Obstacles

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At our third decade of this new century, we seem to have some massive obstacles to 2.0 which defy our intelligence. Money, instinct, Gullibility are my top few. Each is deeply ingrained in our culture and our biology. So deeply, each feels like a truth, permanent and without a flaw to exploit. So perhaps this is our wicked problem to solve as a species.

Money

As our core tool for exchange, we've agreed that we all need a minimum of it coming all the time. Although it is constantly being created from nothing, it seems always scarce. Where does it all go, eventually? Are new people being born and that's where it goes? And what is the real cause of inflation?

I've heard of a study that concluded that once a person achieves a threshold of income, they achieve a peace of mind. If their income rises above this, their peace of mind does not increase. So if as a species we were to select peace of mind as the most important value, why not give everyone on the planet that much basic income? Then we can all be free to pursue our core values. Would our species be able to count on everything getting done that needs doing?

But getting to that is a daunting journey. How is it to be done? Must it be done? Is there another path?

Instinct

Nature made us capable of surviving a challenging environment. At every turn, we learned to weaponize everything, to impose our will on threats, to always be assessing threat (emotions), and to react with lightening reflex. This worked out great in our past when our population was much smaller. Now we find that daily life offers more threats, and is much more complex.

People enslaved by instinct fall into one of two categories. A tendency to be power hungry ore to be fearful and angry. My sense is that both are unhealthy and that said unhealthiness is ignored because doing so feels right and true.