The thing about the value of money being roughly logarithmic sent me on a google exploration where I ended up on a suggested "logarithmic flat tax plan". The gist is, you figure out how many times the poverty rate you make, take the log-base-10, and multiple by some flat constant that is the same for everyone - the result would be your tax rate. Right now in the US that constant would be around 9, assuming the same tax scheme would apply to companies that make billions in profits like Apple and Exxon.
So Alice earning 10x poverty pays 9 (somethings), while Bob earning 100x poverty pays 18 (somethings)? Note that poor Carol earning 1x poverty pays nothing. I'd expect Alice to be rather unhappy with this system.
(Also, if someone ever manages to earn 0 in a year, you'll have to give all of the world's wealth to him/her. ;-) )
Alice pays 9% of her $117k income. Bob pays 18% of his $234k income. Those are lower tax rates than the present, so not sure why Alice would be unhappy with it. Carol pays nothing. Floor is the poverty rate, so no one makes infinity.
I've always believed the most common responses to St Petersburg Paradox felt incomplete. The biggest miss is not looking at the other side of the transaction. What's the lowest that the casino offering the game would be willing to charge to play it?
I think the gap between what a person would be willing to pay to play this game and what a casino would be willing to charge is the reason that no one plays it.
Others might have another thought though when I read your comment I rolled my eyes and groaned.
You basically 'well actually'ed the quote. Further, it was to point out something rather obvious, trivial and trite. Lastly, you killed the joke.
When someone 'well actuallys' or 'technically it's ...' Something it tends to end poorly for the person using those terms. Why? Because it has a way of coming across incredibly poorly to the receiving party or parties. There are better ways to engage.
fwiw, i suspect a very common reaction to people reading your post would be something along the lines of 'well, yeah. Of course.' Meaning everyone already understands this, the joke is simply phrased that way to land with people. So, you likely aren't pointing anything out to people they don't already know, you just come across in any number of unflattering ways.
This is not what Peter Norvig advocates or even believes in, but sadly it's an attitude many possess, although in a much more moderate level.
I notice that I am treated quite differently when someone considers me different from them. Everyone has different responses (also depends on how I presented myself), some are curious, some are "strangerly" polite, some are uninterested, some show contempt, some show admiration.
Sadly though, most of those responses have been on the negative side, which is not surprising.
