Reply #60: Of course there are risks involved

[IrateCitizen]

One thing to keep in mind throughout all of this is that the institutions of a society are based upon its sensibilities and values. Here in the US, we maintain a huge military machine and possibly the most rapacious form of capitalism as exists among industrialized nations. We also have a murder rate some six times that of most other industrialized nations, teen pregnancy rates significantly higher, and an increasing embrace of mysticism in place of scientific inquiry (i.e. Creationism vs. Evolution).

If a cooperative system were immediately introduced in our society, as it is now, it would most definitely lead in the direction you propose. We're a society that really elevates greed to a core value, when you get to the root of the matter. In fact, it will probably be some time before the United States is ready for such a system. But what if it were gradually adopted in a society like Japan? Or Germany? While the systems in these countries would likely take different forms, it is conceivable that they could take hold given the different sensibilities of these nations WRT the United States.

In fact, the establishment of such a system would mean that greed was no longer considered a core value -- it could even be something to be treated with disdain. If that were indeed the case, then it would be much more difficult for an overly ambitious but rapacious manager to exploit the greed of others, because that greed would not be considered in any way to be an admirable quality, according to the sensiblities of his/her society.