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A version of this article previously appeared in Forbes.
Marcia Brown's 1947 retelling of the classic French folktale Stone Soup is a de facto playbook for how to start a venture.
In Ms. Brown's version of this oft-told tale, three soldiers enter a small town during a time of war. Initially, all of the villagers flee to their modest homes and shun the soldiers' request for food and lodging. However, the villagers do not realize that these travelers are not merely foraging soldiers. They soon learn that they are entrepreneurs who will launch a magical venture that involves a restorative meal, a communal celebration and reassurance that better days are ahead.
While gathering stones with which to make stone soup, the soldiers describe to each other how delectable their soup will be, piquing the villagers' curiosity. Intrigued, the villagers individually make small contributions to the pot of stones and boiling water: a few radishes, a couple of carrots, a handful of potatoes, eventually resulting in a meal that surpasses anything the townsfolk have eaten in recent memory.
Depending on your child's age, you can either overtly or subtly communicate the various start-up lessons described below as you share Stone Soup with them.
Something From Nothing
Lesson: Creating something from nothing is intoxicating and contagious
One of the most powerful lessons from Stone Soup is also the most obvious. Every entrepreneur is faced with making something out of nothing. When a venture is conceived, it is merely an idea. As the story illustrates, entrepreneurs manifest their ideas by rallying a motivated team and supplying them with the necessary resources.
When the soldiers carefully gather the pile of stones and announce that they will make stone soup, the villagers respond, "Stone soup? That would be something to know about."
Just like the soldiers, entrepreneurs must communicate a similar aspirational vision in order to motivate their stakeholders (employees, vendors and investors) to join their team, throw their resources "into the collective pot" and share in the resulting creation. True success is when your venture creates wealth in excess of the sum of the participants' individual contributions.
The Prototype
Lesson: Prototypes bring your venture's story to life
Your child will also learn the value of a tangible representation of a venture. In a pivotal scene from his book Start-up, Jerry Kaplan describes how he mesmerized a group of jaded Kleiner Perkins VCs by throwing his leather portfolio onto a conference table and dramatically describing it as a handheld device that could digitize handwriting. As Kaplan spoke, the VCs passed around his ordinary portfolio, envisioning the future of handheld devices.
In Stone Soup, the soldiers' prototypes are the stones. As the soldiers collect the rocks and describe the delectable soup they are making, the villagers begin to view them as something more than mere stones, just as the otherwise sophisticated Kleiner Perkins team's imagination was ignited by Kaplan's humble portfolio. Prototypes bring the entrepreneur's story to life by giving stakeholders a foundation upon which they can anchor their imaginations.
Ask For No Money
Lesson: People contribute to exciting, dynamic ventures, not those in need
Stone Soup also makes clear that one of the most effective techniques for acquiring an investment is to not ask for money. As the saying goes, "Investors want to give you an umbrella when the sun is shining and then they take it away at the first hint of a coming storm."
Thus, meet with investors before you need capital, in order to: (i) alert them as to the existence and nature of your venture, (ii) obtain some free advice, and most importantly, (iii) pique their curiosity so they will be receptive to your future updates.
After your meetings, send the VCs brief updates, highlighting the accomplishment of the key milestones. This will demonstrate your ability to execute your plan, and alert them as to your venture's momentum and progress.
Start With A Big Pot
Lesson: A big opportunity allows all stakeholders to be adequately rewarded
After the stones are gathered, the soldier's initial requests are innocuous. Instead of asking for food, they simply request a large pot and water. It is unlikely a small pot would have sufficiently captured the villagers' imaginations, as they would have assumed that the ensuing meal would be solely for the soldiers' benefit. A large plot implied that there would be plenty of soup to be shared by all who assisted the soldiers.
Share The Bounty And Celebrate
Lesson: Feed your stakeholders before you feed yourself by creating a celebratory culture
Once the soup is prepared, the soldiers first share it with the villagers before they partake themselves. The soldiers do not just stand around the pot slurping the soup and then trudge off to bed. Instead, they encourage the villagers to bring out a large table, and thus turn the preparation and consumption of the soup into a communal celebration.
Entrepreneurs often get caught up in day-to-day challenges and do not allocate sufficient time to celebrate their venture's small victories. However, it pays to create a culture of celebration.
Sell The Smell
Lesson: A limitless future is easier to sell than yesterday's finite reality
The smell of money is seductive because it is bound only by the entrepreneur's ability to communicate their vision. Much like the impoverished soldiers, in the early stages of your venture, you often have to sell the sizzle because you have no steak. The soldiers understand the power of selling the smell as evidenced by their lurid description of the soup, which causes the villagers to imagine a fantastic meal and motivates them to contribute to the venture.
Fool No One
Lesson: Deliver equitable value to all stakeholders
A cynical adult might conclude that the soldiers duped the unsuspecting villagers into sharing their food and gave nothing of value in return. Wrong. The soldiers do not con the villagers out of their food and hospitality. In return for the meal, the soldiers give the villagers several gifts – a temporary respite from their war-weary existence, hope for the future, and a timely reminder of the power of a cohesive community. They demonstrate that if the townsfolk can make a fantastic meal from stones, anything is possible.
Dishonest entrepreneurs are unsuccessful in the long run. They may be able to temporarily fool their stakeholders, but their dishonesty will eventually become evident. Successful, serial entrepreneurs know that honesty is a competitive advantage. As such, they communicate with their stakeholders in an honest and transparent manner.
You can follow John on Twitter: @johngreathouse.
Image credit: jarmoluk via Pixabay


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Sorry about lack of posts for these many months. I just wasn't in the mood. . . and blogging is supposed to be fun, right?
Stitching progress has likewise been at a low ebb. But other nice things have been happening. Here's a picture of an absolutely beautiful church where I sang at a friend's wedding this past Saturday....and no, I didn't make a weekend jaunt to Europe. This is Old Saint Mary's church in downtown Cincinnati.
I also -- at the VERY last moment -- finished this little piece as a wedding gift. . . which some of you may recognize as the same pattern I used for a wedding gift for the son of a friend last year.
A Free Harry Potter Stitch Guide
21 hours ago

subset: commoncrawl


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his crimes, will point every sting, and give a double force to every blow. Still more ought he to be alarmed at the certain prospect of depraving himself. Slander is a compound of falsehood, injustice, unkindness, and meanness; forming in itself a character eminently depraved. What is so unhappily begun, proceeds with a rapid and dreadful declension. All the designs, which he forms in the indulgence of this characteristical propensity; all the measures, which he feels obliged to employ; all the instruments, which he can summon to his assistance; all the gratification, which he can experience in his success; are such, and such only, as contribute to shrink, debase, and pollute his mind. In such a soil, a noble, generous thought would instantly wither. To such a bosom, honourable friendship cannot approach. At the door of such a heart, Christianity knocks for admittance in vain. His career is the career of abandonment only, through a
path of steep and rapid descent, going down to the chambers of death.
Vol. IV. 50
Exodus xx. 17.
Thou shatt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ow, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
The preceding Precepts of the Decalogue, so far as the lan. guage in which they are written is concerned, are apparently intended to regulate, chiefly, the external conduct of mankind. Had they not been explained by the Prophets, who followed Moses, and still more by our Saviour and his Apostles, plausible reasons might be alleged, why all of them, even the fourth, might be satisfied by external observances. But the Precept in the Text is directed immediately, and only, to the heart; and is intended supremely to control the disposition. The propensity, forbidden in it, is Covetousness : an inordinate desire of worldly enjoy. ments; and, particularly, an inordinate desire of such enjoy. ments, when in the possession of others. We may lawfully desire the enjoyments, furnished by this world; and that, even when they belong to our fellow-men; if the desire is confined within due bounds. We may desire, lawfully, the lands and houses of others, when they are willing to part with them, and we are equally willing to purchase them at an equitable price. We may lawfully wish to obtain any share of worldly good, with which God may crown our honest and industrious efforts, and which we may be prepared to enjoy with a spirit of gratitude, beneficence, and moderation. I know, says Solomon, that there is no good in them, (that is, in the creatures which God has made in this world, or the things created here,) but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life; and also, that every man should eat, and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour: it is the gift of God.
..An inordinate Desire of Natural good seems, in the order of things, to be the Commencement of sin in a virtuous being. Our first parents began their apostasy by coveting the forbidden fruit as an enjoyment, and wishing to become as gods, knowing good and evil. In this disposition seem naturally to be involved, Ambition, Avarice, and Voluptuous wishes for its attainment: and out of it to spring, as consequences, Pride, Vanity, and criminal Sensuality, in its enjoyment; Envy towards those, who possess more of it than ourselves; Anger and Malice towards those, who hinder us from acquiring it; Revenge towards those, who have deprived us of it; Falsehood, as the means of achieving and securing it; Forgetfulness, and therefore Ingratitude, with respect to such as give it; and Impiety, and consequent Rebellion, Repining, and Profaneness, towards Him, from whom we receive less of it, than our unreasonable wishes demand. In a word, to this disposition may be traced, with no great difficulty, most, if not all, of the sins, committed by mankind. The Text, therefore, appears to be levelled at the root of bitterness; at a sinful disposition in its original form, and in the very commencement of its existence. If we obey this Precept with the heart; and it cannot otherwise be obeyed; that Obedience will immediately fulfil all the demands of the other Precepts, belonging to the second table, or those, regulating our duty to mankind; and, consequentially, will fulfil those of the first. The Tenth Command, therefore, may be regarded as, in an extensive sense. a Summary of our duty.
This Command directly prohibits Coveting ; or, in other words, Ambition, Avarice, and Voluptuous Desires. Of course, it requires, universally, Contentment, and by easy implication, Charity. Of consequence, also, it forbids Discontentment and Envy. Contentment, the Virtue required in this Precept, shall be the principal subject of the present discourse. With this subject, I shall connect some observations concerning Discontentwent and Envy. Concerning Voluptuous desires I shall not. here, enter into any discussion.
In examining this subject I shall
I. Describe the Nature; and,
II. Mention the Benefits ; of Contentment.
The Nature of Contentment has been very often misapprehended. Persons often suppose themselves to be contented, when they are merely gay, or glad; when a native, or accidental, sprightliness of mind excludes sorrow and gloom; or when a multiplicity of enjoyments, the gratification of a darling wish, or the success, of a favourite enterprize, or the arrival of some unexpected benefit, fills the heart with pleasure. Others mistake Indifference and Phlegm for Contentment: and others, still, that kind of dull Equanimity, which springs from uniform, grave, and spiritless, employments; destroying all the elasticity of the mind, and settling it down in an immoveable stagnation. The Contentment, which is the object of this Precept, differs radical. ly from all these dispositions. A man may be gay, or glad; and yet be totally destitute of this virtue. His natural disposi. tion may incline him to flutter from one amusement to another, without suffering him to settle seriously upon any. Still, the disposition, which he mistakes for Contentment, is only Sportiveness. But no man will mistrust that sportiveness is the disposition required by this Precept. A man may be greatly delighted with his present enjoyments. But no person, beside himself, will mistake his pleasure for Contentment: and a reverse of for. tune may convince even him, that there is a wide difference be. tween these two states of mind. Much less can the other attributes, which I have mentioned, lay a claim to this title. There is nothing excellent, nor amiable, in being merely grave, insensible to sufferings, or indifferent about them.
The Words, used in the Scriptures to denote Contentment, involve, as one of their significations, the restraining of ourselves ; and, as another, the supporting of such burdens, as are incumbent on us. It includes, therefore, the supposition, that the contented person is placed in circumstances, which demand the restraint of his inclinations, and the sustentation of difficulties. | Such, plainly, are the circumstances of every befng, who can, with strict propriety, be said to be contented. . To say, that an
Angel was contented, would certainly be incorrect phraseology. An Angel is happy; all his circumstances being completely gratifying to his desires. A man, whom many troubles befal, and many burdens press, may, by steadily restraining his inclinations to murmur at the former, and serenely supporting the latter, be contented. Such is always the situation of man, upon the whole. He is never, for any length of time, in a situation entirely agreeable to him. On the contrary, he is always required, in some degree, and at short intervals, to suffer. If he possess a contented spirit, he will suffer with quietness and serenity.
Having premised these general remarks, I observe, that Evan
gelical Contentment, the object of the Command in the Text, involves,
1. A fired belief of the Reality, and Ercellency, of the Divine Government.
The Divine Government is, throughout the Scriptures, made the foundation of every delightful, and even every comfortable, thought. This Scheme is perfectly accordant with the dictates of Reason. Both the views, and prospects, of the Atheist, as I have heretofore shown at large", are gloomy and desolate, full of perplexity and discouragement, and destitute alike of comfort and hope. The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice : is a declaration, and a precept founded on it, which a very limited understanding will show us to be just; and a very moderate degree of rectitude incline us to obey.
It is not, however, sufficient to insure our obedience, however well disposed, that we believe in the superintendence of some All-controlling Agent. It is the Government of Jehovah, in
* See Sermon III.


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Doctor Who's Matt Smith appeared to be every bit the rock star as he graced the stage for TV Guide Magazine's Fan Favorites panel.
The panel's roster included stars like Community's Joel McHale, Castle's Nathan Fillion, Nikita's Maggie Q, Teen Wolf's Tyler Posey, Spartacus' Liam McIntyre, Fringe's Jasika Nicole, Grimm's David Biuntoli, and The Walking Dead's Sarah Wayne Callies.
But all eyes were on Matt as the audience took to the podium to ask questions. And we mean that literally every fan question was directed at Matt. (If we downed a shot for every time the words "This question is for Matt Smith" were said during today's TV Guide Fan Favorites panel, we'd wouldn't be posting right now. We'd be hospitalized.)
We knew this was a Matt Smith crowd when he entered the stage to thunderous, sustained applause. (Only Nathan Fillion approached that level on the applause-o-meter.) In his second straight appearance on the annual panel, Matt was his usual humble self, telling the audience that he regularly geeks out to the popular zombie series The Walking Dead. When asked to reveal one thing about himself that fans don't know, he responded, "I have very wide feet."
Clearly, he was soaking up the Comic-Con atmosphere, adding that American fans are "more vocal" and "very collaborative." He said that SDCC would be a great setting for an episode of Doctor Who, quipping, "There are enough aliens here."
Things turned slightly somber when Matt was asked about the next season of Who. "The fall of the Ponds is about to commence," he said, referring to the imminent departures of Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill as Rory and Amy. But he said Jenna-Louise Coleman was "doing really well" as the new companion and teased Dame Diana Rigg's guest appearance in the new season. Asked about the weirdest thing he's done as the Doctor, he responded, "Being painted from head-to-toe." Interesting…
The other panelists also showed their Doctor Who love. Liam McIntyre suggested a "time-traveling Spartacus episode" as a DW crossover. (McIntyre also made a funny when asked about his Favorite Doctor, responding "James Wilson. He's very affordable.") Joel McHale shouted out to all of the fans who turned up to the Community panel as Inspector Spacetime, protagonist of his sitcom's very popular Doctor Who spoof.
Here are a few snaps from the panel:Read More


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American made, better yet, San Antonio made solar panels can bring clean and renewable energy to customers across the nation. Solar power is one the few forms of clean energy readily available among homeowners. In 2011, one San Antonio based solar energy company had the revolutionary idea to build a silicon-based PV manufacturing plant in the US. This plant is known as Mission Solar Energy.
While most other solar energy plants are based in Asia, Mission Solar decided to trust American workers, their bold decision has definitely paid off. Recently, they have constructed a 100MW facility in San Antonio for their business. Mission Solar has the ability to sustain their company in both the domestic and global energy markets. Due to their American made background and San Antonio home, they will be forced to face quite a few issues.
Some of these potential issues include being able to find qualified and educated individuals in the area to work in the factory. Another issue they must surpass is the fact that San Antonio is known for wind power and not solar power. In the United States, California and Arizona have led the industry in solar power energy. All of these potential issues have been laid to rest in the past few months.
The company has had no issue finding people in the area as well as bringing people from outside the area to work in the facility. San Antonio is a city on the rise, with other major manufacturing businesses based in the area. Thanks to the large amount of sun Texas receives, they will have no problem utilizing solar energy. Rhone Resch, who is the president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association has been quoted as saying,
"Texas has the potential to be a MASSIVE solar market. To put it into perspective, the sunshine that falls on Texas each month has more energy than all of the oil that has ever been pumped out of this state. If you think oil made Texas great, just wait till you see what they do with solar…."
Mission Solar Energy is committed to investing back into the San Antonio community. They plan to create relationships with local school districts to be able to teach about solar energy in school. They are working to provide affordable solar power systems for local school districts which can be used to inspire children to utilize solar based energy and provide them hands-on experience in solar energy. Mission Solar is also partnering with the University of Texas at San Antonio to work on other solar based projects.
Thanks to Mission Solar Energy, solar power has finally been put on the map in the United States. Just as they are launching their 100MW manufacturing facility in San Antonio today, they are preparing to install additional production lines to bring the facility to more than 200MW in the future. Mission Solar Energy has maintained to stay in front of the crowd of solar power, due to their gutsy decisions made back in 2011.


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Skin care is something that is identified with women, but which is important for men as well. And, of course, that need for care extends to penis skin as well. Unattractive penis skin can mar an otherwise-appealing member, causing potential partners to check out. It can also indicate possible hygienic or penis health issues which may need tending to. For example, sometimes penis skin problems may result from a condition known as lichen sclerosis.
Not just women
Lichen sclerosis is much more common among women (in whom it affects the vagina) than in men, but it does occur in men – probably more frequently than is known. (Many men are reluctant to report problems they have with their penis to a doctor, so it is suspected that lichen sclerosis is underreported among males.)
Also known in men as balanitis xerotica obliterans, lichen sclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disorder about which not enough is known. The cause or causes are still being identified and explored, but it is thought to be an autoimmune disorder. What does that mean? Well, an autoimmune disorder occurs when a person's body mistakenly starts identifying something that naturally exists in the body (usually a protein) as a foreign object, and so starts developing antibodies to fight this supposedly foreign object.
Because some 15% of people with lichen sclerosis have a relative with the condition, it is also thought that there may be a genetic component involved in the disorder as well.
What it does
When a man has lichen sclerosis, it is usually located in the glans (or head) of the penis. It may become inflamed, causing redness. There may also be white patches which appear on the glans, and the skin may get blotchy and wrinkled. It becomes sensitive, so that the skin may tear more easily, causing bleeding, and sometimes there are sores or ulcers that appear in the area. Most men experience severe penile itching as well. The urethra tends to constrict, so that urine streams may thin, crooked or "spattery;" in intact men, the foreskin may become difficult to retract. And sex usually becomes painful while lichen sclerosis is present.
Often, young intact boys with phimosis also have lichen sclerosis. Otherwise, it is more common among middle-aged men, especially if they are uncircumcised; however, many of any age, with or without foreskin, can be affected.
The first step in treating lichen sclerosis is to get it diagnosed, so a visit to a urologist – or at least to a general practitioner – is in order. Since the exact cause of the disorder is still under discussion, treatment tends to involve attacking the symptoms rather than the root cause itself.
The most common, and usually effective, course of treatment is application of corticosteroids via a crème or ointment. In most cases, the corticosteroids will be applied twice a day until the symptoms disappear. Frequently, a patient will be recommended to continue treatment on a much less frequent basis (once or twice a week) to keep the condition from coming back.
If corticosteroids don't work, the doctor may recommend another medication. In some instances, a doctor may suggest that an intact patient consider circumcision as a treatment option.
Lichen sclerosis can create an unpleasant penis skin situation, so even after treatment a man should apply a first rate penis health creme (health professionals recommend Man 1 Man Oil, which is clinically proven mild and safe for skin) to assist restoring and rejuvenating the penis skin. This will be more easily accomplished if the chosen crème contains both a high end emollient (think shea butter) and a powerful hydrator (such as vitamin E). The penis skin will further benefit from a crème with a potent antioxidant, such as alpha lipoic acid. Powerful antioxidants can fend off excess free radicals, which left unchecked can bring about significant oxidative damage to the skin.
In : Men's Health


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Though we suspected Hope would enjoy school, it was pretty evident after her first week in school that she was having a lot of fun and learning lots of new things. We were quite amazed, proud, and thrilled to learn that after she finished up her second week in kindergarten she earned Student of the Week for her class.
Student of the week brought her a number of rewards to be proud of. She got to share pictures of herself and her family along with answering questions that were posted on a board in her school for everyone to see. She also got to bring home a reward from her teacher. I must admit, I wasn't sure who this "Molly Moss" character was, but Hope talked about her constantly for the first two weeks of school. All she kept saying was that her teacher told the class that if they are really good they might get to take her home and take her everywhere they go. She was clearly excited with this incentive and was so proud to bring her home the day she earned student of the week.
Another treat for Hope, Jason, and I was that we were invited to school on Wednesday to eat lunch with Hope. It was quite cute seeing her with her classmates. Jason was even invited to read Hope's new favorite book "How do dinosaurs go to school?" to Hope's class.
So how much does Hope really enjoy school? Well, in just three weeks she has amazed me. She comes home excited to show us what she's done in school and often times tells us of many of the events during her day with her classmates. She's having lots of fun – and often tells us her adventures in music, PE, and science class. She gets excited about her homework and other at home projects and continuously tells us that she can't wait to take it back to school to show her teacher. Though she's known her abc's for quite a while now, her class is in the midst of learning them more in depth and it seems like every time we turn around she's either trying to spell new words or telling us what letter a word starts with.
And if you're wondering how we're doing now that she's in school – it took a few days to get use to but we enjoying seeing her excitement each day she is dismissed from school. Now, if we could only keep her from getting sick or injured we'd be happy. It seems germs spread rather easily in kindergarten and we've already had to watch her battle a cold, stomach bug, and a minor case of pink eye. And we've come to learn that pencil injuries at school are more common than you might imagine. Other than those things that are out of our control, we are certainly enjoying watching her grow through all of the moments she experiences in school.


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This post is part 6 of my series on why I am no longer an anarcho-capitalist (ancap).
Ancaps will not let you define capitalism in any way but theirs. Instead of acknowledging the decades of debate surrounding the term and the history of actual capitalism, they will post a link to a dictionary, or quote their favourite economist, and ignore everything you say. As such, it can be difficult to have a conversation with them. You talk about what you dislike about capitalism and they interrupt with "that's not capitalism". They write articles talking up the good things that have happened under actually exisiting capitalism but distance themselves from the bad things, as if one could have existed without the other. They like to take all the supposedly good things from capitalism as evidence that it works, and call all the bad things it brings "socialism". They attempt to have their cake and eat it too.
Not all problems stem from the state. Slavery could easily continue without a state. Slavery was not and is not a result of the state. Neither was the Irish Potato Famine, as landlords exported food they owned in a way that should be considered legitimate to propertarians. These are problems of capitalism that would be problems whether or not ancaps' particular vision were realized. Another such problem is that of competition.
Not everything can be reduced to economics. You say we should stop competing with each other and share and ancaps will accuse you of wanting monopolies. But anarcho-communists do not want monopolies. They want gift economies. A gift economy is, essentially, where things are free. Yes, it is possible; indeed, unlike trade, gift economies have been the norm throughout human existence, just like anarchy, equality and mutual aid.
Alfie Kohn's book No Contest: The Case against Competition dismantles every claim about the beneficial effects of competition. This post barely scratches the surface of his work. I recommend reading it through for a fuller understanding. (A lecture on the subject can be found here.)
Competition is not efficient: it is exceedingly inefficient. People who say capitalism is the most efficient economic system ever devised do not seem to understand how capitalism works.
–First, capitalism is not decentralized. Whether statist or not, capitalism necessarily concentrates money and decision-making in the hands of a small group of people, essentially the owners of the means of production. Concentrating wealth (and thus power) in such a way inevitably leads to violence. The rich would reconstitute the state in one form or another.
–Corporations spend money on taxes, managers, shareholders, lobbyists, security guards, lawyers, accountants, human resources, marketing and advertising, none of which would be necessary in a system where everything was free. Every dollar taken as profit, or spent on the above, is a dollar capitalism itself has taken from those who produce. If production was shared among everyone equally, far less work would need to be done at each job. Indeed, more time could be spent looking for ways to automate productive activity and further reduce the need for labor. And surely two goals of any liberatory philosophy worthy of the name are to liberate us from both scarcity and work, not just put a few more bucks in our pockets.
–Competition creates huge amounts of redundancy as firms spend huge amounts on R&D, producing competing but similar products, instead of pooling resources and creating something good for everyone. You have any number of people working for any number of firms to produce the same products and innovations. You have firms such as pharmaceutical giants all competing for scientific research into the same things, then spending a large part of their budgets on marketing, administration and other waste.
–Finally, competition among firms leads to paying the lowest possible wages, often resulting in slavery or near-slavery as people in places like China, the Congo and US jails receive pitiful wages and horrible working conditions when an efficient system could produce the same goods without inflicting such pain on its producers.
But it's "natural", right? All creatures compete, right? Yes and no. There is an enormous amount of mutual aid in nature, even across species but especially within them. Some species engage in somewhat violent competition for mates, though that competition is rarely fatal. Is competition inherent in evolutionary success? Only a simplistic understanding of evolution would imply such. Stephen Jay Gould points out
The equation of competition with success in natural selection is merely a cultural prejudice …. Success defined as leaving more offspring can … be attained by a large variety of strategies – including mutualism and symbiosis – that we could call cooperative. There is no a priori preference in the general statement of natural selection for either competitive or cooperative behavior. (In Kohn, 21)
Besides, modern humans are a bit different from animals obeying the supposed law of the jungle. We have created a civilization where competition is no longer necessary, because abundance has become the norm. We do not need to compete over, say, food, water and land, because there is enough for all of us, and we value sharing and cooperation. Whatever nature appears to dictate through the lens of our culture, the reality is there is nothing inevitable about competing.
So why encourage it? Kids don't like it. Kohn says "I am aware of no studies that found a preference for competition over cooperation – providing the subjects had experienced the latter in some fashion." (32) If given a choice, children would rather cooperate and eliminate the need to divide winners from losers. While a few kids may enjoy competing over cooperating, the vast majority appear not to. Competition as we know it is largely a learned phenomenon, continually reaffirmed in school rankings, games and sports. This focus on competition, especially on creating the myth that it is inevitable and beneficial, serves those in power, who want us to compete with each other to serve the rich, rather than work together to make serving the rich unnecessary.
Kohn also asked the question "Do we perform better when we are trying to beat others?" and found overwhelming evidence to suggest the answer is almost never. Competition tends to bring down performance, not enhance it. (47) Competition puts intense pressure on us, and not even pressure to succeed (which in itself is not necessarily good) but pressure to beat others. Trying to do something right and well is quite different from trying to beat others. (55) It might result in lies, tripping other people up, heartbreak, and so on, when in the absence of competition we need not stress but simply be as good as we choose to be.
Competition encourages win-lose thinking, as opposed to win-win thinking. (127) It poisons our relationships. (132) It discourages altruism and empathy while encouraging envy, mistrust and contempt. (140-1) And it is unnecessary.
The results of the many studies, which clear away the myths about competition's inevitability and benefits, should mean radical changes to the way we do things, from the market economy to kids in school and at home, from examinations to debates, from meting out justice to having fun. Unfortunately, it is fundamental to capitalism, so those who identify with capitalism are likely to have a hard time unlearning competition.
Workers should not compete with each other, locally or across countries, but unite to unionize or take over their workplaces or start cooperatives or overthrow capitalism altogether and begin sharing the product of our labor.
August 6, 2017 at 6:25 am
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