An unusually non-silly article for me
Okay this is a series of articles I have been considering doing for a while now. Part of what I want to do with Keeping it Surreal, aside from write bizarre essays and point out how strange the universe is, is to point out how different life could be if we broke away from our unquestioned beliefs the staple diet of ‘normality’. For instance why do we alway use boring compliments like “You look gorgeous today ” why not say, “You’re looking quite bipedal today.” I’ve used it, it gets a laugh and breaks the ice quite well, not that it ever got me anywhere, but I digress.
Abolishing the monetary system is not an original idea, neither are many of the other ideas I will bring up in this series. However, I feel that when people lay out plans for a moneyless society they don’t properly explain why it might be a good idea. It is important to keep in mind that the concept of money has been around for so long and there have been so few viable alternatives that suit of our lifestyle that no other system seems workable or even desirable. I’ve been thinking about this problem for a long time and every once in a while I think “Oh this will never work because of this, this and this.” but when I think about it further realise that “this, this and this.” are only issues under our current system. My point is that the influence of money is so all pervading that it strains the human imagination to think of a world without it.
In an effort to remedy this and also to make my thought processes clear to both you the reader and myself I shall go through the pro and cons of the current system, misconceptions about the current system, possible alternatives and hopefully come up with something better. The series will be as much a journey for me as it is to the reader since I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to write, I hope I'm not in over my head. The name of the game is to break free of our "money is the only workable system" mindset in a search an alternative system that still fosters an expanding creative and technological society.
This will not be a manifesto for some mythical utopia. I believe that no system is perfect just as no people are perfect (except for me of course). The important thing is to have a system with faults you can live with. I can’t live with starvation in a world that can feed everyone. I can’t live in a world where profit motive promotes the popularity of shit music, shit actors and shit products to name but a few things. I can’t live in a world that promotes destruction of the world I live in.
This is not just going to be series about money. Money is linked to so many other concepts and issues: trade, ownership, employment, crime, punishment, government and society to name but a few.
I’m afraid this is all for now. The purpose of this article was to explain the reason for writing this series. My reasons for wanting to abolish the monetary system will come later. I will say for now that I think money has served its purpose. The monetary system has a certain beauty and elegance; I don’t deny this. The monetary system has had many advantages over other systems at least when viewed from certain perspectives. Unfortunately the fact of the matter is that is it only serves the minority well and even they experience bad side effects. The very fact you are reading this means that you are probably a part of that minority. Even for those of you that are struggling to pay the electricity bill, remember, there are some that don’t even have an electricity bill to pay.
P.S. To my loyal followers: I have not given up on the Understanding the Universe series. I’m just waiting for muse 23a to get back from her sex romp in the Bahamas. I asked her if I could come but alas she said it was only for talented people. Shame.
P.P.S. I will try to make the series entertaining or at least interesting but I won't deliberately try to put jokes in as I usually do simply because my arguements will be fairly wordy to start with. You have been warned. Due to the research required the articles will probably be fairly spaced out (in time that is, not because they are tripping or something) so I will still post my normal sort of articles in the gaps.