He who dies with the most toys, still dies.
Or wins.
But it doesn't really matter which it is, because I think both are wrong.
I was talking with a pair of clients today and the conversation led into a discussion about the state of the world and one brought up how there are no trusted voices in the media - no one who can tell it how it is, they all have an agenda and, it is not about making the world a better place.
I agree.
They are all politicians, they are all attention-seekers, they are all willing to see the truth out for a following. Even their own truths. They will take a position of polarization, because they know that is the best way to get support - create an enemy.
The topic of climate change came up and I mentioned how in the past the conversation was clear, because it wasn't about climate change, it was about pollution. There is near absolute consensus that pollution is bad and reducing it is good. Yet, what causes global warming is an endless argument, and the solutions offered are often narrow, poorly supported, and far from enough, if they were to have an effect at all. Even if it is vital to make changes for our survival, the changes that are made and the forces that stop change from happening, only have profit in mind.
I asked them a question, if they had unlimited physical energy, what would they do?
How about you?
Let's say you sleep for 8 hours, but the other 16 hours you have consistent, unwavering, full batteries all day. Your mind is working as well as it can, your attention is exactly where you place it, your willpower is solid. You have full faculties.
What do you do?
What if I said that I would sit down on the couch and watch streaming content only - Would you feel that would be a good use of my energy, or would you see it as a waste of potential?
I would.
Similarly, I was saying to my clients how if there was a clean, renewable energy source, the most valuable thing that could be done with it, is to give it away for free. No cost whatsoever. Because, it isn't the energy that should be valuable, it is what is done with that energy that is important. With free energy, the constraints come off innovation, and the costs of running machines that for instance, clean the air, fall to nothing. It all comes down to the development, which is driven by demand. Clean, free energy, changes everything.
Yes, he who dies with the most toys might win, but still dies. However, money is just another form of energy, meaning that it can be used in a myriad ways. It can build, it can destroy, it can support, it can be wasted. The "winner" isn't the one who lives forever, nor is it the one with the most toys - I see it as the person who can make the most positive impact with their resources, with their available energy. It isn't about giving it away, it is about using it to make a difference for the better.
Lately and also for a long time, I have been writing a bit about the declining state of community and social fitness in society, and I think it is leading us down what eventually narrows to become an inescapable path. One where we no longer have access to enough resources, enough energy to change course and develop our way back. There will be those who had the most toys and died, but the majority will only know a life of pain and suffering.
In the economy we have, with the people we have, and the mindset we have - even if we had unlimited energy right now, we would use it poorly, because the incentives are aligned to encourage the collection of toys, not make positive difference. Despite saying we want it, we do not incentivize wellbeing, we incentive collection and storage of energy, throttling supply in order to maximize the energy we hold, even though we are not applying it meaningfully.
We can do better.
Yet, we only will when there is the incentive there to do so. The economic incentive. Because doing better for community itself, is not in our current culture, as it has been conditioned out of us for profit on the low-hanging fruit, the profit from facilitating desire, no matter the cost in suffering.
We all die.
How we live matters.
And as a global community of 8 billion people, the only we we can organize ourselves is through economic trade. Will we change the economy to save us, or will we keep what we have until there is no turning back, until it is too late.
The current economic model is not broken, it is is working exactly as it should. But the design is flawed if we want a better world for humanity. So it is a case of build something better, or consign ourselves to history.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
