Post Monetary Thoughts
Hi fellow Hiveians,
Today I wanted to talk about money, while waiting outside the place I am earning extra money.
Post Monetary Thoughts
What are we going to do in a post-money world?
This was something that popped in my head.. as I'm sitting here waiting for my side hustle job to start for the day. It's a weird thing.. having a job that we do and really enjoy it, and one of the things that we enjoy about said job is that we get paid for it. Would I like the work I do as much, if it didn't pay decent money, or at all?
I think that's certainly something we are going to contend with as in the future, there is potential that the financial aspect is going to be removed from this entirely. It's a weird thing to think about, isn't it? Something so evil in the world is also so integrated with everything that we are bound to it. It almost feels like Stockholm syndrome, doesn't it?
I think it's important to keep in mind that we need to be able to adapt to change. The world is changing rapidly, potentially the most rapid it has in a really long time, with potential that it is the fastest it has changed for this current iteration of human civilization (I think there were 2 or 3 maybe, previous versions of us that mostly died out for whatever reason - we sure as SHIT didn't build those pyramids.. lol). With this comes all kinds of interruptions in how we are used to doing things. Will the financial system be one of the most extreme changes? It could be!
I am personally a little skeptical of the money "going away" because of one specific bit of cynicism I have: money allows these sick psychos to control people far easier than anything else has. If we know one thing, seeing it during the China Flu era a few years ago, the people in charge do not willingly give up power. We still have remnants of that silly thing today, despite the overwhelming evidence that it was all a bunch of horse shit and completely overblown. Yes people will be vulnerable to it, like anything. Yet the power to try and force everyone, regardless if they wanted to participate or not, to do it was a taste of some extreme example of control. They love control!
If the monetary system does go away though, how will we derive meaning in our lives? There will for sure not be lots of artists out there just doing art for fun. There are people who worked their whole adult lives at getting good at something, and it made them good money. Take the money away entirely and then what do they do? That's a really hard thing to think about. There has to be a medium of exchange for things in life.
Thinking of it another way - socialism. When socialism is tried, meaning the medium of exchange is made the same for everyone regardless of what you did before (minus the leaders of course but that's a different discussion) then it completely removes the incentive to work hard if you know your homeless or jobless neighbor gets the same portion as you, despite them not doing anything to get it. I think this is where we can clearly see that incentive, via medium of exchange varying amount abilities, really shows why it's important.
We have had a financial system for so long in modern human history, that you won't be able to remove it or breed out the instincts that it puts in us, for many decades at a minimum, or even a few generations. The monetary system has been around for a really long time, some of it starting back in the 1200's when the Silk Road was the major world economy. People need a way to have something and use that to get something else.
Will we be working jobs or careers in 10 years? For psychological reasons, I hope so!
What about you, do you think that it's important we have a way to derive meaning and value for work by continuing to use a monetary system? Or do you think it's all full of shit and needs to go? Let me know in the comments!
-CmplXty. Real human written content, never AI. All pictures are mine unless otherwise stated
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People have used some sort of monetary or bartering system for thousands of years. In some cultures grain was the money, in others pretty shells.
The reality is that we never do something for nothing, especially if we don't like it or don't want to. Even things we do for enjoyment we'll stop doing if we no longer get enjoyment from it or any other reward.
We'll work to be able to eat and drink, because we have to in order to survive. We'll work to keep ourselves safe and sheltered, then we might work towards comforts and other things we enjoy when these basic needs are met.
A society where everyone gets an equal share no matter how much they contribute will only end up with enforced measures you'll need to meet in order to get that share (the stick) or the offer of extra benefits for those who contribute ( the carrot). Otherwise those doing the work will stop doing it. I believe that's why communism inevitably and rapidly evolves into a dictatorship and in order to control the masses you have to treat the controlling group (government workers) in a superior way so they will enforce measures to hold onto that superior position, as they do in China. There is quite the pecking order there. Look after your enforcers and they will help you keep everyone else in line.
Yeah I'm glad you are well read on the topic :D the use of shells and rice is for sure older than the Silk Road, I just didn't have an estimate of the dates so I opted not to go with that lol.
We for sure need a medium of exchange as well as a sense of purpose. That's what helps keep us motivated and going. I think this "post money" thing is just a lot of academia bullshit, you know how they like to push what they think is a utopia but it ends up being a mess.
Communism is a scary thing because it shows how willing people are to be evil in order to just get by or get the attention off themselves. It's an abysmal way to live and I would say it's a "failure" but that's only in the eyes of the citizens. It works brilliantly for the evil people in charge pushing that!
Gosh, yes. The ancient Egyptians used grain as a store of wealth and I think that was wheat or a similar grain. That would have been up to 5000 years ago and I believe rice was farmed before other grains ever were?
I often bump heads with my mother on utopian ideals.
"But if everyone just..."
"do you really think everyone will?"
"But if they did..."
"But they aren't going to and you can't control that, so there's no point getting your hopes up or getting worked up about it"
It would be a darn boring world if we all thought the same anyway.
I always think of the saying, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" when it comes to communism. I'm not even sure they start out evil, but it doesn't matter how good your intentions are, when you crave the power enough to want to enact them you're going to end up corrupted.
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Maybe it's a bit of both. One of the reasons why we've become prosperous compared to past generations is the individual aspect that allowed people to give their best work and get rewarded for it. But this system for the most part nowadays is broken, the gap between the haves and have-nots has increased considerably, also. I think of a post-monetary world as a world where modern day forms of money may become obsolete and be replaced by something else, maybe credits. But the means of control, as in controlling the population will still be on the hards of the very few who are servants/puppets of the powers that be. Maybe the means of control will be sophisticated set of technologies that act as a giant basic group where every aspect of human life operates :)
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I guess we managed before money and could find a way to do it after, although you are right, how to wrap your head around that one, what would it look like?
I did chuckle at your Stockholm syndrome analogy 😁 It is scarily accurate.
Money is countable so provides a decent way to measure value and progress so I guess it is a good a way as any to know when you are doing well or not, I lost the game so, so long ago, it's not even funny.
You and I know though, that value is a subjective term, and the things we derive true value from are not the Benjamin's, it may appear that way when, caught up in the moment or playing the game, but we are both smart enough and of the right mindset to know where it is really at.
A little while ago, I was laid on a bed feeling like I was gonna die, but survival instinct told me that I wasn't actually gonna die, it just felt bad at that time... A doctor or more accurately a consultant came and talked to me in a very matter of fact way and said Mr Wood, I will do what I can, but there is a strong chance that you will die!!!
He wasn't comforting, or consoling but direct and I have always liked him for it and still do, but what I can tell you is that in the hours that followed a raft of things were organised and prioritised in my head and I remember the over arching realisation about money, it doesn't matter... Everything I had aimed for, dreamed of and thought I wanted didn't even register a flicker on that scale of priorities...
The only time money came in to it is when I thought about m'lady and I thought Crap! She can't afford a funeral, and what's she going to do for money???
Then I realised she would be so unbothered about money after losing me and that kinda stuff would work out somehow anyway, it always does...
Less than 3 weeks after being 'outta the woods', I was released from
prisonhospital and within days I got sepsis and apparently wasn't expected to pull through again and all I wanted was to spend as much time as I could with m'lady and my daughters, it was like a bolt of lightning struck me and I genuinely understood things, except the wolf in the bed opposite, surrounded by pink sparkly orbs (I had a VERY serios fever, I should point out!!!)This is not intended as a spiritual awakening tale, replete with the very secret of life contained within, just an experience I had which felt more real than most of my life in the previous 52 years.
Now then... If you offered me $1 million, would I accept?
ABSO-BLOODY-LUTELY!!!
And if you have that lying around and it has no purpose you should totally do that whole offering it thing 😁You see I have never perceived money to be evil, despite the obvious evidence of evildoers with money and how they act.
I see it as a tool that magnifies, if you are good at heart, you can do really good things with money the opposite is obviously true. As you inferred societies without money or more likely with socialism, do not inspire the creators to create as everybody winds up with the same amount anyway. That monetary measure is removed is progress is more difficult to measure. Even if satisfaction to the task is the measure, the state will likely seize your life's work and divide it among the masses equally, of course 😛
That was a long way to reach this conclusion... I don't bloody know the answer! 🤣
Yeah dude it’s a tale as old as time - what do we do when there are radical changes and things that have been done a specific way for hundreds or thousands of years, changes? Brutal question but I think it’s one we should noodle on every so often for a good mental exercise!
I think it also helps to think of it because then we can figure out: where do I derive value? Where do I identify myself?
A lot of times identity and value come from the work that we do. I’m incredibly proud of the work I do and I think it would be difficult to think of it a different way. Not impossible but difficult.
Money goes away - what else do I derive identity and value from? Work would be largely meaningless. Of course my son but that’s not going to fill all the gaps. Decent thoughts to chew on!
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I fully appreciate your altered states of consciousness in those moments! There’s so much to be said about that and I think for sure the wolf is symbolic in some ways. I don’t know what for but there’s so many aspects of the brain and how it works that we have absolutely no idea, and when we are very sick that’s one of the big ones!
Indeed in those moments, the whole money thing is largely useless to our worldly body. The only thing it’s good for at that point is a tool to help the family get themselves back onto their feet if we untimely pass. I am for sure glad you didn’t enter the permanent horizontal state, as is your family. Life is a fickle thing that’s for sure!
I think fiat is going to be around for quite a while yet.
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STOPHmm I don't think we need to derive meaning and value from work.. Ideally if the stars are aligned, that's good.. Otherwise, if it pays the bills and allow me to pursue my own passions and hobbies outside of work, it's a trade off that I am willing to accept.