Back in July, I published a blog posting with the title, "Shooting For A Positive-Sum World." The blog posting was stimulated by a column by David Brooks, which appeared in The New York Times. In my mind, the point of the blog posting was to emphasize that we often mischaracterize our human situation, improperly postulating that competition and conflict are inevitable, and that if someone else gets "more," then I will absolutely get "less." I was hoping to get people to think that we might better characterize our human situation in a framework that emphasizes "collaboration" and "cooperation," as opposed to "conflict" and "competition."
The following comment came in - and I am always happy when I get comments on what I write - but the comment I received was not, exactly, what I would call "favorable."
What if the problem IS the "positive sum mindset" itself? At least, materially speaking. What if the supply of wealth IS finite (at least, materially speaking)? And what if property IS theft? That might be something to address in a future post. The pie (our earth) IS finite, after all -- and the more of it that is monopolized (or contaminated) by a few, the less of it IS available for the rest of us!
Good point! Point taken!!
The commenter referred me to an online article on Medium, "A Friendly Critique of the Degrowth Movement." I am now providing you with a link to that article, above. Please read it.
The article referenced by my commenter (and the comment was made anonymously) stated the urgency of our need to reduce our human impact on the natural environment. After all (although we do try to forget it), everything we do depends on the World of Nature. That article stresses that we need to be seeking "less," not "more." It tells us, in fact, that there is a "Simpler Way." You can click this link for a YouTube video.
That "Simpler Way"? It requires a radical change in how we configure the "Human World," the one we construct, a world completely dependent on the World of Nature.
According to that article, a radical change is needed. Are we up for it?
The jury is still out!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for your comment!