Prior to Capitalism, the way people amassed great wealth... - Walter E. Williams
Prior to Capitalism, the way people amassed great wealth was by looting, plundering and enslaving their fellow man. Capitalism made it possible to become wealthy by serving your fellow man. - Walter E. Williams
As Walter E. Williams is presumed to be well versed in the language of economics, I would think Rand may have given him the benefit of the doubt as to his usage and intent, no?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baBDL...
Gilder's argument and perhaps the capitalist argument for "serve" that is popular would go like this. Atlas Shrugged I is about to come out. Most fans don't even know they are fans yet. So a special website is designed to drum up interest for the movies and give the fans a rewarding valuable forum in which to meet and discuss-anything really. My point is this-the forum didn't fill an existing need expressed by consumers. The forum created the "need" tapped into something the creators wanted themselves. Scott developed the idea and what do you know-build it and they will come...
It is a myth that capitalism is built upon the foundation of business meeting peoples' needs. The disruption, the wealth creation that can only occur under capitalism are the inventions, that maybe only the inventor thought initially-"that's cool. I want that." Then he/she starts to build a case for the "need."
In the book "Great Again," there is an excellent vignette of Apple's origins-where they took the first prototype to trade shows and everyone was -I don't need that-what what I use it for." The investors said-the only one who would use a personal computer like that would be a housewife to keep and look up recipes. Entrepreneurs are not servants to the needs of the consumer or even other businesses. Often they solve "problems" no one knew existed. That's capitalism.
Strange, I replied earlier and apparently did not follow through properly..
Anyway, I think it is okay as long as service in that sense of the word is not your objective, but a happy coincidence. Certainly to be successful, from the consumers perspective you must be providing a good service (serving your customer's needs). Otherwise you would not get far. Right?
Regards,
O.A.
Do not equate the effect of non-initiation-of-the-use-of-physical-force with service... It's not that we don't want to serve each other, it's that we serve our sense of life. In a selfish sense. Under the trader principle.