Quote:
Originally Posted by Practitioner
Hire me to build a building, and I shall build one. Pay me to tear it down. I shall do so. And I shall grow wealthier despite nothing else having been accomplished.
Whether there is capitalism or some form of regulated capitalism, it seems to me that there ought to be an element of conscience, of reasonable purpose for the investment of capital. It is human selfishness and immorality that leads to economic crises. However, one could also argue that human selfishness and immorality are the pre-existing conditions of either economic model.
If new wealth is to be created without seizing upon new natural resources, then it can be accomplished by improving the efficient management of existing resources. Thus, knowledge and experience--intellectual capital--would be the new catalyst for wealth, although this might be more likely to lead to a redistribution of wealth within the system, rather that the wealth of the system itself expanding.
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Welcome Practicioner,
You are indeed right, and your words highlight my own inner confliction over Capitalism. On paper and in theory, Capitalism can be an efficient way for us to engage in economic activity. But, given human nature, it becomes a form of enslavement. I really like what you said about intellectual capital. I don't know if you read any theoretical anthropology, but there is this concept of the "thought economy" that is directly related to what you wrote. It harkens back to pre-Capitalist modes of production and exchange - a world in which value was dependent upon the relationships that produced and moved goods, not materialism or function/use.
I would argue that the primacy of "intellectual capital" would not only redistribute wealth (thus combatting the inherent inequality upon which the Capitalist system is dependent), but might actually serve to REDEFINE the very meaning of wealth. How we make this transition in a world where intellectual creativity and development is mistrusted and actually attacked as elitism, however, is beyond me.
Again, welcome Practicioner, and come back soon.