Not that long ago I saw a very impressive episode of Nova and it left me reflecting on how little time is spent on tv of that sort and how much is spent just keeping us amused and living vicariously through the exciting lives of pretend people.
I was fairly pissed.
The thing is, I didn't have a full and proper understanding of what was really bothering me. Until now.
Its that from where I sit, it appears that science in only relevant to the public when it enables some new way for them to be entertained. There are extraordinary things being created every day but they fly right under the radar.
What bothers me is...this isn't the best of all possible worlds. We have better methods of making...everything! Methods that aren't implemented because if they were it would destroy the economy as we know.
"...the economy that's fake anyway!" -Bill Hicks
See...the economy is such a simple concept. People buying things is what creates the demand that causes companies to hire people to make them but to keep all those employees working, people have to keep buying and buying and buying.
I once saw a guy being intervied by Charlie Rose.It was one of top guys at Walmart. He said (and I'm paraphrasing here)"We've got all the customers we need...we just need them to buy more".
Don't mind tellin ya...I was floored by this. There was something so base about the way he spoke. It wasn't a man I was watching anymore. He was a jackal tearing flesh from bone and giggling with glee. Like the bill collectors who call and try to scare people with threats and pressure them to pay by any means neccesary. "Can't you borrow it from someone?" Truly there is a special place in hell for those people.
But what's worse is...as things stand, that's all this world of ours is designed for. People buying stuff so people can't make stuff so people can buy stuff.
Just don't make the stuff too good. Because that will fuck up the whole equation. Stuff that's really well made lasts thus reducing the number of them that will need to be made in a given period of time. Fewer products being made means fewer jobs, which means fewer people making enough money to buy products...see where this is going?
Economic collapse? In a way I suppose. And in the short term, life would suck for all kinds of people. No question. And we can't dismiss that short term view. People live their lives in the day to day. People lose their homes and go hungry in the short term.
But this money thing...there's no sustaining this anymore. Not in the long term. That has to be obvious by now.
Largely because so many jobs are being made obsolete by technology. People keep being born and born and born while the jobs left for humans keeps shrinking. What could possibly turn that trend around? Should we even try to?
I still remember this line from Star Trek VI...about how french peasants who found their jobs threatened by technology threw their wooden shoes called "sabo" into the machinery...giving birth to the term "sabotage".
We could do that or we could embrace the challenge of a world without money. One where we create the best possible world. One that is designed to last, built from the best designs and materials. Where we stretch ourselves to reach that thing just out of our grasp.
We should do this for one another. The world we live in now works for some. We could build a world that works for all. We have the technology. We can rebuild it.
(Did you know they have found a texture that can be applied to any surface that reduces the growth of bacteria by something like 86%? Not a material that costs millions to produce. Just a texture. How is this not news? Why is this not applied to every surface we come into contact with? Oh wait...it's the economy again, right? All those antibacterial soaps and cleansers and whatnot suddenly take a sharp drop in sales. It's Preston Tucker and Nikola Tesla all over again. The better way gets shafted for the more profitable way. How are we not done with this yet?)
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