It isn’t a unique thought. Not even for me.

The pervasive impacts of the back-flips required to have equal outcomes has just suddenly hit me pretty hard. The question that people have asked themselves historically could be summarized like the below list. This list is not all the questions people ask of themselves or society.

• How do we maximize happiness?
• Can we reduce suffering?
• How do I contribute to society moving forward?
• Is society preventing an innovation due to its rules?

The new question that is becoming common very rapidly is something along the lines of the below.

• How do we ensure equal outcomes for all people of different races, genders, disabilities, and backgrounds?

Outcomes of Equality

It is an amazing question to have as the one you must answer above all others. On some level, you must ignore societal progress, happiness, and pain.

I’ve always rejected equality of outcomes since I knew it would result in massive damage to society. When I look at things from a Utopian perspective, I wonder how we can achieve those equal outcomes without cost. I am realizing that those who want equality think that Utopia is at hand and are willing to harm people very seriously to prove themselves correct.

It is the utilitarian question around the trolley problem. The trolley problem starts with something along the lines of pressing the switch to avoid killing 5 people and sacrificing one. It has moved further along to the point of killing someone in the waiting room to save the lives of 5 patients who need his organs, and we seem to be opting for this solution as a society.

Achieving an Equal Society

Evidence says that people are different. (Holy shit, I know, so controversial.)

If you treat everyone like they are equal, you often get a different result. (Fuck, how is this possible? I must be evil for thinking this.)

In order to have equal outcomes, you must actively hobble the top performers in a hierarchy. You can’t eliminate the hierarchy without massive social control.

In the United States

People have begun deluding themselves that we can do this in the United States without the negative impacts that have always been seen.

Promoting people who are less competent results in a less competent person being promoted. (Wow, truisms that people might disagree with.) Some will rise to meet the challenge of their new station. Others will not.

The reason we try to promote people in a hierarchy based on their competence is because they are more likely to rise to meet the challenge.

The more we focus on promoting people based on a quota or an equal outcome, the less likely they will achieve. This impacts society as a whole negatively and does very little to help those who are made to drown in the deep end. (What a racist thing to say!)

Sadness

I think Jordan Peterson may be right about equal outcomes being the step too far for people who would identify themselves as the political left. I can’t think of a good outcome for ignoring society wide progress, happiness, or suffering in the name of equality.

This is my unfiltered attempt at filtering through my thoughts. I am not trying to convince you I am correct. That is the opposite of my objective, actually.

I want to be wrong. Desperately.