It's Not Fair!

Is there a person in the world who hasn't felt outraged that something wasn't fair? The sense of fairness, that resources and opportunity should be distributed equitably, is not only innate in human beings but also other social mammals including monkeys and dogs. I would be quite surprised if this wasn't an attribute of all social mammals.

Is there a person in the world who hasn't been told as a result of the outrage that, "Life isn't fair?" The reason that this is so is because life isn't fair. It's a simple fact that people around the world in all places and at all times have different characteristics, different resources, and are treated differently based on attributes that they didn't earn (beautiful people have easier lives).

Human beings also have an innate tendency to attribute the cause of events to an intelligent actor. If you are a believer in God you will probably believe this to be a true insight into the nature of the Universe, if you an Atheist you will probably believe this to be an evolved bias (the person who consistently attributes the crack of a stick breaking in the bushes to an intelligent actor is less likely to get eaten by the tiger, or end up with a spear through them).

These three facts produce a difficult cognitive problem for people. There is the feeling that there is meaning or a plan to our very existence, and a feeling that things should be fair, and finally the fact that things are not fair. So much of our angst comes from this problem. Those of us who do less than others feel guilt. Those of us that do more feel cheated. Those of us with reduced opportunities (not so pretty, from a place with fewer resources) feel as though the Universe is against them. Those with more feel the spite of jealousy.

There are two concepts that exist to deal with this, reward/punishment afterlives, or the Law of Karma. Since life is so manifestly unfair the believer in a just God (something in modern monotheism and far less apparent in preceding religions) must believe that there is more than this life and Heaven is the reward for being good and Hell is the punishment for being bad, and each is so vastly more than this life that fairness results. The Law of Karma requires no God, but does require that the Universe is inherently just and that we are reborn by some unknown mechanism to receive our just deserts in the next life. These concepts are so emotionally satisfying to people that the overwhelming majority of people believe in at least one of them.

Humanity also has other issues in regards to fairness. For a start there are the scientific facts of social loafing, rationalization, and attribution bias. We work less hard in groups, we try to get unfair amounts of resources for less work, we tell ourselves that we don't do these things and we tend to blame the misfortune of others on their characters and our misfortunes on circumstances. Human beings are also innately pre-disposed to extreme punishment. Those caught not being fair are generally punished even to the extent that the results are a net loss for everyone. This is best illustrated by a poll of Wisconsin voters in which the majority indicated that they would prefer to pay more in taxes to get people off welfare than it cost to pay for welfare. People would prefer to be poorer than have other people get their money "for nothing."

For myself this problem of fairness is mostly experienced with regard to my darling wife, and particularly on days like today. My job today will be to walk the dog on a marvelous day, do some dishes, practice some music, make dinner, and be attentive and caring towards someone I love. My wife's job is to slave away in an environment I could not stand for ten hours. From my point of view there is no comparison in the amount of work, it simply isn't fair.

The thing is, should fairness be the measure of things? As a utilitarian I am in favor of making the most amount of happiness with the resources available. Between my wife and myself I am more qualified and capable at doing chores (in that I am capable of sometimes doing them) and in caring for people (my profession for two decades). Without a doubt my wife is more capable of withstanding the unholy bullshit of the corporate world and making money. This division of labor makes both of us more happy than if we were acting alone (in which each of us would have to work and do chores). Our lives are both enhanced by an unfair arrangement.

In a wider setting we can look at the problem of fairness. At the moment there is a vast inequity (although geographically shrinking) in wealth. The average worldwide income is $7000 a year, the average US income is over $50,000. For wealth to be fair the average American would have to give up almost everything they own and everyone in the world would have to try getting by on $7,000 a year. What would be the result? Worldwide economic collapse, most likely. The end of research and development. The end of large capitol investment for non-government activities. The Twentieth Century was (despite the common view) the greatest century for worldwide economic improvement ever. While I am certain that income inequality can go too far (and has) it still produces a better situation than a perfectly fair distribution.

It's not fair, I'm think it probably shouldn't be fair, and regret that it isn't fair without changing the situation is an entirely negative and useless emotion. I keep telling myself this but my innate feeling of fairness means that I can still feel guilty for making the world a better place by not being fair.