Trading for Satisfaction

Column for week of November 10, 2014

     We have considered how everyone's goal is to
maximize their satisfaction.  Also we have observed that
individuals won't change the choices they make unless we
block their chosen road to satisfaction, or they find what they
believe is a better road.  Our consideration also included some
of the ways individuals can try to influence others in their
pursuit of satisfaction.  We will now consider trading
satisfactions.

     Last time Fred was trying to influence Erwin to refrain
from eating a candy bar.  We saw that merely arguing or
debating with Erwin could easily fail to influence him to
refrain from eating the candy.  Does Fred have another string
on his bow?

     Fred might try to make an offer Erwin couldn't resist. 
Suppose Fred offered Erwin a new car in exchange for the
candy bar.  What are the chances that Erwin would pass up the
satisfaction from a new car for the satisfaction of eating the
candy?

     You might ask, Why would Fred offer a car for a candy
bar?   Whether he would or not isn't important.  As in the old
joke, we have established that Erwin has a price.  At most we
now quibble over how low that price will go.

     Some reward of alternate satisfaction will be enough to
get Erwin to give up the candy bar.  As the saying goes,
everyone has a  price.  That price may not be measured in
dollars.  Yet, there are few satisfactions that individuals will
not give up for the right exchange.  The robber's victim gives
up his money for his life.

     Most of our exchanges aren't that extreme.  Yet, we
endlessly give up one satisfaction for another.  We trade free
time and effort for wages.  Those money wages aren't what we
want.  We want the satisfaction we hope to gain from the
things we trade the wages for.  The money wages are only
coupons we hope to exchange for satisfying things.

     By offering trades we constantly influence others to
give up a lesser satisfaction for a greater one.  The merchant
gives up the satisfaction offered by a loaf of bread because he
expects to gain more satisfaction from the two dollars he
receives.  At the same time, the buyer expects more satisfaction
from the bread.  In fact, he expects more satisfaction from the
bread than from any other thing he could buy with the two
dollars.   If something else promised more satisfaction, he
would buy it instead of the bread.

     We also trade satisfactions over time.  He who saves
the candy bar to eat tomorrow instead of now believes he will
gain more satisfaction by doing it.  The person who saves to
spend later is trying to trade present satisfaction for future
satisfaction.  The ways we trade lesser satisfactions for greater
ones are almost endless.

     Rewards have so much potential for increasing
satisfaction that they should be our first resort when trying to
influence the choices of others.  Unfortunately many turn first
to the force of government.  Exchange and rewards create
winners.  Government's use of force and threats creates victims
and losers.  The victims are coerced into reduced satisfaction. 
Someone has to pay for the coercion.  The effort spent on
coercion produces no value except for the person who gains
satisfaction from dominating others.

     The person coerced to give up a satisfaction to satisfy
someone else sacrifices his satisfaction to satisfy the other
person.  The one coerced is partially enslaved by the one he is
coerced to serve.  If total slavery is wrong and bad, How can
partial slavery be right and good?

     Next time:  What happens when free people trade
satisfactions?

aldmccallum@gmail.com
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Copyright 2014
Albert D. McCallum

Persuading Others

Column for week of November 3, 2014                            

     In prior columns we have considered that everyone
always makes the choices they believe will be the most
satisfying.  We also considered forcible obstruction and
punishment as ways to prevent or discourage others from
making the choices they believe will bring the most
satisfaction.  Now we will consider using persuasion to
influence others to alter their choices.

     Back to the candy bar example.  Suppose Erwin is
about to eat his candy bar.  Fred wants to persuade Erwin to
refrain from eating the candy.  There is only one way Fred can
succeed.  He must convince Erwin that he will gain more
satisfaction from refraining from eating the candy bar than
from eating it now.

     Fred might convince Erwin that he will gain the most
satisfaction from giving away or destroying the candy bar. 
Perhaps Fred only convinces Erwin that he can increase his
satisfaction by postponing eating the candy.  If Fred's goal is to
stop Erwin from eating the candy bar, the latter result buys
Fred more time to pursue his goal.  If Erwin still believes the
most satisfying thing he can do is eat the candy now, he will
start chewing.

     We might give a thought or two to why Fred wants to
keep Erwin from eating the candy.  The bottom line is that
Fred expects to gain satisfaction from persuading Erwin to
refrain from eating the candy bar.

     Not only that, Fred also believes that in his present
circumstances the most satisfying thing Fred can do is try to
persuade Erwin to not eat the candy.  If Fred believed he had
an option that would bring him more satisfaction, he would
forget about Erwin and the candy to pursue the more satisfying
option.

     How might Fred gain satisfaction from keeping Erwin
from eating the candy?  Perhaps Fred believes candy will be
bad for Erwin.  Fred might gain satisfaction from doing a good
deed.  Possibly Fred hopes to get the candy from Erwin.  Fred
might gain satisfaction merely from convincing Erwin not to
eat the candy.  The possibilities are nearly endless.  Only Fred
could know the real reason.  He might not be honest enough
with himself to even recognize his real motivation.

     Fred could make a serious and honest argument to
Erwin.  Also, Fred could make an emotional appeal.  Outright
lying and fraud are other possibilities.  The bottom line is that
Fred must somehow influence Erwin to expect more
satisfaction from passing up the candy than from eating it.

     What really happens to Erwin's satisfaction in the long
run is irrelevant to the choice Erwin will make.  He has only
his expectations to guide him when he chooses.  The
consequence of the choice may influence future choices and
Erwin's confidence in Fred.

     Trying to influence the choices of anyone for any
reason is subject to all of the same limitations and pit falls.  It
generally isn't easy to convince most people to change their
expectations about satisfaction.

     Often people don't even try using persuasion to
influence others' choices about what is satisfying.  Instead, they
cry out "there ought to be a law."  Saying there ought to be a
law is usually an appeal to force, violence and threats thereof. 
A law is merely an order from government that is meaningless
if not backed by the threat of forcibly decreasing the
satisfaction of the violator.

     The law could offer a reward for certain changes, such
as a bounty for killing foxes.  An individual could offer the
reward without any law.  When someone appeals to
government to offer a reward they are asking government to
use force to collect the money to pay the reward.

     So far in our search for ways to influence others in the
choices they make while pursuing satisfaction, we haven't
found anything that promises great success.

     Next time: Trading for satisfaction.

aldmccallum@gmail.com
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Copyright 2014
Albert D. McCallum

Influencing the Choices of Others With Force

Column for week of October 27, 2014              

     Last time we saw that the ultimate goal of every person
is to maximize satisfaction.  Things and activities aren't the
ultimate goals of anyone.  We only seek the satisfaction we
hope to gain through things and activities.  If we want to
influence the choices of others we must physically limit their
choices, or get the individual to alter his views at to what is
satisfying.

     Today we will consider only the use of force to alter
choices.  When I was a child my mother tried various ways to
physically limit my choices.  When she went shopping in
Muskegon she first confined me in a buggy.

     When I grew she turned to a harness and a tether that
she held.  Both were reasonably effective in limiting my
choices.  At home if she frowned on what I was doing she
sometimes tied me in a chair.  This limit was imperfect.  I
could still choose to tip the chair over.

     Imprisoning individuals is a way of limiting their
choices.  Killing is the ultimate limit on choices.  It eliminates
the individual's option of making choices we don't like.  It also
eliminates all other choices.

     Imprisonment isn't totally effective in limiting the
choices we consider undesirable.  Inmates still do things that
their captors don't like.  The problem is that mere
imprisonment usually doesn't change the prisoner's views of
what he believes will be satisfying.

     Another way of changing the individual's view of what
will be satisfying is to eliminate the anticipated satisfaction. 
Altering an individual so that drinking alcohol will make him
sick immediately is likely to discourage him from seeking
satisfaction from drinking.

     Beating or imprisoning a thief may take the satisfaction
out of theft.  Of course, if the thief rightly, or wrongly,
believes he can avoid the beating or imprisonment next time,
the past punishment will not influence him to quit stealing. 
Punishment doesn't do much to alter the future choices of the
dumb or short sighted who choose to steal without considering
the possible consequence.  Neither does it limit the choices of
those who believe they are clever enough to get away with it
next time.

     Force can also be used to alter the choices of
individuals who have done nothing wrong.  The threats of an
armed robber may alter the victim's views of the net
satisfaction he is likely to get from trying to keep his money. 
The victim many conclude that he will gain more satisfaction
from staying alive and healthy than from fighting to keep his
money.

     None of the uses of force are likely to alter the
individual's basic beliefs about what he will find satisfying. 
Remove the threat of force and the individual will most likely
revert to making the same choices as before.

     Consider immigration.  If we could totally seal the
borders so no one could cross, immigration would end.   We
can't do that or even come close, no matter how many fences
we build.  The next line of defense is to inflict dissatisfaction
on illegal immigrants.  How much dissatisfaction must we
inflict to discourage a would be immigrant who faces mainly
misery and starvation at home?  What are the chances he won't
still see illegal entry as a way to increase his satisfaction?

     Force, either for blocking choices or punishing them,
isn't very effective at stopping individuals from making choices
we don't like.  One of the reasons people so quickly resort to
the force option is that many among us gain satisfaction from
using force to control others.

     These people are control freaks.  They control others
not so much for altering the choices of others as for the
satisfaction gained from controlling others.  Not surprisingly
these individuals are likely to migrate to government. 
Government, and those specially privileged by it, are the only
ones who may legally use aggressive force.   More about this
later.

     Next time: Persuasion as a way to alter the choices of
others.

aldmccallum@gmail.com
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Copyright 2014
Albert D. McCallum