them to pay their "fair" share as other people do is to change the laws govern it. The wealthy abuse the current laws to work in their favor, often allowing them to slip through the cracks that many people otherwise can not. So by focusing on say "procedural fairness", we can take a look at whether those procedures where impartial and honest.