Social mobility violates the law of conservation of momentum 🤔
If you go from middle to upper class, clearly something of equal mass must go from middle to lower class.
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conservation of momentum is an absolute, social classes are relative parts of the population.
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So the median human is precisely equally classy as any time-slice of our ancestors...even our common ancestors with bonobos and chimps?
Or is classiness perhaps not on the short list of conserved quantities?
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Mobility = upward + downward mobility; downward is the other side of the coin
So total upward mobility = downward mobility, and "mobility" is the magnitude of either, I don't see what's controversial here
Obviously not everyone can increase their percentile anything
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value and wealth aren't zero-sum.
as you create things and trade with others you're more likely to help push others upward.
it only works when people create more than they consume.
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If this were true, there would be a global equilibrium based on some historical, maximally poor state humanity was in.
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That's why you never use just one number.
Low mobility implies that success is driven all by birth or early circumstance, not talent or effort.










