Let me start off by telling you about something that changed my perspective on life. It was mandatory for seniors at my high school to take a philosophy course (with the exception of 1 or 2 electives, the high school that I went to didn’t let us pick our own classes). Unlike my peers, I was actually excited to take the class, and would always contribute insightful observations and analyses during the discussions. Out of everything we discussed, what captured my attention the most was Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. I’m pretty sure that most of you must be familiar with it, but in case you’re not, let me go ahead and provide you with a brief synopsis.
Imagine a group of people who have spent their entire lives being chained to a wall in a cave. Behind them lies a huge fire and between the fire and the prisoners, there is an elevated walkway on which other people (the puppet-masters) walk, carrying figures of animals, men, etc. These figures obviously create shadows on the wall of the cave, and these shadows are the only thing that the prisoners can see. As a result, the prisoners would believe that the shadows are indeed real objects. The cave and the shadows would be the prisoners’ reality. What would happen however, if they were freed and were told that the shadows weren’t actual things, but were actually just shadows of the figures? Most likely, having no previous concept of shadows or figures, the prisoners would fall into a state of denial and would continue to assert that the shadows were real. It’s quite possible that they wouldn’t even be able to recognize the figures as actual objects. Furthermore, what would happen if they were to be released into the real world, to wander outside of the cave walls? Having been used to the darkness in the cave, the prisoners’ eyes would probably be bothered by the sunlight, possibly taking a long time for them to get accustomed to the brightness. Most importantly, they’d probably be unable to objectively observe and recognize the things that they would find in the outside world.
The whole point of this is to explore the idea that maybe, just maybe, what we’ve been conditioned to believe is real or to perceive as the truth, might not be so real or truthful after all. Contrary to what you’re probably expecting, this actually won’t be a philosophical spiel about the concept of reality (I prefer to have these types of discussions in person.) But rather, I wanted to use Plato’s Allegory of the Cave as an introduction (albeit, a long one) to what I really want to address today.
We live in a monetary, profit-based system because we’ve been told that it’s the only thing that works. However, we just have to take a look around us to realize that this system breeds inequality and a whole plethora of social problems that we could quite honestly do without. Now, I’m not going to go as far as say that money is evil, as some people do. [The truth of the matter is, for something to be evil, it has to be immoral, and for something to be immoral, it has to violate codes of moral conduct, which in turn requires that the perpetrator (in this case, money) actually have a concept of morality (which I’m pretty sure is not the case)]. But the truth of matter is, as something that was created by humans to serve humans, the monetary system isn’t doing that great of a job.
Now, before you go ahead and say that it’s not the monetary system that’s at fault, but that the problem lies with human nature, let me tell you about a little experiment conducted in Parma, Italy in the 1990s. A macaque monkey was hooked up to an MRI brain-scanning machine in order to see what parts of his brain would light up as he tried to open up a nut. It seems that one of the researchers decided to open up a nut himself while the experiment was still going on, and that the parts of the monkey’s brain that showed activity as he observed the researcher opening the nut, were the same parts of the brain that lit up when the monkey himself was opening a nut. This type of experiment was repeated in other animals and subsequently humans, leading to the discovery of what are now called “mirror neurons.” Without getting too much into it (I don’t want this post to be THAT long after all), it has been suggested that mirror neurons are essentially responsible for empathy, or the ability to understand the feelings of others. In other words, it would follow that mirror neurons are responsible for that strong urge to cry we feel after seeing someone else cry (even if we’re not really feeling sad), etc. Point is, it seems to be the case that we're not scientifically wired for aggression, violence, and self-interest as some people would argue, but rather for affection, empathy, sociability, etc. With that in mind, let me continue.
How many people end up working like slaves only to live from paycheck to paycheck, plagued with debt, with absolutely no hope of upward social mobility, and to top it all off, are utterly unsatisfied with their careers? Yea, the more I look at it, the more I come to realize that the system isn’t working.
In the United States, the problem is exacerbated (I don’t use the word “caused” because I do think there are other forces at work, which I’ll get to later) by the Federal Reserve’s monopoly on the money supply. The Federal Reserve, as you all know, is the central banking system of the US, responsible for: 1) the printing of dollars (or, controlling the money supply) and 2) setting the interest rate. Now, here is where it gets tricky. The Federal Reserve LOANS money to the US government at interest, meaning that if it lent out $100 at an interest rate of 10%, the US government would have to pay it back $110. Now, keep in mind that the Fed is responsible for printing the money. So, where do you think the government would get the extra $10 it needs to pay as interest? Ding, ding, ding - it would have to borrow from the Federal Reserve, yet again. And so, effectively creating a never-ending cycle that only leads to, you guessed it: DEBT. Now, this is a huge part of our predicament, but even if we brought an end to the Federal Reserve (which some US presidents have tried in the past – i.e, John F. Kennedy), the problem still wouldn’t be solved entirely. To bring about long-lasting change, we also need to look at the values that we, as a society, cherish.
Hey you! You awake? You’re still with me? Great, bear with me for a little bit longer. I swear, I’ve been thinking about writing this post for a while now. It truly does give you a clear glimpse into my mind (which, as erratic as it may be, is the only one I have and as such, is my pride and joy.)
So, now I urge you to think for a second about the things that we as society consider important… Any ideas? Well, there’s iPhones, for starters. And Hummers. And Tiffany’s jewelry. And physical beauty. And Dom Perignon. Catch my drift? Now, my view of society (and consequently, humanity in general) isn’t as pessimistic as you might think it is (and I’m by no means trying to say that I’m immune to these, either. Hey, I’m far from perfect.) I do know that some of us value nonmaterial things, such as freedom, individuality, intellectualism, etc. However, we cannot deny that we live in highly materialistic society, in which we are encouraged to spend, spend, spend, and buy, buy, buy. This coupled with a monetary system that brings about massive levels of debt is a recipe for disaster.
Don’t even get me started on our hypocritical education system. We teach kids all about kindness and “doing the right thing,” but I don’t think we’re being very good role models. Somewhere along the line, it became okay for us to turn a blind eye to the suffering of others. Also, our educational institutions don’t teach us HOW to think critically; they focus on telling us WHAT to think. All for the sake of what exactly? So that we can end up being a replica of our classmates? So that we can go ahead and enter the same competitive job market, and eventually become selfish, ruthless worker ants slaving away for the rest of our lives?
C’mon, I know you agree with me. If you’re reading this, it means that you are either my friend or have some sort of interest in me, and as such, you must have had similar ideas at some point in your life. The thing is, we all know that something needs to change, but we don’t really know how to go about bringing that up. Some others might even say that nothing can be done about it, “it is what it is.” But is a system that brings about mindless consumption, inequality, lack of awareness, depression, and dissatisfaction our reality? Is it really the only way?
Aha! And here is where I bring it full circle. The fact that we’ve been living in a cave where all we see are the shadows that puppet-masters make for us doesn’t mean that it’s our reality, is it? We need to become unafraid of the unknown and start encouraging critical thinking. We need to come up with a system that nurtures human potential, promotes equality, and allows for human progression. Easier said than done, right? Definitely, and I’m not going to be as presumptuous as to say that I have the answer to everything and that I know exactly what should be done. I wish I did, but the truth is, I don’t.
The fact of the matter is that even if we don’t take drastic steps (i.e., completely remove the current monetary system in place) there are things that we could do to help ameliorate our problems. There is irrefutable evidence to allow us to assert that more equal societies have happier and healthier populations (as measured by the human development index, etc.) So, we could start by diminishing the gap between the rich and the poor (essentially what the Occupy Wall Street movement is “asking for,” [I used quotation marks because the Occupy movement is being criticized for not making specific demands, although I think that its greatest success is to bring about awareness of these issues, but I’ll leave that for another time]) by either redistributing income through taxes (progressive taxation) or reducing the differences in income before taxes.
Other, more radical, intellectuals are calling for a complete removal of the monetary system, and an implementation of a resource-based system, which is essentially a moneyless system in which all goods and services are shared. (If you’re interested in this, read up on the Venus Project (http://www.thevenusproject.com/) A resource-based economy is not like communism or socialism because there is no concept of property at all, nor is there a state to control goods and services. It’s a very Utopian-like society that calls for a completely different way of seeing the world, which to be completely honest, I don’t think we’re ready for (at least not quite yet.) Truthfully, though I understand the premise behind the resource-based economy, I don’t really seem to be able to envision it very well, but I’m sure that’s because it is such a foreign concept. However, it is a very fascinating thing to read about and consider. I truly do wish the human race evolves to such a degree where the concept of property becomes outdated, and where our main motivation in life is to develop our potential.
Well, if any of you made it this far, please, let me know, because you deserve a prize! And definitely drop me a line or two. Did you read up on the Venus Project? If so, what did you think? Anyways, that’s all I got for you today. But my, I did give you quite a lot to think about, eh? Until next time... Remember, be the chess player, not the chess piece.
