Chapter 2: Why do we have to use money? (5 of 6)

A discussion of Chapter 2 of my book "Hunting, Gathering, & Videogames" - http://www.amazon.com/Hunting-Gathering-Videogames-Allen-Gates/dp/1601450443/...

A chapter-by-chapter summary of "Hunting, Gathering, & Videogames" (and thus an overview of the entire video series):

PART I: WHY DO WE HAVE TO WORK?

Chapter One
*Hunting, Gathering, & Videogames* gives a historical overview of why we've always had to "go to work," tracing the common link between the workday of the prehistoric hunter and gatherer, the first millennium B.C. farmer, the first century A.D. pottery-maker, the nineteenth century assembly line worker, and today's videogame programmer.

Chapter Two
*Surgery & Dental Floss* spells out the complications of bartering, and explains why communities with multiple goods and services always end up using some form of money (be it beads or dollar bills) to solve their trading problems.

Chapter Three
*Penguins & Peacocks* is about why the changes in our workday--the transition from hunting and gathering to the ages of agriculture, industry, and information--took place, even though some aspects of these changes were for the worse. It looks at the parallel between the history of our workday and the way evolution works in nature: how change is driven by the demands of the immediate environment, not by concerns for future repercussions.

PART II: WORK, WEALTH, & HAPPINESS

Chapter Four
*Emperors & Emptiness* gives an overview of three drawbacks of our modern work system: the alienation, the perception of deprivation that can come from being in a society overflowing with goods and services, and the way our increased number of career options has opened up a large window for failure--particularly when we tie our occupation to our identity.

Chapter Five
*More vs. Enough* offers an alternative to the unattainable American financial goal of "more is better" by outlining a flexible but precise definition of how much income is "enough."

Chapter Six
*Measuring Success* contrasts our culture's guideline for happiness--the wealth, status, and identity we derive from our careers--with a guideline that instead aims for a balance of our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual dimensions.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• ToddAllenGates
• ToddGates
• money
• currency
• medium
• exchange
• measure
• value
• trade
• economics
• barter
• job
• work
• alienation
• dollars

[cywongdigi1984]

that is the problem of society nowadays when the knowledge and talent doesn't means anything. career suppose to be a tools to earn money but it is not about pursuing self interest. it end up the society that is materialistic and soulless about life. the advancement of technology suppose to let human work lesser but human nowadays is getting more stressful, competitive than before. how far we can predict our own future? no one wish to work and work for the rest of life for survival.

[ToddAllenGates]

> although i basically agree with your argument, it seems a little too simplistic - if you consider that people often do whatever it is they choose to do because that is what they prefer to do, even regardless of incentives

True, I'm speaking in large general terms. I know it doesn't hold true for many individuals--including myself! I spend many hours on my writing & music, and even if I were absolutely *certain* it would never pay off financially, that wouldn't change my behavior at all.

[cmoleon]

(before the end of the soviet empire, i had the opportunity to see highly sophisticated, disciplined, efficient 'scientists' who 'earned' less than a truck driver in their country; even today, e.g. comparable medical staff in such places on average 'earn' much less than in

'western' countries, and enjoy less of a social standing).

[cmoleon]

although i basically agree with your argument, it seems a little too simplistic - if you consider that people often do whatever it is they choose to do because that is what they prefer to do, even regardless of incentives: though it obviously overall does not work and is tyrannical and injust, remarkably even socialism seems not to prevent complexity and specialization;

[ToddAllenGates]

This doesn't seem all that different from just using money ... although I suppose if the people in the commune feel very alienated from money, this may seem like an improvement.

Also, this seems to rest on the premise that all hours of labor are equal. But are hours of brain surgery labor = to hours of babysitting? Maybe this type of thing works in a commune, but it would probably wreak havoc in a large society: it would be a disincentive to learn complex skills.

[stevebritgimp]

One interesting thing I've come across in my internet travels is Dancing Rabbit. It's something out of Monty Python, like an anarcho-syndicalist commune. They are an experimental community in Missouri. They use a currency, which is related to hours of work. So all labour is measured in hours of work. Hours then have a paper token which is used for exchange, and also is stored in a bank, and has an external exchange in US dollars.