Cancer is cellular capitalism. Capitalism is economic cancer. You cannot realistically expect growth to continue forever. At some point, planned obsolescence accelerates until the thing you’ve just bought is already obsolete. Moore’s Law, affecting the power of computer chips, had a life cycle of about 18 — 24 months. However, when the chips’ pathways get down to near-atomic dimensions, and you can’t go smaller than that, then what do you do?
The point of capitalism is to make as much profit for the longest period of time possible, using laws to ensconce one in a bastion of privilege, and deprive others of one’s advantages. The key ingredient is lack of balance, a zero-sum game in which any victory for you is a loss for me. Thus, my rapaciousness in economic affairs is fueled by the insecurities triggered by advertising and all the myths of importance that our material acquisitions should have. However, there is no basis for deeming material things to have universal or lasting importance. What turns me into an economic wolverine may harm the environment, erode my soul, degrade our society, and turn me into a heartless golem of greed.
All of us breathe the same air, drink the same water, eat food from the same soil, and are passengers on a little blue-green dot flying through the unimaginable vastness of space. When viewed from that perspective, does it really matter whether I live in an American version of Versailles, or have a yacht, or am a charter subscriber to the Robb Report? Does my worth as a person depend on how expensive my watch is, or how many cars I own, or the size of my trophy wife’s breasts?
The answer is no, and the question then becomes “At what point have I given up my humanity for the sake of getting ‘things’?” I think it’s clear that when I’ve gone beyond the boundary of filling my needs for adequate food, water, shelter, education, and a safe environment, then I’ve entered the land of ego, self-aggrandizement, and have left the realm of humanity for the world of “goodies, toys, and gadgets.”
We don’t “own” these things; they wind up owning us, and at what cost? So the idea of capitalism is not about business; it’s about finding ways to get a competitive advantage over others and operating on the basis of “win-lose” instead of “win-win.” The latter provides a path for a fulfilling life; the former provides us with the road to catastrophe.
Which path will we take?
