Capitalism

Though there are many alternatives, some better than others, capitalism seems to be the king of the hill for now. Even in all its different forms the monetary system inevitably boils down to capitalism which while commonly applied to money can also be applied to psychology as well. However for this topic I'll try to stick within money based ideology.

Money in and of itself has no value yet we hold it with such high regard as such its value is greater than anything else. What a man will do for money is astonishing to say the least. There are many campaigns out there to teach the masses about the evils of money in today's world given the current state of technology. Some offer alternatives of all different kinds, whether they be a step back to bartering, a system of membership or labor based earning of rights but one has stood out to me at least as having a unique and progressive idea. The campaign I bring forth is the Zeitgeist movement and the Venus Project. Their idea is a resource based economy. While I don't claim to fully understand it, what I do understand is that it's truly a powerful idea that logically seems to be the most superior alternative to money. The system they propose would seem to be the best for the entire human race, yet only the young seem to be capable of grasping it or embracing it. I questioned as to why our elders could not understand the idea as I was explaining it to them. I was met with comments of communism and other related topics which I wasn't ready to handle at the time. Here I am years later and while I still can't properly defend the idea I've at least been able to explain how it's not communism.

With products of all different kinds these days branding has lead to a false sense of superiority substantiated by the exuberant price of the brand. If all phones were exactly the same for example and each phone simply accessed a database so that anybody could pick up and use any phone and have all their info still on it, people would be much less concerned about their phone in general such as if they dropped it somewhere or letting someone borrow it for a second and related because they'd easily be able to get a replacement which would likely be much cheaper if not free. From what I understand you can still have private property in a resource based economy, but it wouldn't be quite the wasteful kind we have now of having a car you barely use that sits around all day and night for no good reason, instead you'd likely rely more on public transportation and essentially rental cars. Other things you'd probably borrow as needed from a dispensary location while other things you'd pick up from that location and simply keep if you're likely going to use it on a very regular basis. Access to all of this is absolutely free and has no requirements or strings attached. You don't have to be a citizen, or work, and nobody is there to stop you from taking it because it's there to be given to you. The idea being that you're now free to socialize and pursue things of your own free will as you desire instead of wasting your life in service to a system as essentially a slave just to survive from day to day.

Referring back to my other blog in which I posted as to what it cost to make a game and how much profit it can make I'll use that as an example for the new economic model presented. The changes between modern warfare 2 and 3 were relatively minor, a few new maps a change up in weapons and accessories, a new campaign, and the addition of survival mode. All of this, and I do mean ALL could've been DLC for MW2. The only reason a whole new game was released was the capitalist model. If we'd been using RBE in this case you'd still have gotten the game, but it would have probably been much better, and you would've gotten it as a digital download instead of wasting resources on plastic and metal cases and discs, and chances are it would've been much much better in terms of not only quality of the game but networking, and multiplayer systems. All various forms of entertainment would still exist however it would be because people enjoy making and working on them instead of just pumping out garbage for a quick buck.

One example used in their propaganda is actually one I've done myself. Making a table, is how they explain you'd use the best materials and design to make a table that would last. Well I got together with my friends and we did just that, we designed a sturdy table, got the materials we could based on what was available, cut it, sanded it, primed and painted it then assembled it and I've been using it every since and it's held up much better than any other table I've ever had considering how many times I've had to move it which means disassembling and reassembling it on a regular basis which thankfully we had in mind so it's quick and easy. Together we had a great time, made some memories, and created a high quality table we could be proud of, not because we wanted to make a profit or something but because we simply wanted to, it's not like we needed the table it just sounded like a fun project. We haven't had many opportunities to do that sort of thing though because of jobs and limitations of funding etc, but I could assure you that if we didn't have to worry about those things we'd probably work on a lot more things together because it's what we enjoy doing.

So I'll ask you, if you didn't have to worry about time, money, other things in general, what would you do, what do you enjoy doing, if you could do something on a regular basis the rest of your life under these conditions what would it be?