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In a case like
the new invention you mention, it seems to me that there is a simple
solution. The people who would benefit from the invention simply
compensate the small groups that would loose from its adoption. I
don't see the problem. I think that's exactly what Rawls would
advocate.
Consider a real world case something like what you describe.
Almost everyone gained when we started pumping our own gasoline back
in the seventies. Almost all of us gained when elevator operators
were replaced by self-operated elevators. But, of course, someone
did lose -- mostly young men who pumped gas and the people who
operated elevators. Perhaps Rawls' principle would requires us to
compensate those people with a job training program to help them get
new jobs. Is that so counter-intuitive? Maybe that's how a just
society should operate?
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