TiesMorskate.nl

And why wouldn’t it be, profit is what makes the business world go round and what gets you that ferrari. (If that’s what confirm’s you’ve made it, even if it’s just for yourself.) But could it be that profit is not worth striving for in the long run? What if profit is just our current scorecard and only justifies its strive for it because its the only scorecard we have?  I could be on the wrong track here, because clearly the strive for profit is the result of the events that have formed our world in the past few centuries, but I’m thinking stuff will keep happening and the world will change some more in the time to come.

Still, I think there is some middleground to be found. In the past, profit was there, ofcourse, but there were multiple other goals; honouring your god(s), bringing honour to your name/family/parents/father/mother or just provide for your tribe by bringing home a deer you’ve killed to be eaten. Sure enough, money seems to have replaced all these values, the few values we have left are remnants of the in my little world dominant christian background. Ofcourse some people still bring home money just to feed their family.

While we are sort of changing (evolving would imply this is a good/bad thing rather than just a change) towards a stage were money is just the best means to the goal we strive for, wether its happiness, material posession or some kind of transcendence. I still think its going to stick around for a lot longer. But that does not in any way mean we should just accept the current train of thought as written in stone.

It’s definitely not money that makes the world go round, it’s the effort people put in. For money ofcourse, but what would happen if you would think of another incentive?

And it is the one thing keeping us together.

We are not designed to live in a dense city. We do not like only having a small amount of space to put our stuff (as George Carlin aptly calls it), and we certainly do not like for other people to stand in our way. Be it on the street, in a mall (where it is to be expected though) or even in a bar where we go to meet people. We are often annoyed by people we don’t know.

Which is exactly the reason why! We don’t know those people, but we share a living environment with them. I think we can safely say most of our subconsious urges and inner-body workings come from a time where the earth wasn’t crowded and we certainly did not live stacked on top of eachother. We did live with other people though, we lived in tribes that could be very big from time to time. But these were people we felt kindred to, and most of  the time actually were. In later times, we felt connected through a common religion or by sharing a small part of history together if you lived in a town for 50 years. Nowadays, we have no ties to the people around us and we should thank whatever lord you wish for etiquete.

Because if we weren’t taught to lie innumerable times a day, if we would always speak our mind or act immediately. Things would quikly turn sour, very sour. Have you ever thought of the reason why people start looting immediately when there’s a riot? I imagine its because all other reasoning falls away and people think straightforward to what they desire most, to have it all.

It is a blessing that we are taught to think from the point of view of others, it saves us all from a lot of trouble. But would it be true to say that in an living environment as dense as a major city, people should think from the perspective of the others they encounter, not their own? By living this close to eachother, we should start to think as one organism, not as individuals.

A friend forwarded me a great article, written by Andrew Lahde, a hedge fund manager who predicted a market collapse and benefited from it financially. He writes a general fuck you to the hedge fund industry, but there are two paragraphs that impressed me most.

Capitalism worked for two hundred years, but times change, and systems become corrupt. George Soros, a man of staggering wealth, has stated that he would like to be remembered as a philosopher. My suggestion is that this great man start and sponsor a forum for great minds to come together to create a new system of government that truly represents the common man’s interest, while at the same time creating rewards great enough to attract the best and brightest minds to serve in government roles without having to rely on corruption to further their interests or lifestyles.

And

The original American flag was made of hemp fiber and our Constitution was printed on paper made of hemp. It was used as recently as World War II by the U.S. Government, and then promptly made illegal after the war was won. At a time when rhetoric is flying about becoming more self-sufficient in terms of energy, why is it illegal to grow this plant in this country? Ah, the female. The evil female plant — marijuana. It gets you high, it makes you laugh, it does not produce a hangover. Unlike alcohol, it does not result in bar fights or wife beating. So, why is this innocuous plant illegal? Is it a gateway drug? No, that would be alcohol, which is so heavily advertised in this country. My only conclusion as to why it is illegal, is that Corporate America, which owns Congress, would rather sell you Paxil, Zoloft, Xanax and other additive drugs, than allow you to grow a plant in your home without some of the profits going into their coffers. 

But I can just say that you must read the entire article, it is very impressive to say the least..

http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/daily-brief/2008/10/17/hedge-fund-manager-goodbye-and-f-you