请大家挑毛病：为自己还是为别人更有利于社会发展

smilecattyUID: 2619131

“People who pursue their own intellectual interests for purely personal reasons are more likely to benefit the rest of the world than are people who try to act for the public good. ”


Individual action spurred by complete selfishness amount to a double edged sword. Although the collective action of selfish individuals is able to bring about prosperity and success to the rest of the world, such actions, if left unruly, can result in economic turmoils and depressions.  

Admittedly, the progress of society relies on the individuals who dedicatedly strive to pursue deeper understandings and experiences of what appeals to their personal interests. After all, human society emerges from the combination of competing inviduduals in that each one wants to outperform the others, whether financially, or intellectually. In order to succeed, one must choose a field that interest him most and where he has special talent with. That's why most successful people usually have a track record of excellence in the area he work with, no matter the area directly benefits the rest of the world or not. It is the combination of the successful stories in the different functions of the society that eventually brings progress and prosperity. Let's take many of the modern day technological products for instance, scientists in the universities work with esoteric theories and search for the next theoretical breakthroughs, whereas the technicians from industries translate these theories into great practical uses; the factory workers bring about the products and the sales force let them reach consumers. Even though nobody in the chain deliberately act for the public good, the result is a more convenient and comfortable life for everyone and economic benefit to society.

Neverthless, we should also be aware of the possible unintended consequences from individual's pursuing of personal interests. Certain individual actions, if bring to a massive scale, can bring about catastrophes to our economic and financial success. For supporting evidence, one needs to look no further than today's global economic crisis. The continuous rise of housing prices in the U.S and the rest of world before the real estate bust was not a phenomenon justified by the economic law of supply and demand, but the result from individual's collective action to buy with the expectation to sell at a even higher price. In other words, it resulted from our personal interests to get rich and famous without hard work and efforts. Therefore, it is necessary for society to have a group of people who constantly monitor the behavior of selfish individual and enterprises and make sure that their collective actions will not impose harm to the life of others and to the society in the long run, which is the government, the civil societies and many of the self-regulatory bodies within the industries.

In sum, I fundamentally agree that allowing each individual to pursue their own interests without imposing the agenda to act for everyone else is likely to benefit the rest of the world. However, such freedom must be combined with effective regulation in order to keep individuals from abusing it. As long as everyone acts within the legal and moral framework. Creativity and productivity is more likely to rise in a society with freedom and individual rights than one that impose strict political and moral dogmas to its citizens.