I recently had something said to me that I have not been able to get out of my mind. Thus, I turn to you twelve for your thoughts on the matter.

I’m not going to quote directly for a couple of reasons, the primary one being that the way the idea was expressed was not neutral, and I don’t want to unduly color this conversation. So, with that said, let’s get clear on a couple of terms, and away we’ll go. Let’s stipulate that “fun” means a pleasurable activity that does not carry a cost to another—so, for example, teasing a person who’s upset at being in that position would be excluded from our definition. Profit, of course, encompasses more than bringing in excess money than was used to create something; and it’s that wider context of general benefit that’s relevant here.

So, here’s the issue: while it is demonstrably true that not everything that brings one profit is fun, is it similarly accurate to hold that fun is not always profitable?