In a gathering of people some of who were literally starving for food,
I would feel uncomfortable talking about all the yummy variations of
chinese food that are possible to the minority of people who were not
only not starving, but rich enough to explore all those variations. I
would fear that such a discussion would make the starving folks feel
worse and more envious. Of course I would likely
engage in some charity in such a situation, but quite likely that
would not erase the have/havenot division.
Similarly, many people in our society are literally starving for sex,
at least of the sort that they value. While our society is rich
enough to have plenty of food, the market for sex has many more
frictions that the market for food, and technology has not
substantially lowered the costs of sex. Many people do not feel they
are attractive enough to be in much demand sexually, or for other
reasons are not able to participate. And sexual charity is very
limited. I fear that these people are just made to feel worse by
discussion of all the variations beyond their reach.
Note I'm not proposing to ban such discussions. I'm just describing a
reason for my unease.
Robin D. Hanson hanson@hss.caltech.edu http://hss.caltech.edu/~hanson/