Here's what will wind up happening if we can shake off this antiquated model of production for profit.
[video=youtube;Iw7PchFNJ7o]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw7PchFNJ7o[/video]
I've been fascinated by the ERG idea for years...It encompasses several heterodox concepts of "money".
But, as I've been loathe to admit, it is unlikely I will see this movement arise in the years I have left since society is too stubborn to adapt to the underlying ideology with its thinly veiled, Socialist implications (which creates a degree of paranoid repulsion on its own part)...
After all, as we have seen over the last few hundred years, those with Money wield Power[SUP]
A[/SUP], and anything that presents a legitimate threat to
their order becomes a target for destruction.
However, with initiatives such as "living wages" or "guaranteed incomes", we take a step closer towards this potential model of societal organization. I do not believe the functionally dystopic vision presented by movies such as Wall-E or Idiocracy is accurate. There will always be members of society who yearn for higher knowledge (although many will be content in passive pursuits). So criticisms such as, "only Capitalism can spur innovation and development" are utter
bullshit.
Innovation comes from imagination; a study of a problem or need and desiring to find a solution.
Development arises out of desires to test solutions, to refine and advance them...
The
motive of profit comes truly from the
leisure class of society, and their desire to remain in their modes of existence (which generally is supplemented through dividend or profit shares in corporate finance). They use
working class "units" to support the infrastructure from which they wield monetary control, and within the working class there is further, micro-competitive division (i.e. no collar, blue collar, white collar, executive etc.
cf. JK Galbraith) with its own desires of social advancement via profit.
This lower-division competition is what creates many ills in society. It creates unproductive scenarios where
power is required, in whatever form is available, just to maintain--never mind
advance--one's position in the grand hierarchy.
In Physics, an analogy could be
heat generation from frictional forces in mechanics. It is wasted energy (for the most part) that results from a desired output's production. Hence the use of lubrication or different materials for the mechanical components; but even with all that, as Carnot demonstrates, there will always be an insurmountable limit of efficiency (assuming one is using heat engines to capture some of this waste). So what is one to do?
Perhaps a solution lies in another
branch of Physics? Instead of Mechanics, an answer may arise out of Electrodynamics--using magnetism to drive otherwise mechanical processes.
The same can be said of societal organization; it does not need to keep refining
mechanical means when
electromagnetic options are available.
However, the barrier to entry seems to be
cognizance
[HR][/HR]
A- Power being defined, "the ability to make people do what they would not do otherwise"