The threat of your kids being disadvantaged might motivate you to work, but this kind of destructive interfamilial competition keeps us all focused on accumulating when we’d rather focus on excelling at our passions. Most of us want to be autonomous, creative, inspired, engaged and competent; we feel our greatest joy when we’re contributing to both our families and our communities. Instead of creating an interfamilial threat to motivate work, meritocracy unlocks a far more powerful energy source: passion for excellence.
Instead of funnelling wealth to your kids as protection against economic exploitation, why not give them a better world? Why not give them a world where no family ever worries about hunger or homelessness? Meritocracy ends the threat of aristocratic dynasties. Meritocracy puts everyone on equal footing. With meritocracy, everyone will have a chance to make a dent in the world, and this leads to fiery motivation.
