Bit Tyrants by Rob Larson for non fiction.
++ Slow Down by Kohei Saito as an audiobook. + It is on degrowth similar to Less is More, and a subject that I am finding very interesting and compelling at the moment. +
River of Gods by Ian McDonald for fiction. A science ficton book taking place in India and through their cultural lens. diff --git a/templates/interests.html b/templates/interests.html index 0b0748e..22a6687 100644 --- a/templates/interests.html +++ b/templates/interests.html @@ -92,11 +92,15 @@ Just book stuff.
-Some thoughts on time. I catch myself coming back to this subject pretty regularly.
++ Have started thinking more on money lately. + How we use it, how we interact with it, what it means. +
diff --git a/templates/money.html b/templates/money.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..11d27f8 --- /dev/null +++ b/templates/money.html @@ -0,0 +1,76 @@ + +{% extends "base.html" %} + +{% block content %} +
+ Humanity is a tool making and using species. + It is one of if not the main thing that defines us. +
++ Tools are amazing, and for me one of the main things that define my life. + I love tools, I collect tools, they allow me to do so much. +
++ The tool is never the point though. + Tools are by definition a means to an end and not an end in and of themselves, + and it is pointless to grab a tool without having a final goal in mind. + The goal can change over time, but there must always be something. +
++ I bought my desktop originally to play games. + Now I use it to program, write, learn. + But at no point was it the goal to have a computer, it was something that it would let me do. +
++ Which brings me to money. + We as a society, and I think because of capitalism and the focus on creating more "value", we have made money the goal. + In "Less is More" by Jason Hickel (a book on the philosophy of degrowth), he points out that "value" is too general. + That we actually need to clarify 2 different types of value. + "Use value", the value of what something allows us to do. + "Exchange value", the monetary value that we could get in exchange for something. +
++ Exchange value, by virtue of only valuing what money you can get for something makes money the final goal. + There is no other goal explicit or implicit when this type of value is being used. + This puts money up on a pedestal. + An idol, and ideal, a god. + Everything and anything is to be sacrificed in pursuit of this. +
++ Which when I think about it makes no sense. + Exchange value was supposed to represent something. + It was supposed to just be a layer of abstraction on use value to make it easier to trade stuff. + Money was supposed to be a tool to make trading useful things easier. + That is all the use value that it can actually provide. + I can't eat it, maybe if in Canada we still had paper bills I could burn it to cook with or stay warm. + It is one step removed at least from any actual utility other than making trading easier. +
++ However our markets have in so many cases completely decoupled exchange value from use value. + Complicated financial instruments traded back and forth, not actually doing anything for anyone other than to make the number go up. + Actively making things like social media or search less useful (reducing use value) to make more money (increase exchange value). +
++ A lathe is a fantastic tool, good for making all sorts of things. + Having money with the only goal to make more money is the same as having a lathe only to make more lathes. + Not actually making anything that is directly used like a chair or a bannister, maybe a piece of art. +
++ With money our end goal is more money, same thing. + Number go up, GDP must grow. + When we ask what we should be doing with this money (if we ever get around to that) there seems to be no clear answer other than "make more!!". + We are doing it backwards. + Sit down, have a chat, and decide what we want the outcome to be first, then figure out how much money we need to do it. + Make sure that we are making that money and we don't need to keep going after that point. + Often pursuing these goals will actually provide a nice chunk what we need for them anyway, either in money or in directly usable things. + As we add some more goals, as we are certainly wont to do as needs are satisfied, then we can up the amount that we need then. + Once we are making enough to meet our needs, live well, then we truly have freedome to choose. + Do we want something else? Do we need more money to make that happen? Then up productivity. + Or if all the bases are covered we can just take more time. + Spend time with loved ones, read books, learn something new, go for a hike. + Whatever. + If we actually treated it like we do our other tools, we would have the freedom to make that choice. +
+{% endblock %}