The Temporal Credit Assignment Problem
The results of a scientific study on rats seems to indicate that our brains learn by going over previous events in reverse, on the premise that our last action before success was the action that resulted in success, so our brains tend to focus on that event and work backwards.
Whether or not this is true is another story. What makes this relevant to debtors imprisonment is that it relates to a well-known dilemma in decision-making theory, called the Temporal Credit Assignment Problem.
The Temporal Credit Assignment Problem basically asks the question, if you've never done something before, how do you decide where best to begin? For example, if you've never played chess before, how do you know which opening move is best the first time you play (assuming you haven't been previously tutored)? The answer, of course, is that you can't know what the best move is. You might make the best move by random chance, but you can't know what the best move is the first time you play. You learn the best moves by practice, practice, practice--just like any other endeavor in life.
Which raises the question, how does a 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 or 50-year old American citizen know how best to handle their personal finances, if they have no previous experience with finances to learn from? If their goal is financial security and prosperity, where do they begin?
The answer is that they can't know where to begin. They can only begin by making some decision--any decision, and noting the success, failure or neutrality of the result. They can then learn from the experience to inform them on their next move. That is just the way human life is.
But the American Debtors Prison does not even attempt to recognize this fact of life. Instead, like a predator, the wardens of the American Debtors Prison use the Temporal Credit Assignment Problem as a weapon against people who have little or no experience with finances--particularly young people.
For example, if you are 18 years old, recently graduated from high school, you have a lot of decisions to make that will dramatically affect the course of your life over the next several decades. Where to live? Where to work? Go to college? Who to date? What to prioritize? Who to believe? All these questions must result in conscious or unsconscious decisions, if you are to get out of bed each day at all.
It is financially suicidal for a non-wealthy citizen of a capitalist nation to go into debt, because capitalism implies freedom, and debt is slavery. To go into debt when you are 18 years old is to subjugate your freedom to the whims of another person or institution from the very beginning of your adult life. Yet 18 year olds are inundated with credit card solicitations, offers of "low interest" student loans, sales pitches for new cars and hundreds of other unnecessary toys, and business "opportunities" that might at first glance appear to offer the key to future success.
But without any experience whatsoever, how is an 18 year old supposed to make an intelligent, informed decision about credit cards, student loans, sales pitches, or business "opportunities"? They can't. The best they can do is make any decision at all, and use the results to learn how to make better decisions in the future.
It is tempting to suggest that an 18 year old may seek tutoring from teachers, books, parents, and successful friends, to help them make good decisions from the beginning. The problem here is that very few adults are capable of handling their finances responsibly--and even when they do it is accomplished by the grace of good luck, because financial security is always contigent on the whims of others. (Example: If Americans suddenly agreed that cash was worthless, and breadcrumbs were the new currency, Warren Buffet would be forced to hunt for breadcrumbs in order to eat each day--this multi-billionaire would actually have to labor in order to earn the breadcrumbs to pay for his daily needs).
Is it wise for an 18 year old to trust the advice of a credit card company when planning their financial security, considering that credit card companies operate using the same fundamental principles that drug dealers use? Is it wise for an 18 year old to trust the advice of a college student loan officer, whose job it is to approve loans that fund his own salary--loans that must be repaid by the student alone over 10 years or more, at interest, with no legal requirement for full disclosure of the consequences of default beforehand?
One of the reasons the American Debtors Prison represents a bona-fide human atrocity is because it can only exist by exploiting inherent weaknesses that are a natural part of being human, like the fact that humans cannot make wise decisions without first gaining the experience needed to evaluate those decisions. Those who use debtors imprisonment as a means of enslaving others do not go after Bill Gates or Warren Buffet--not because those men have no money (they are multi-billionaires), but because they possess enough life experience to avoid making fundamentally bad decisions with their finances (usually).
No, the wardens of the American Debtors Prison go after 16, 17, 18 year olds. They go after young, recently married couples looking to purchase their first home. They go after intelligent, but poor people who crave a higher education without the means to afford one. They go after ambitious, but inexperienced older folks who are seeking genuine "opportunities" to prosper. They do this because once imprisoned, it is impossible to escape the American Debtors Prison by non-miraculous means, and the only people who are susceptible to debtors imprisonment are those who are ignorant of the fact that debt IS slavery.
However, just like drugs provide a quick high, and one must continually get high to avoid "coming down", experimenting with debt allows inexperienced people to enjoy a new car, a college education, an XBox, or anything else that gives them a "high"--all before they have worked to pay for it. The consequences come later. But just like drugs, debtors can maintain the high by repeatedly going into debt as a means of forgetting all those bills they are obligated to pay. This is precisely the behavior that credit card companies and other creditors devote their efforts to promoting. And just like a drug dealer, as long as they can keep attracting new recruits they couldn't care less whether some of their earlier customers overdose and die--or enter the American Debtors Prison.
The American Debtors Prison is an atrocity, perpetrated by those who exploit natural human weaknesses for their own advantage, regardless of how many other peoples' lives are destroyed in the process. It is a land of predators and prey. And from the young or inexperienced person's perspective, the field of decision-making is littered with land-mines because of the Temporal Credit Assignment Problem.
Comprehending this is the first step toward avoiding the catastrophe of debtors imprisonment.
All the best,
Paul
Whether or not this is true is another story. What makes this relevant to debtors imprisonment is that it relates to a well-known dilemma in decision-making theory, called the Temporal Credit Assignment Problem.
The Temporal Credit Assignment Problem basically asks the question, if you've never done something before, how do you decide where best to begin? For example, if you've never played chess before, how do you know which opening move is best the first time you play (assuming you haven't been previously tutored)? The answer, of course, is that you can't know what the best move is. You might make the best move by random chance, but you can't know what the best move is the first time you play. You learn the best moves by practice, practice, practice--just like any other endeavor in life.
Which raises the question, how does a 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 or 50-year old American citizen know how best to handle their personal finances, if they have no previous experience with finances to learn from? If their goal is financial security and prosperity, where do they begin?
The answer is that they can't know where to begin. They can only begin by making some decision--any decision, and noting the success, failure or neutrality of the result. They can then learn from the experience to inform them on their next move. That is just the way human life is.
But the American Debtors Prison does not even attempt to recognize this fact of life. Instead, like a predator, the wardens of the American Debtors Prison use the Temporal Credit Assignment Problem as a weapon against people who have little or no experience with finances--particularly young people.
For example, if you are 18 years old, recently graduated from high school, you have a lot of decisions to make that will dramatically affect the course of your life over the next several decades. Where to live? Where to work? Go to college? Who to date? What to prioritize? Who to believe? All these questions must result in conscious or unsconscious decisions, if you are to get out of bed each day at all.
It is financially suicidal for a non-wealthy citizen of a capitalist nation to go into debt, because capitalism implies freedom, and debt is slavery. To go into debt when you are 18 years old is to subjugate your freedom to the whims of another person or institution from the very beginning of your adult life. Yet 18 year olds are inundated with credit card solicitations, offers of "low interest" student loans, sales pitches for new cars and hundreds of other unnecessary toys, and business "opportunities" that might at first glance appear to offer the key to future success.
But without any experience whatsoever, how is an 18 year old supposed to make an intelligent, informed decision about credit cards, student loans, sales pitches, or business "opportunities"? They can't. The best they can do is make any decision at all, and use the results to learn how to make better decisions in the future.
It is tempting to suggest that an 18 year old may seek tutoring from teachers, books, parents, and successful friends, to help them make good decisions from the beginning. The problem here is that very few adults are capable of handling their finances responsibly--and even when they do it is accomplished by the grace of good luck, because financial security is always contigent on the whims of others. (Example: If Americans suddenly agreed that cash was worthless, and breadcrumbs were the new currency, Warren Buffet would be forced to hunt for breadcrumbs in order to eat each day--this multi-billionaire would actually have to labor in order to earn the breadcrumbs to pay for his daily needs).
Is it wise for an 18 year old to trust the advice of a credit card company when planning their financial security, considering that credit card companies operate using the same fundamental principles that drug dealers use? Is it wise for an 18 year old to trust the advice of a college student loan officer, whose job it is to approve loans that fund his own salary--loans that must be repaid by the student alone over 10 years or more, at interest, with no legal requirement for full disclosure of the consequences of default beforehand?
One of the reasons the American Debtors Prison represents a bona-fide human atrocity is because it can only exist by exploiting inherent weaknesses that are a natural part of being human, like the fact that humans cannot make wise decisions without first gaining the experience needed to evaluate those decisions. Those who use debtors imprisonment as a means of enslaving others do not go after Bill Gates or Warren Buffet--not because those men have no money (they are multi-billionaires), but because they possess enough life experience to avoid making fundamentally bad decisions with their finances (usually).
No, the wardens of the American Debtors Prison go after 16, 17, 18 year olds. They go after young, recently married couples looking to purchase their first home. They go after intelligent, but poor people who crave a higher education without the means to afford one. They go after ambitious, but inexperienced older folks who are seeking genuine "opportunities" to prosper. They do this because once imprisoned, it is impossible to escape the American Debtors Prison by non-miraculous means, and the only people who are susceptible to debtors imprisonment are those who are ignorant of the fact that debt IS slavery.
However, just like drugs provide a quick high, and one must continually get high to avoid "coming down", experimenting with debt allows inexperienced people to enjoy a new car, a college education, an XBox, or anything else that gives them a "high"--all before they have worked to pay for it. The consequences come later. But just like drugs, debtors can maintain the high by repeatedly going into debt as a means of forgetting all those bills they are obligated to pay. This is precisely the behavior that credit card companies and other creditors devote their efforts to promoting. And just like a drug dealer, as long as they can keep attracting new recruits they couldn't care less whether some of their earlier customers overdose and die--or enter the American Debtors Prison.
The American Debtors Prison is an atrocity, perpetrated by those who exploit natural human weaknesses for their own advantage, regardless of how many other peoples' lives are destroyed in the process. It is a land of predators and prey. And from the young or inexperienced person's perspective, the field of decision-making is littered with land-mines because of the Temporal Credit Assignment Problem.
Comprehending this is the first step toward avoiding the catastrophe of debtors imprisonment.
All the best,
Paul
posted by Paul at 2:39 AM
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