People are not motivated by money.

[atliens99]

I always hear the argument for capitalism "B bb BUT people won't innovate without the profit motive" WRONG

Humans want to solve problems, create, and innovate, they do not need money to motivate them.  Cavemen were painting art 20,000 years ago without the desire of money.

True scientists like Tesla, he didn't care about money it was about the pursuit of science.

Capitalism does not cause innovation, most new technology is found by government programs like nasa (internet, smartphones, etc)

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[Ladysmith]

This is true. Once people's basic needs are met they strive to make a difference and find meaning, to create for the sake of creating. It's an instinct to want to leave a legacy. Even the richest people (Branson, Musk, Bezos) seem to care much more about changing the world than making a buck. It's just a side effect of the problems they're solving. 

As much as I despise the guy, even Trump cares more about "making a difference" in his eyes than making money. The man is a billionaire and could've lived like a king until he dies but he chose to fuck up the world before he goes. Purpose is everything.

[Ctn]

Everything you said is true and I wont argue with that more.

But I will surely make one point here that, money does motivate people to work hard. Now the examples you have given are far greater and are not relayed with the general people. If we go with the general people thoughts then note that they work 12-18 hours a day just because they will be getting their salary at the end of every month. If they even take the leave, go away with their work or under perform then surely things can worsen for themselves and they may get less salary. Just with that thought also most of them go on the work even when they are sick!! Just because they dont want to have less money in their ever salary.

[PlusOne88]

This is a divided stand. On a normal situation when people may not need money, everything doesn't have to priced. On the other hand it would be easy to do things with money. This idea can be proven by events happening in the real world. Look at how corruption becomes an almost fulltime job for them.  This is just a clear proof that money is a motivation.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

I don't know if I fully agree with this.  I think a lot of inventors are looking to get rich and not just to advance technology--history is full of people like that.  Fame and recognition also are factors, but money is a huge motivating factor for a lot of people.  I'd also point out that great advancements in tech or anything else generally make a LOT of money for whoever ends up buying whatever it is we're talking about, a patent, a device, whatever.

Economists would also have a field day with OP's argument, as they tend to think solely in economic terms.  I don't think everyone is motivated by money but you can't deny the importance of it.

[gentlemand]

Cavemen were painting art 20,000 years ago without the desire of money.

Food, shelter, clothing and tools all cost nothing and were freely available for anyone who could be bothered to seek them out. Everything is now a commodity so you can bet your sweet behind that most are motivated by money as it's the only means of obtaining such necessities these days.

Cave art was leisure, expression and possibly religion. Billions of people do the same thing today with no thought of being paid or benefiting from it.

Status has always been the driver of all animal life. Money is the current way of keeping that score.

[fairyvibes]

I don't know if I fully agree with this.  I think a lot of inventors are looking to get rich and not just to advance technology--history is full of people like that.  Fame and recognition also are factors, but money is a huge motivating factor for a lot of people.  I'd also point out that great advancements in tech or anything else generally make a LOT of money for whoever ends up buying whatever it is we're talking about, a patent, a device, whatever.

Economists would also have a field day with OP's argument, as they tend to think solely in economic terms.  I don't think everyone is motivated by money but you can't deny the importance of it.

Great points, everyone is different though.

The private sector isn't willing to take the gigantic risks for research and development that the government programs take like NASA.  Without these government programs we would be really far behind in technology

From the few studies I've seen on Universal Basic Income, people don't actually work less but they try to start their own business and be creative..

[bobo012]

Truth is that there is some people motivated with money and some that are not. So there are different motives for success in people, saying that it it is not motivated by money is true in some cases

[warriorcryptobar]

People are very much motivated by money. They may say they aren't, but when it comes down to, it single individual will reference it in an argument they need to win. Basically, they may not be motivated by it, but if its around or its needing to be used, you won't see them demotivate.

[usekevin]

I always hear the argument for capitalism "B bb BUT people won't innovate without the profit motive" WRONG

Humans want to solve problems, create, and innovate, they do not need money to motivate them.  Cavemen were painting art 20,000 years ago without the desire of money.

True scientists like Tesla, he didn't care about money it was about the pursuit of science.

Capitalism does not cause innovation, most new technology is found by government programs like nasa (internet, smartphones, etc)

Some people are motivated by money.In other case, people are not motivated by money. And the invention is not depend on money. Scientist is purely invent based on the people interest and not based on the money.May be they earn more money from the invention later on.But the motive of invention is not money.

[gabmen]

I always hear the argument for capitalism "B bb BUT people won't innovate without the profit motive" WRONG

Humans want to solve problems, create, and innovate, they do not need money to motivate them.  Cavemen were painting art 20,000 years ago without the desire of money.

True scientists like Tesla, he didn't care about money it was about the pursuit of science.

Capitalism does not cause innovation, most new technology is found by government programs like nasa (internet, smartphones, etc)

Well we all know what happened to tesla and some noble innovationists who didn't really care about the money. They unfortunately got the bad end of it by those that are after money and power. Sad reality and it's still happening today.

[Antonina]

it is not true. people are just motivated by money, they think that money can buy everything but in time they realize that they made a mistake

[rosepetals]

I always hear the argument for capitalism "B bb BUT people won't innovate without the profit motive" WRONG

Humans want to solve problems, create, and innovate, they do not need money to motivate them.  Cavemen were painting art 20,000 years ago without the desire of money.

True scientists like Tesla, he didn't care about money it was about the pursuit of science.

Capitalism does not cause innovation, most new technology is found by government programs like nasa (internet, smartphones, etc)

My opinion to this is that people were motivated inorder to own money,to get rich and to profit.People strive hard to find money and wealth inorder to live life easier because today money is very important and most people will do everything just to own it,even if it takes to do wrong,to cheat or to do fraudulence act.

[Sherwood_Archer]

Not everyone may be motivated by money and they just want to solve issues or just want to make a name, leave a legacy, etc. But there are people who are motivated by money. If people are not motivated by money, they wouldn't switch jobs or transfer to more lucrative careers especially when the person in question grew up poor or has a lot of financial obligations.

[deisik]

I always hear the argument for capitalism "B bb BUT people won't innovate without the profit motive" WRONG

Humans want to solve problems, create, and innovate, they do not need money to motivate them.  Cavemen were painting art 20,000 years ago without the desire of money.

True scientists like Tesla, he didn't care about money it was about the pursuit of science.

Capitalism does not cause innovation, most new technology is found by government programs like nasa (internet, smartphones, etc)

Even if some people like the one you mentioned (Nikola Tesla) didn't work for money, this doesn't change anything on a larger scale. Today, advancements are made by big battalions, militarily speaking, not by single individuals. But the majority wants money whether you like it or not. And I'm not sure about Tesla either. I don't know the whole story, but he is said to have left Thomas Edison when the latter refused to pay him a promised sum of money. This is not something that you would expect from someone who didn't care about money altogether

So it seems that you need to check your facts first

[beatzcoin123]

money is a motivative factor for any human being, if you desire the best task from an individual, then attach financial gains to it, and you will see results, the above analysis are so true, but gone are those days when people care less about financial gains, the value system is depreciating as the day go by, money is now the new form of gratification.

[wxa7115]

I always hear the argument for capitalism "B bb BUT people won't innovate without the profit motive" WRONG

Humans want to solve problems, create, and innovate, they do not need money to motivate them.  Cavemen were painting art 20,000 years ago without the desire of money.

True scientists like Tesla, he didn't care about money it was about the pursuit of science.

Capitalism does not cause innovation, most new technology is found by government programs like nasa (internet, smartphones, etc)

There are people that are not motivated by money and they are willing to work in whatever they are passionate about without really caring about the economy gains that they could get, but you cannot expect the whole population of the world to follow that very same model, we know that is not the case and we have seen that in practice, if you take the time to look at the products of the disappeared USSR and the products of the US there was no comparison, the products of the United States were way better, were more advanced and were cheaper to produce.

So while at first it may seem like communism can get away with their goals the truth is they cannot, and eventually any desire for innovation is going to disappear from most people except the most motivated ones.

[pobeditelvezde]

I do not agree with you completely because this subject is arguable. I am sure that money can motivate people to do their job better. Generally speaking you can make sure in it yourself I mean that you likely do not want to work for a small salary so money is the quite important factor for motivating people. By the way I know that almost any sphere begins evolving quite well when money come to that sphere. You mentioned Tesla and others but all these people are genious in special fields so I consider that we should split genious people from the other part of the society.

[Indrawan77]

There are some people that are motivated by money some are don't, but most of them are motivated by money, nowadays
a lot of people really emphasise on money to show their social status and to live better, only few percentage of people that lived in the world that are not motivated by money, because basically they think that their life is already comfortable and secure

[ningrumxxi]

This is true. Once people's basic needs are met they strive to make a difference and find meaning, to create for the sake of creating. It's an instinct to want to leave a legacy. Even the richest people (Branson, Musk, Bezos) seem to care much more about changing the world than making a buck. It's just a side effect of the problems they're solving. 

As much as I despise the guy, even Trump cares more about "making a difference" in his eyes than making money. The man is a billionaire and could've lived like a king until he dies but he chose to fuck up the world before he goes. Purpose is everything.

Such an opinion may not apply in a country with a low economic level, because here everyone is motivated for money, all our efforts will have difficulty in living all life in this world, the business of buying and selling in cryptocyrrency is also the ultimate goal to get as much profit, because the state party cannot guarantee prosperity for every citizen, so we fight for ourselves ....