January remains the benchmark month of this year in terms of accomplishments. Although I continue to make progress, it is very slow. The story, for one, is developing in new and interesting ways. It is definitely becoming a much better story, and it is also slipping further and further into the future. Perhaps it would be best to devote May entirely to drawing. One reason I am able to "read" as much as I do, is because I listen to a lot of audiobooks. About 75% of my reading is audiobooks. I also started listening to amimetobios series "Imagining Money" a second time, this time rereading many of the required texts and taking careful notes. I will probably post some of my notes here in the near future. A week or so ago I made a list of political problems. I wrote it fairly quickly and off-the-cuff, but I think it is useful, if only as a starting point. I'll share it here:
THOUGHTS ON ECONOMY
1.) As much as we love the fruits of capitalism: everyone having a new cell phone every year or so (the old ones not fixed, but tossed in the trash), new cars, flatscreen t.v.s, computers, etc etc... it is not a model for the world simply because there are not enough resources for everyone on the planet to live at this level of luxury.
2.) Not only that, but even at humanity's current level of consumption we are destroying the planet. Icecaps are melting, oceans are full of trash, pesticides are killing off the bees and most other insects essential to pollination and thus the very framework of the ecosystem and so of life. This is bad enough as it is, but the failure of some of these systems could cause feedback loops spiraling the planet into ecological collapse.
3.) One possible step might be to reduce consumption, but that would mean reduce production--i.e. to work less (something inimical to the capitalist work ethos). There have been at least two books recently published on so called bullshit jobs. And while some jobs are merely time sinks, there are other professions that have a net damage on the economy (when we factor in costs in damage to the environment). As a side note, there have been psychological tests conducted that have shown people are happier when given extra time rather than extra things (but is this really surprising?).
4.) Friends of mine have said to me, why do you hate capitalism when it has brought so much prosperity? Of course, it can be debated whence the origins of modern prosperity. I do, nonetheless, recognize and appreciate the modern world. I would not want to live at any other time. Still, for me that has never been the primary question. I prefer capitalism to feudalism, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't strive to recognize its faults and search for something better.
5.) I feel instinctually, that there is something profoundly immoral about capitalism. The desire to make something of quality seems at odds with the desire to make a buck.
6.) Furthermore, capitalism seems opposed to community and genuine human relations, a point Graeber communicates very well in *Debt.*
7.) Lastly, my biggest problem with capitalism, at least how it is currently functioning in America now, is that it undermines equality and democracy. Capitalism, being founded on constant growth and ruthless competition, invites monopolies and tyranny.
8.) On working less.
a. if you grant that we are producing too much and that producing less would be beneficial for the planet, then we have to consider the effects of working less.
b. first, it seems inevitable. Much traditional labor will be conducted by robots.
c. second, what is really needed now is a massive investment in educated and training for high tech jobs. Not only because these will become more and more the only kinds of jobs of the future, but also because climate change and population growth demand that we develop the skills to address these challenges, which will include geoengineering and the setting up of human habitations beyond Earth.
9.) On market value v. utility. Baumol's cost disease taught us that the utility of certain kinds of work is not equal to its market value. For example, people in developed countries (especially America) suffer from ill-health due to eating too much processed food. Why? Because it is cheaper to buy a jar of strawberry jam than a cartoon of fresh strawberries. Why? Because the strawberries for jam can be machine harvested, whereas fresh strawberries require manual labor. Nonetheless, fresh fruit has a higher utility than jam and it would be beneficial to make it more readily available than something like processed fruit. This might mean that certain tasks that require human labor receive some kind of funding or support to offset the cost difference.
Books Read:
David Graeber, Debt: The First 5000 Years
Chris Hedges, America: The Farewell Tour
Alfred McCoy, In the Shadows of the American Century
Pierson and Hacker, Winner Take All Politics
Kim Stanley Robinson, The Years of Rice and Salt
Kim Stanley Robinson, New York 2140
Kim Stanley Robinson, Aurora
William Flesch, Comeuppance
To Read:
Flannery and Marcus, The Creation of Inequality
Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees
Ada Palmer, Terra Ignota v.3
Cixin Liu, Three Body Problem v.2 and 3
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