Over the last weeks in the news, I have noticed how there are lots of stories talking about the companies that are making the cost of living "crisis" worse, including the banks. However, while I agree, I also wonder how many people would do differently if they were in the position of the firms and could take advantage of the conditions and price gouge or, pass on things like interest rate rises to customers. I suspect, not many. And, it isn't necessarily the choice of the business itself, as often, there is fiduciary responsibilities that they have to meet to maximize shareholder benefit, though they don't mind doing this.
But, while the actions of the banks and retailers aren't helping, nor are the government decisions being made, the fact is, we are to blame for all of this, because we are the ones that enable it. Like it or not, it is a supply and demand world and we are demanding exactly what is getting supplied, even if we don't think of it this way.
I have been having a couple discussions of late that touch on these topics for some reason and one of those is that while we might know what we want, we don't necessarily know what we need to do to get it. And this works in terms of how we act on a daily level, where we know that what we have isn't working, but we also don't know how to improve it, so we don't even try.
Instead, we fall back on our defaults, which as humans, is to seek security (which doesn't actually exist) and comfort. Which is the opposite of what we need to do, which is try new things and be uncomfortable. Rather than looking to improve, we hide our head in the sand and avoid acting, which is a passive decision in and of itself and leads to the status quo and the system we have, one that has already become so unhealthy and corrupted, that there is no repairing it. Yet, because we all work on incentive and the corrupt make the rules, they make rules that will increasingly favor themselves over the "greater good", with that being general improvements in wellbeing.
While we might not agree on many things, I think that everyone on earth wants a better life for themselves and those they care about. If that coincides with a better life for others too, all the better. But, the system, we have doesn't allow for that, because it is guided by a monopolization process, where the competition is striving to be the one and only, even if it isn't in the best interest of anyone.
And, this is what we are supporting through our consumer behavior, whether it be the things we buy or the programs we watch - it is all adding to the larger problem which relies on proxies to make the decisions for us, assuming they will work in our best interest. Which of course, they won't, because they can't, because they are in that maximization economy that will increasingly look to take control of the market place, in all of its forms. Whether that be the marketplace of products and services, data, ideas or people themselves. Everything is a commodity.
But, we don't have visibility on all of the commodities being bought and sold, let alone access to most of the markets themselves. Look at the data we have that we give away through our activity, which is one of the most valuable resources in existence and ever monetized, and realize - we aren't getting paid for any of it. We give this resource away for free and ask for nothing in return except for...
Comfort and convenience.
Humans are inherently lazy, which is a massive pro because it means that we have been able to evolve to develop better and better tools. However, it is also a massive con, when the tools we create are able to keep us from actively seeking evolution of ourselves and our ability to create better tools. This isn't the ultimate end of tools, it is a waystation, but if we lose the skill to make the decisions for ourselves, we lose the ability to evolve the kit.
But, the more we bury ourselves into comfort and convenience, the closer we get to a road of no return that narrows at an increasing pace to the point it is a dead end - no more movement possible - at least driven by us, the consumer. And it is the consumer that drives supply, right?
But no, that isn't the case anymore, because the tools we have created have given the corporations the ability to "influence" the demand of products toward things that make the most profit, even if they enact the largest cost on society. Wellbeing doesn't come into it and no matter how much the campaigns say they care about you, no corporation cares, because corporations are not sentient, they just follow the maximization process. And governments are driven by the same thing, because they are enabled by the corporations too and they want to protect themselves.
Corporations and governments in this ecosystem are not beholden to the people, because people keep consuming from them and enabling them as if they are going to at some point, act in our best interest. But, because there are no convenient and comfortable mechanisms to punish bad behavior, it goes unpunished and instead runs evermore rampant. Until a mechanism is applied to combat this that makes it easy for consumers to "demonetize" the corporations and the government, it will continue getting worse.
Of course, as you might know, there are systems out there and mechanisms that can start addressing these issues and begin the adjustment toward a better outcome for the majority, but for those to have an affect, they need to be supported. This is uncomfortable, because it means opting out of what we have always known and into something that comes with no guarantees.
As consumer behavior illustrates, most will never break those chains.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
