Chapter 21 5.a Everyone Can Succeed--Ghosts Believe

People believing ridiculous things is nothing new.In fact, no matter how ridiculous things are, not only are there always people who believe them, but there are always many people who believe them.What's more interesting is that when the absurdity itself reaches a certain level, the number of believers may not only increase in step with the level of absurdity, but may also increase dramatically with the level of absurdity as an index. Self-struggle and hard work are all natural things. Even if some people (note, it’s just "some people") don’t seem to need to struggle, or even lazy to the point of envy, they can also enjoy the struggle and hard work of others. Everything that is impossible to obtain even by struggling.But the existence of these minorities does not tell the whole story.

There is a simple fact that is hard to accept.All the resources in this world are not evenly distributed among everyone in this world, and the mathematical curve that can more closely represent this distribution is called "Normal Distribution Curve".Mathematics has always been the most accurate tool for describing the world that is unique to humans with relatively developed minds, and is constantly improving and developing-almost should not add "one" after it. Reference reading: The normal distribution is the most important distribution in probability theory.A large number of practical and theoretical analyzes have shown that most random variables obey or approximately obey the normal distribution.Such as measurement errors, students' grades; human height and weight; product quality data, investment return rate, etc. can all be considered to obey the normal distribution.The normal distribution of random variables has a wide range of applications. It can be said that any random variable cannot be compared with it. It occupies an extremely important position in mathematical statistics. Many statistical methods that are still commonly used today are based on the "all On the basis of the assumption that the quantity studied has or approximately has a normal distribution", both experience and theory (the so-called "central limit theorem" in probability theory) have shown the reality of this assumption, and many phenomena in the real world seem to be chaotic , but there is a kind of order in the chaos. Studies have shown that if there are many random factors affecting a certain quantity index, and the effect of each factor is not too large, it can be proved theoretically that the quantity index is follow a normal distribution.

One can imagine that all the people on the earth are lined up on the X-axis, and the sum of the various resources each of them possesses is projected on the Y-axis, with the most standing in the middle, and the rest on both sides. Then in the end it should be very close to this normal distribution curve.Very similar to our real world, only 1% of people are extremely poor in resources, and only 1% of people are extremely rich in resources, and most people belong to the middle level. This distribution of resources is naturally "uneven", and it seems simple and easy to understand, but there are many people in ancient and modern China and abroad who refuse to understand and accept it.They even refused to use the word "uneven," replacing it with "unfair."In history, there have been countless wars and plunders. In essence, they were only caused by understanding "evenness" as "fairness".Understand "uneven" as "unfair", and you can do whatever you want under the banner of "justice" confidently.

Resources are originally limited, and the wording in economics is "scarcity".Under the premise that resources are scarce as a whole, "resources are not evenly distributed" is reflected in everyone, and the direct result is that "most people feel that they do not have enough".In the world we live in, scarcity of resources is an objective reality, and precisely because of this, people's subjective wishes cannot be fully satisfied. Understanding this phenomenon does not seem to be difficult, but it is not so easy to accept it calmly after a clear understanding.To this day, people who cannot accept it can be seen everywhere.For those who cannot accept the reality, there is actually only one choice left, that is, escape.

According to rumors, Diogenes, who was born on the day Socrates was executed (about the third century BC), realized the scarcity of resources, and the way to escape was to limit his subjective desires.Diogenes said to the world, "Aren't you scarce in resources? Then I won't consume anymore, and I have no desires, right?" Therefore, he advocated abstinence of desires.If you are tired, you can just find a wooden barrel and live there; if you are hungry, you can find some leftovers in the garbage dump.He also likes to enjoy, but he can control himself and only enjoy the so-called "consumption" that is truly zero-cost-for example, basking in the sun.So, he was very impatient with King Alexander of Macedon, "I want you to step aside and not block my sunshine", even though the king promised to grant one of his wishes.

More than two thousand years later, Karl Marx chose another form of escape, fantasy.He noticed the "unfair distribution" of resources (accurately speaking, it should be "unequal distribution"), but he could not accept the fact that resource distribution has nothing to do with human nature.He believes that "the allocation of resources should be carried out under the conditions that are most worthy of and most suitable for human nature." After explaining his observations of the world with the "labor theory of value" and "surplus value theory", he began to fantasize about The world says: "Aren't you scarce in resources? It doesn't matter, don't look at it now, but sooner or later, there will always be extreme abundance of materials; at that time, people can get what they need and distribute according to their work!" In fact, today, more than 120 years after Marx's death, materials are already relatively extremely abundant. However, what we see is that materials are still scarce and unevenly distributed, and the gap between the rich and the poor is only increasing.

Modern Western economics originated from the teachings of Adam Smith (1723 - 1790), supplemented by David Ricardo (1772 - 1823), until John Maynard Keynes (John Maynard Keynes) , 1883 -1946) could be regarded as completely facing up to the scarcity of resources, and believed that the fundamental purpose of economics is to study "how to use limited resources to maximize effectiveness"—in other words, to study how to improve "efficiency" on the premise of acknowledging the scarcity of resources ". To calmly and rationally accept the reality of "scarcity of resources" is beyond imagination, and even from the perspective of human beings as a whole, it took nearly 2,500 years to understand and accept this reality—from Diogenes to Cairns.

The so-called "everyone can succeed" is obviously absurd.First, the resources that each person has are not only limited, but also different, even greatly different.Consider an extreme case: 1) All the methods advocated by "Successful Learning" are completely correct; 2) Everyone can implement and implement those absolutely correct methods; Even so, however, it is unlikely that there will be an outcome in which everyone can succeed.Because the premise that must be accepted is that "the resources owned by each person are not only limited, but also different, or even greatly different", so, in the end, after drawing the utility of each person with a graph, it is still only a normal distribution curve (just a curve with a higher bottom), and never a straight line like this: