What is equality?

I recently had a conversation with a friend in which he criticized capitalism because it was unequal. I responded with Jesus parable of the laborers in the vinyard in which people were hired at various times in the day to harvest grapes and then they were all paid the same at the end of the day. Were they treated equally? Yes and no. They had equality of outcome, but they were certainly not treated equally for labor performed, either by the hour or the quantity of crop harvested.
Political or economic equality can be equality of outcome, opportunity, laws, lack of legal barriers etc. The notion of equality does not tell us on what basis the equality is to be drawn. What basis we decide to administer equality can often have great impacts on other factors. Socialism, for example, tends to make everyone equally poor, except for the oligarchy that administers the socialistic system. Capitalism treats everyone equally in the sense of equal before the law, but it results in great inequality of wealth. Which is best? The notion of equality itself does not tell us.

Lessons not learned . . .

NEW YORK - The Dalai Lama on Thursday declared that he is still a Marxist in spirit who condemns capitalism as a system whose main goal is "how to make profit." Marxism has "the only economy system expressing concern of equal distribution (of wealth); that is moral ethics," the Tibetan Buddhist leader told a news conference at the start of a four-day New York visit.

WOW! At last, we know everything!!

THE STORY OF EVERYTHING

That is the subtitle of the new television series, "Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking.”

Here is the show’s promo; In two mind-blowing hours, Hawking reveals the wonders of the cosmos to a new generation. Delve into the mind of the world's most famous living scientist and reveal the splendor and majesty of the universe as never seen before. See how the universe began, how it creates stars, black holes and life--and how everything will end.

Last evening I watched the two hours of theoretical musings about hypotheses of the relatively little known universe and its mechanics, masquerading as unabashed reality.

Science Fiction at its best!