The power of money

Society is enraptured with the power of money. The rich know that this power is no delusion as they use money to get what they want with few exceptions, such as immortality. The poor recognize this power because they are powerless to get even sufficient food, drink, shelter and sanitation. People have good reason to put faith in this power as it has been the dominant driver of the progress of civilization - in their opinion. The creation of vast amounts of fiat money in recent times by authorities in a number of countries has done nothing to dampen the belief in the power of money. It still buys what citizens want, if they have access to enough of this intangible quantity.

The use of the term 'power' in this context is misleading as it is the consequence of  decision making by people in a position to believe actions will result from their decisions. This power is an intangible. It is not the result of a tangible, physical operation.

Consider a simple example. I have the "power" to switch on a light which then uses electrical "power". The first power is an intangible decision by me. It initiates what subsequently actually happens in a physical sense.The second power is indicative of the tangible flow of electrical energy to the light that can be measured by a meter. It is indicative of what happens.

Money is powerless on a remote island with no inhabitants. So a rich person caste ashore on the island will have to struggle to get food, drink and shelter. A poor person who is also stranded  will probably find it easier to cope because of less dependence on using money to buy the essentials. They have more personal power than the rich person.

Of course, the elite in society will continue to exercise their power without any consideration of the nuances in the meaning of the term. However, the power of natural forces have, if anything, been exacerbated by what the systems of civilization have done in recent times. Droughts, floods, storms, tsunamis, wild fires, hot spells and cold spells are examples of the power of natural forces that the powerful in society can do little about. All money can do is pay for skilled people and the required equipment to ameliorate as much as possible this impact of natural power.

Money power is bound to become impotent in coming decades as natural forces take over control from the aging infrastructure of civilization.

Information impotence

Society is becoming besotted with the exponential growth of information. The innovators of the devices that store and communicate the vast amount of information are revered. Many people, especially the young, want to have the latest versions of these devices. Desk top computers are now regarded as ancient relics. However, society does not take into account three fundamental issues that will ensure that the information revolution is unsustainable. The demise of the copious information era this century is certain, despite all the contrary hype.

The intangible information is always stored and communicated by tangible devices and systems made of mined materials by the use of natural forces. This has always been the case and will always be the case, even in the distant future when few of these devices are still around. Despite the general view that people have been clever to invent the technology that is the basis of the information revolution, all they have done is use some natural forces in a novel fashion. Most people think some clever people developed electricity but all they did was invent machines to generate electricity using natural forces. Nature has been producing electricity for eons. Lightning provides us with reminders of the power of these natural forces. The materials used in the manufacture of these devices has been mined  but many of the deposits are running out. Some of these materials are being recycled but most of them are ending there short lives in land fill.

The second issue is that most of the information is misleading, wrong or useless. Nature provides sound information in seeds that enable the replenishment of a vast range of organisms from trees through to humans. Humans have used misleading information to generate technology without taking into account the deleterious consequences, such as climate change. The information about monetary forces is wrong as it does not take into account the ecological costs of the activities financed. The economic growth that this information promotes is not sustainable, as society at large will learn the hard way in coming decades. The bewildered masses will wonder how the political leaders got their information so wrong. They will find that most of the information they have been fed is useless as they try to cope with the inevitable powering down.

Education involves the transfer of information. Most of this information transfer is aimed at providing students with the know how to operate in society. The information that teaches people how to relate with others, do useful things such a grow food and how to contribute to community activities is very useful. People are now addicted to getting information from such sources as TV without thinking through its usefulness. They are sold the benefits of having a car or going on overseas tours without the being informed

Two worlds

Stephen Hawking, the renowned scientist, discussed in a TV presentation the role of the human mind. In his view, the world exists in the human mind. His view is understandable as he has used his mind to obtain understanding of cosmic developments from the Big Bang. It is a common view as most people think in terms of their personal experience and what they are aware of through the various forms of education and communication. That is their subjective world, Myopia, and it governs the decisions they make.

 The subjective world is a myopic, intangible world developed by Homo sapiens by their limited understanding of how the tangible Real materialistic world  has operated for eons. This other world, the objective world has been run by natural.forces during evolution of Gaia, runs what is happening now as the edifice of civilization, Tityas, grows and will continue to run operations after the demise of this materialistic civilization, which has been built on unsustainable foundations.

It is fascinating that everyone accepts that they operate in two modes yet they believe that the world essentially operates in one. They know that they can decide in their mind to eat and their mind has a degree of control of the eating process. But the body takes over the central role. Metabolism controls digestion as part of the functioning of the body mode throughout its lifetime. The rich can be more selective of their food and benefit from better health care but their demise is as certain as it is for the poor.

The operation of civilization, Tityas, is no different in principle to that of any organism. People (the mind) make decisions about doing what is possible. Money has a major influence on the decision process. Natural forces (metabolism) alone determines what subsequently happens. Money does not make the rich immortal. Money will not stop the senescence of civilization as many natural resources run out.

Society will continue to live in their dream world, Myopia, only until Real sends sufficient calls to wake them up to what has gone wrong. Climate change and declining supplies of energy, food and water are already providing symptoms of the holistic malaise to the rapacious hordes. They will find it hard to power down as the cities and other components of Tityas crumble due to lack of the natural resources needed  for their operation and maintenance.