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from the better-than-growing-up-to-be-a-sink dept.
Scientists at Kings College London performed a longitudinal study to test the 'Pareto principle' and found that adults who were greater users of public services were most likely to have had a low score on the intelligence and impulsivity test administered at age three.
"About 20 per cent of population is using the lion's share of a wide array of public services," said Prof Terrie Moffitt, of King's College and Duke University in North Carolina. "The same people use most of the NHS, the criminal courts, insurance claims, for disabling injury, pharmaceutical prescriptions and special welfare benefits.
"If we stopped there it might be fair to think these are lazy bums who are freeloading off the taxpayer and exploiting the public purse.
"But we also went further back into their childhood and found that 20 per cent begin their lives with mild problems with brain function and brain health when they were very small children.
"Looking at health examinations really changed the whole picture. It gives you a feeling of compassion for these people as opposed to a feeling of blame.
"Being able to predict which children will struggle is an opportunity to intervene in their lives very early to attempt to change their trajectories, for everyone's benefit and could bring big returns on investment for government."
Full Paper: Childhood forecasting of a small segment of the population with large economic burden DOI: 10.1038/s41562-016-0005
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Thursday December 15 2016, @10:25PM
I take it your family members charged each other for their contributions to Thanksgiving dinner? And that you've never given something to somebody else without expecting something in return? Or given money to a charitable organization, putting your resources into somebody else's control?
Also, there are alternatives to capitalism that have been shown to be both humane and effective. For example, primitive communism, still practiced in some isolated tribes: People all work for the good of the village as a whole, there's somebody at least nominally in charge but he could be easily overthrown if he abuses his power, and status is earned by how much you've contributed to the success of the group. Those societies do not, contrary to popular belief, live lives that are "nasty, brutish, and short" - your typical hunter-gatherer lives fairly comfortably, works about 20 hours a week, and if they make it through early childhood have a good chance of living into their 60's and 70's.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 15 2016, @11:54PM
You are describing Capitalism: Individuals choosing to allocate their capital in a particular way. Get it yet?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by jmorris on Friday December 16 2016, @04:06AM
For example, primitive communism, still practiced in some isolated tribes
To the extent that works, it does not scale beyond a small tribe with high internal social trust, transparency and cohesion. And it does not create or innovate since there isn't any reward for it and in fact most such societies cast out any member who is eccentric enough to be an innovator, doubly so if they are wasting too much time tinkering instead of 'pulling their weight.' Nation Geographic never brings us the inspiring story of the lost tribe that had independently discovered Calculus, the internal combustion engine or antibiotics.
Now show me a large (1 million plus) society that abandoned capitalism that isn't an undesirable place to live. While you look you will find the history of the 20th Century littered with the mass graves of the victims of the many attempts to create the sort of society you think you would prefer. But I note you aren't making a point about how proud you are to be posting from Cuba.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Friday December 16 2016, @12:26PM
Of course I'm not, because I'm not Cuban. On the other hand, unlike most Americans, I know some Cubans, and while they aren't getting rich they also have consistently had all the vitally important things in life - homes, health care, enough food to go around (not much more than that, but enough), safe drinking water, and education. Now you might say "What's so great about that?" until you realize that there are lots of countries in Latin America (e.g. Haiti) where the majority of the population doesn't have those things. Heck, there are Americans who don't have those things.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.