the desire for money brings us less money
Jul. 18th, 2007 09:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miriam_eI love counterintuitive things -- that have the opposite result expected. I especially enjoy things that at first give the expected result, but then reverse on further use, to give the opposite.
It looks like money turns out to work that way. Our culture, by focussing so heavily upon money, the economy, and wealth, is making us all poorer.
It works this way. Money is an extremely useful tool for trading. Before money was invented the awfully hit-or-miss barter trading system let two people trade, but only if they both had something the other wanted. Money freed up trade so that anybody could trade with anybody else. Of course it always had problems, but on the whole it was a great improvement. However we have collectively forgotten what money really is; that it is simply trading tokens. We have come to treat it as an end in itself. And so science, technology and teaching professions are all suffering now because they can't attract people into their ranks. People are instead becoming accountants and enter other fields where their lives are consumed with the purpose of simply moving money around. Moving money around doesn't actually create wealth. Science, technology, and teaching are the well-springs of wealth, and in our greed we are destroying the very things that make us richer.
It looks like money turns out to work that way. Our culture, by focussing so heavily upon money, the economy, and wealth, is making us all poorer.
It works this way. Money is an extremely useful tool for trading. Before money was invented the awfully hit-or-miss barter trading system let two people trade, but only if they both had something the other wanted. Money freed up trade so that anybody could trade with anybody else. Of course it always had problems, but on the whole it was a great improvement. However we have collectively forgotten what money really is; that it is simply trading tokens. We have come to treat it as an end in itself. And so science, technology and teaching professions are all suffering now because they can't attract people into their ranks. People are instead becoming accountants and enter other fields where their lives are consumed with the purpose of simply moving money around. Moving money around doesn't actually create wealth. Science, technology, and teaching are the well-springs of wealth, and in our greed we are destroying the very things that make us richer.
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Date: 2007-07-19 02:26 am (UTC)Actually, I think your reply gives a much better answer than the dismal, pessimistic one I gave. Even better, I notice it is starting to work right now. The current affluent generations are becoming the biggest givers of charity and help that the world has ever seen. There is quite an anti-consumerist backlash building these days as many people have become aware of the social responsibility we all carry.
I agree with you, and I discard my earlier statement that this is something only governments can fix. In fact it occurs to me that artists, musicians, and writers are much better placed to change this because of their influence over what people see as "cool" and worthwhile.
Yeah. :) That would be great. If you make it over here (or I ever get over there) we could perhaps chat during a stroll in a park. (I don't drink alcohol or eat at restaurants as I've never enjoyed alcohol, and restaurants make me feel nervy and out of place.)