When I mean money, I mean the system we live in today. This system of currency exchange for goods and services. We’ve been using this system for hundreds of years now and it has many benefits over trading. One of them being if you offer a service or goods that no one wants, then you’re in trouble. The monetary system solved that problem because it offered a universally valuable item to exchange for goods and services. Money, however, has it’s own downsides.
The biggest downside to money is that sometimes it isn’t directly on board with improving human life. One example is pollution. For years oil companies and chemical plants find ways to illegally dump their waste into rivers and other areas of potential habitat destruction. That’s not just a hobby to them though, times are tough. When less money is being made, shortcuts have to be made instead. One way to cut corners is to reduce the garbage disposal bill by disposing of chemicals and byproducts illegally.
To the workers of that company and the owners, it means their lives. Do we play by the rules and risk closing down, laying people off and being broke or do we cut corners to keep food on our table?
Scarcity Kills
Artificial scarcity is another problem. Money isn’t in abundance because it would be worth a lot less. There isn’t enough money in circulation for everyone. So that means in order for this system to be successful, there HAS to be poor people. It’s crazy to think about it that way, but if we have enough money for everyone, inflation would kick in and it would be worthless.
With that being said, there is plenty of food laying around, plenty of abandoned buildings and plenty of land all over the world, but it can’t be used by anyone that doesn’t have the money for it. The sad reality is that human life is second to monetary value.
Money is Destroying Technological Progress
There’s a reason that companies like Uber and Tesla have been put on blast for a while now. It isn’t because of some meaningful regulations, it’s all because of money. Uber allows users with qualifying cars and background checks to use their platform to make money. This is helpful for many people from riders to drivers. However, the taxi and limo commissions have been causing an uproar with all sorts of complains.
They claim drivers aren’t qualified, it isn’t safe, it’s not reliable, you name it and they’re said it. In reality, it’s all just excuses. The real reason why they resent Uber is because of money. Uber is the natural evolution of the taxi industry. It puts all the cars on the road to use, potentially reducing traffic, it conveniently tells riders where the driver is, how much the charge is and how far away the are, it makes for a cashless ride and it’s a seamless all around experience.
Uber just took a current industry and updated it with current technology, solving many problems of conventional cab companies. The real reason these companies are angry isn’t because they care for the consumer. The real reason is because they’re losing business to a competitor that has them dominated. This is similar to how Netflix emerged with the standardization of high speed internet and put blockbuster out of business.
Tesla is another one that has many criticism. The oil industry doesn’t like the idea of electric cars coming out because it means they lose gas buying customers. Tesla was able to create a large charging network and long range cars, but they were still under fire. Instead of the world embracing new technology and promoting change, big industry is scared of it. They want to keep things the way they are so they don’t lose profit.
Money is Destroying our Healthcare
Pharmaceutical companies are huge. They’re in the business of making money. In fact, everyone in business is there to make money first. Human well-being is just a far second. The health industry as a whole is not in the business of preventative medicine, but in the business of chronic medication. Big pharmaceutical companies don’t go out funding studies to find cures for diseases and ailments, instead they spend billions on researching medicine that can sustain people with diseases for as long as they have it.
Nothing is more profitable to pharmaceutical companies than keeping people alive. However, they don’t want you alive and well. Instead, they want you alive and ill with a life long illness that they can profit off of by sending you medication every month for like 30 years. Talk about a subscription based service, huh?
What do we do about the side Effects of Money?
Thousands of years ago, humans use to trade goods and services. It was a good system for that time. Hundreds of years ago humans transitions into a money based society and that solved many of the problems that the barter(exchange of goods and services) system before it use to have.
Many of us believe that the monetary system is as natural to our existence as the air we breath, but it’s just another man made system. Have we outlived this system and are we transitioning into a new age?
Could our technological advancements make labor obsolete and bring about abundance for more people on Earth, in turn creating a new volunteer hybrid system of some sort?
With the technology we have today, anything is possible. In fact, if you’re curious and interested in checking out people who are thinking about the same thing, check out https://www.thevenusproject.com/ . The Venus Project is an interesting idea of using updated technology to enhance our economy, much like how Uber used updated technology to enhance the ride business!
Leave a Reply