Try to make yourself useful

How do we become rich, both individually and collectively? If wealth is measured in assets such as gold, we only have a finite supply so "wealth" (defined this way) is limited... But it is clear that we can progress and wealth is more than assets.

Ludwig WITTGENSTEIN
"The world is the totality of facts, not things."

So what makes a person consider themselves to be wealthy? A person with many choices is wealthy. The opposite of wealth is slavery and the removal of choice and opportunity... Put simply, we are rich if we can get what we want. But perhaps our wealth is constrained by the natural environment meaning that we can't all (always) get what we want. But is that true?

Our individual wants for more gold cannot be satisfied but is it gold we actually want or is it the assigned value? And what limits that value?

4th January 2009


Addendum1: We are involved in Society whether or not we choose to be (10th Jan09)

Addendum2: Technology is a threat to the State

The function provided by the State is the ability to exclude people from Society. As technology increasingly allows people to exclude others voluntarily, the State weakens.

The State enables Society to remove disruptive people. It is for this reason that people tolerate the weighty burden imposed on them by authority... But technology will increasingly enable people to exclude malign people from their lives, since it allows greater autonomy.

We can imagine a situation where our standing on social networking sites becomes increasingly important. The Status of individuals will become increasingly abstracted into the technological realm, lack of participation will lead to exclusion. People would (in the future) be able to protect themselves from anti-social people by these means. (10th Jan09)

Addendum3: Barter is a threat to the State

Barter removes the component of State currency from any transaction and as such, it is a threat to the State

Once people exchange goods freely without the interference of the State, money will lose value. It would only be required to pay taxes... Barter allows people to disguise income from the State, meaning that they incur less tax. It is a tax-avoidance scam and hence destroys the State...

A black-market currency, such as gold, would be a threat to the State because it would allow those in the grey economy to avoid detection. (10th Jan09)