Muse – Human Initiative

Interesting responses from my last muse.

After posting a small response to a topic on Gaia Online in which I noted my own preference toward cooperative commune, someone private messaged me about Nimbin, Australia. Intriguing indeed.

In the discussion of Capitalism, initiative is a big part of what Capitalism gives. And as suggested, to an extent, greed is good. At the very least for the motivation. However greed isn’t the best of reasons for doing something as it is, as I’ve seen, one of the paths that is easiest to follow into corruption. Materialism is one of the taints of our modern society.

I’ve tasted it before. I have lots of desires and some personal greed. Fortunate for me I’ve managed to ignore most and keep my spending habits at least somewhat modest and in control. But I feel I could live a more simple existence. It might not be simple to get used to, but I could do it I think.

I’m not against incentive. It’s a requirement, that much I know. Though we’d do well to get greater incentives than materialism. Back in the beginning, survival was the motivation of initiative and the mother of invention. We bettered ourselves because if we didn’t, we’d starve, die of exposure or be eaten ourselves. It was a pure motivation that, for the most part, was not as given to corruption. Part of survival was safety in numbers. In today’s world, numbers are less of an issue so long as you have an ally or two who has sufficient presence to generally ward off potential attackers from amongst your own species. Beasts are no longer any worry for modern man in anything but third world countries.

We’ve outgrown the motivation of survival, yet it could return. Perhaps not in such far fetched ways as Independence Day, but Armageddon is always a possibility. We’ve had a few near misses with carious space flotsam. It’s only a matter of time before something smacks the Earth square on. Or it might, in a few centuries, get to the point where the environment is shot and our resources are waning. Of course, with greed as a primary motivator, such disasters as that can turn ugly as those who have gouge those who have not, oblivious to the real danger inherent in such shortages.

There are better motivations we have these days, that have lasted, even if in smaller terms than the mighty materialism. Love is still there. A dash of general altruism remains. Some practicality. Yet these virtuous motivations seem to be waning. More showing up in individual situations, like islands in a sea of greed for money or influence. Without any real link that draws them together, they remain passing sparks that never catch fire.

Wouldn’t it be nice if people looked toward the future rather than the present. Wouldn’t it be nice if people didn’t cling to tax cuts when local and federal governments start running low on funds. Wouldn’t it be nice if government didn’t waste money on frivolous things motivated by a need to make it look like funding is being made useful so that it won’t be taken away? Wouldn’t it be nice of a president would look at the future, see the eventual demise of the oil industry and, with this obvious deadline visible, work directly to begin the process of shifting the country’s fuel needs to one that will provide energy for a longer time?

Things that are obvious. Things that anyone should be able to get behind and know that it is good for the future of the species, not just for one little group or faction or nation. I suppose it’s too much to ask in the here and now. We’ve been living in a material and commercial world for decades. A vast social shift such as would be needed is not so easily found as made by events. It seems that almost every major paradigm shift that humanity has undertaken was because of a sudden need or conflict.

Perhaps all we can wonder is if the aliens or the asteroids will be the first to bring it about.