The greed that will destroy us

摘要

Pythagoras said that there are three kinds of people, who can be classified by analogy to those whc attend the games: competitors, spectators, and those who come to buy and sell under the stands. He likened philosophers (a term which for him included mathematicians and scientists) to the spectators, imputing a certain superiority to them, especially over those bartering and haggling.rnThe current global financial meltdown makes it easy to feel like one of Pythagoras's spectators - if one is not directly involved or affected. Greedy speculators and bankers, wild fear-driven stock-market fluctuations and insufficient regulation have combined to create a dismaying mess which is depriving ordinary folk of their homes and jobs.