“Ask for what you need” is a terrible social system :: the6thspence.substack.com/
the6thspence.substack.com · 5,662 words · saved by 14 readers
A society of people advocating for their own needs will leave everyone starving
When I was very little, younger than 10, my mother took me to the store to buy a present. It was a visiting gift, to be taken to the home of the person hosting us. There, she taught me why we bring gifts when we visit. Romania, where I’m from, was an economically struggling country. So, she said, “When people host us, they use up important resources for it. Each person visiting should participate in replenishing some of those resources.” The things that we brought over were typically food, usually treats that we would never buy for ourselves. Cakes or cookies, expensive chocolates, the…
saved by
- Amir
- Jaclyn
- abinaya dinesh
- Aryan Naik
- Maanav Khaitan
- Trevor Trinh
- Gloria Ma
- Alex Wang
- Jaeho Lee
- aniket
- Ishan Mukherjee
- Lingfei Tang
related reading
- Failures in Kindness — LessWronglesswrong.com
- Learning To Askblog.karthik.is
- becoming yourself is a social projectvelvetnoise.substack.com
- Ask vs guess culture - by Jean Hsu - Tech and Teajeanhsu.substack.com
- Ask and Guess — LessWronglesswrong.com
- Give and take: how gift-giving forges society, and ourselvesaeon.co
- The Serviceberryemergencemagazine.org
- Abolitionist Cybernetics: Groceries from South Bay Mutual Aidnews.techworkerscoalition.org
- I would have shit in that alley, too — LessWronglesswrong.com
- In My Culture — LessWronglesswrong.com
- you’re a bitch, and that’s why we lack communitysubstack.com
- Tell Culture — LessWronglesswrong.com