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Cognition and Perception

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

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Reconciling Greed And Altruism In The Open Source Community, Aaron Jay Dunn Aug 2012

Reconciling Greed And Altruism In The Open Source Community, Aaron Jay Dunn

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

Adam Smith observed in The Theory of Moral Sentiments, that people pursue wealth not to "to supply the necessities of nature" but in order to procure "superfluities" that satisfy a basic psychological need to be thought of well by others (Smith, 62). "It is not wealth that men desire, but the consideration and good opinion that wait upon riches".

We know that there is some truth to this statement, as even a cursory glance at metrics representing standards of living show them increasing 1 or 2% each year since they were first measured (in terms of GDP per capita, Tables …