From: Charles Bell <quester@eskimo.com>
Date: Fri, 5 Apr 1996 17:38:55 +0800
To: "Timothy C. May" <tcmay@got.net>
Subject: Re: Why pay???
In-Reply-To: <ad89c05a16021004e389@[205.199.118.202]>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.92.960404190728.25894F-100000@eskimo.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


On Thu, 4 Apr 1996, Timothy C. May wrote:

>
> (Goldwater and Heinlein got it slightly wrong when they said "There ain't
> no such as a free lunch." While true in many ways, TANSTAAFL ignorest the
> great willingness of people to donate time, effort, articles, etc. In fact,
> I've put many thousands of hours into the Cypherpunks list, for which I've
> received not a single centime of compensation. And I have no problem with
> this, provided it remains voluntary.)
>

The fact that you choose not to charge for your time does not make your
time worthless.  The value your voluntary efforts add should be assigned
due compensation even if you choose to waive it.

The failure to take such contributions into account is one of the most
serious flaws in all current economic paradigms.  I think this will become
more apparent in decades to come, as old concepts of `work' and `jobs'
obsolesce.

Charles Bell