No one has reason to accept a scheme of cooperation that places their lives under the control of others, that deprives them of meaningful political participation, that deprives their children of the opportunity to qualify for better jobs, and that deprives them of a share in the wealth they help to produce.

T.M. Scanlon has a brief TED essay sharing some contractualist objections to inequality. Yes, it has the standard “made for a broad audience” that can be both the virtue and vice of things TED, but still, it may be TEDifying, and TEDification* may have its uses.

TEDification — noun.  The sense of moral or intellectual improvement one gets from exposure to simplified versions of complicated or difficult ideas.