I enjoyed this, I published something recently in a similar vein, but focused more on the concept of luxury rather than wealth (but obviously intersecting with wealth)
Thanks, Katie, for this comprehensive view of “wealth.”
Now and then I pause to imagine what very advanced beings would think of us Earthlings, with our peculiar combination of care, love, and creativity on one hand, and the brutal selfishness of dictators and war lords on the other, all set in beautiful nature that has been wrecked by get-rich-quick programs like building cars, drilling and refining oil, mining, cutting down forests, “improving” agriculture with chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
Those bemused ETs will also observe our human capacity to seek justice when we see addiction to power harming others or Nature. Hence, some people harmed by vaccines will find a way to inform others of the hazards, and will work to end the vaccine mandates that enrich Pharma while killing or disabling a routine percentage of the vaccinated (a higher percentage since mRNA shots came along).
Others will become environmental activists. Still others will work to make school food truly nutritious, and free from toxins.
But, despite our community-oriented traits, our visitors would be astounded by our gullibility, which is aggravated by our herd instinct to not question authority and to go along with cultural norms that make it hard to admit our mistakes. (Real science is based on relentless challenges to one’s thesis and a commitment to changing course when proven wrong, unlike the fake science that the CDC-FDA-EPA has relied on for so long).
Scare a group of humans with some mysterious threat like Terrorists (people with a different religion or ethnicity from the dominant ones here), or Global Warming (see this takedown(1) of the “threat”), or Germs (which can so easily be thwarted by good nutrition and toxin avoidance/ detoxification). Frightened people seek safety, and they quickly lose their critical thinking and follow any orders that will “protect” them.
Currently we are spending on electrification out of fear, and because of clever PR that has convinced us it’s eminent so, for instance, we “must” build wind turbines(2) like crazy.
My years in Environmental Studies boil down to 4 words: Trend is not destiny. The mess we’ve made CAN be mitigated.
And a huge part of that course correction is to realize what real wealth is.
I grew up near Detroit, close to the smaller Lake St. Clair, more of a pond in my memory. Lots of little stories I could tell about pollution of the waterways from industry in this area. I would just say I could not expect anything different given the chemicals involved in making automobiles. I grew up to reject car culture in a big way, after seeing what it does to both the land and the people. Bicycles have been my savior. best
I enjoyed this, I published something recently in a similar vein, but focused more on the concept of luxury rather than wealth (but obviously intersecting with wealth)
Thanks, Katie, for this comprehensive view of “wealth.”
Now and then I pause to imagine what very advanced beings would think of us Earthlings, with our peculiar combination of care, love, and creativity on one hand, and the brutal selfishness of dictators and war lords on the other, all set in beautiful nature that has been wrecked by get-rich-quick programs like building cars, drilling and refining oil, mining, cutting down forests, “improving” agriculture with chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
Those bemused ETs will also observe our human capacity to seek justice when we see addiction to power harming others or Nature. Hence, some people harmed by vaccines will find a way to inform others of the hazards, and will work to end the vaccine mandates that enrich Pharma while killing or disabling a routine percentage of the vaccinated (a higher percentage since mRNA shots came along).
Others will become environmental activists. Still others will work to make school food truly nutritious, and free from toxins.
But, despite our community-oriented traits, our visitors would be astounded by our gullibility, which is aggravated by our herd instinct to not question authority and to go along with cultural norms that make it hard to admit our mistakes. (Real science is based on relentless challenges to one’s thesis and a commitment to changing course when proven wrong, unlike the fake science that the CDC-FDA-EPA has relied on for so long).
Scare a group of humans with some mysterious threat like Terrorists (people with a different religion or ethnicity from the dominant ones here), or Global Warming (see this takedown(1) of the “threat”), or Germs (which can so easily be thwarted by good nutrition and toxin avoidance/ detoxification). Frightened people seek safety, and they quickly lose their critical thinking and follow any orders that will “protect” them.
Currently we are spending on electrification out of fear, and because of clever PR that has convinced us it’s eminent so, for instance, we “must” build wind turbines(2) like crazy.
My years in Environmental Studies boil down to 4 words: Trend is not destiny. The mess we’ve made CAN be mitigated.
And a huge part of that course correction is to realize what real wealth is.
1. https://laurenayers.substack.com/p/excerpts-from-the-mythology-of-global
2. https://laurenayers.substack.com/p/wind-turbines-are-wrecking-australias
I grew up near Detroit, close to the smaller Lake St. Clair, more of a pond in my memory. Lots of little stories I could tell about pollution of the waterways from industry in this area. I would just say I could not expect anything different given the chemicals involved in making automobiles. I grew up to reject car culture in a big way, after seeing what it does to both the land and the people. Bicycles have been my savior. best
Wow. Thank you for this story--and for bicycling!