Suppose my son really wants to be a circus performer, but I want him to go to college; he says that, if he couldn’t be a circus performer, he’d be a doctor. My son is about to enter a big circus competition, and I tell him that, if he wins, I’ll give my full blessing and financial support for him to attend circus academy instead.
By that definition, it sounds like my offer to let him pursue his dream is actually exploitative!
The normal context of something like that is that you don’t believe he’ll win and are doing it to shut him up. If he has no chance of winning, offering to do X if he wins doesn’t reduce wealth, so is not exploitative.
I had the movie version in my mind, where the disbelieving parent comes around on seeing the kid’s success (c.f.: October Sky, Billy Elliott). I myself felt a version: my parents were very against me applying for the Thiel Fellowship, up until it became clear that I might (and did) win.
The normal context of something like that is that you don’t believe he’ll win and are doing it to shut him up. If he has no chance of winning, offering to do X if he wins doesn’t reduce wealth, so is not exploitative.
I had the movie version in my mind, where the disbelieving parent comes around on seeing the kid’s success (c.f.: October Sky, Billy Elliott). I myself felt a version: my parents were very against me applying for the Thiel Fellowship, up until it became clear that I might (and did) win.