There is understandably a lot of excitement around cryptocurrency at the moment and its potential to transform the financial world. Most of the content on the subject however, seems to be focused on how to benefit from this at an individual level, rather than how it will impact us as a national or global society.
On the face of things, from somebody with a very average knowledge of the subject, cryptocurrency seems to be a lot more streamlined way running a financial system, limiting the possibility of fraud and making exchange relatively easy and fast. These are surely positive things that we should all welcome, however I can’t help feeling that it’s all a little hollow as far as substance goes.
I find that it is important to ask ourselves whether what we are doing is actually making us happy or not. Obviously we all need a certain amount of money to survive, but whether this is paper money or cryptocurrency doesn’t make much difference to me. People seem to get stuck in the thrill of the chase for money and the “power” that can come with it. But if you look at the rich people in the world, they seem to be no happier really than the rest of us. They have all the possessions and status and time in which to enjoy themselves, but we see them all to often in rehab or going through numerous divorces or, as we see currently in Hollywood, involved in criminal activity.
This got me thinking about what money actually is and why we have it. Money first became popular as it was something you could exchange for goods; if you didn’t have anything the other person wanted, you could give them coins that had a value that everyone agreed on, which they could then exchange for something they wanted from someone else. All very neat and a useful new tool.
Useful in a world where resources and material wealth were fairly scarce, and protecting what you had was of a high priority for everyone, where the mantra was still very much one of “survival of the fittest”. But if we look at the world we live in today, we have pretty much solved all of the technological and logistical problems of the past, and as a whole; for example we produce twice the amount of food we need each year to feed everyone on earth, yet millions of people still go without enough.
In short, we have the ability as a global population to feed and clothe and house and keep warm everybody on earth with room to spare, yet we don’t, mainly because we all feel tied to an unfair, unrepresentative financial system that rewards those who have the most zeros in their back account, rather than those who are the most in need.
Therefore, I feel that it is not the financial system that first has to change, but ourselves, at a deep and fundamental level. We need to see that the system that we have is not fundamental, but is just a creation of our own making, that we can adapt in any way we wish.
So although cryptocurrency is certainly a change from the traditional system, it is not any real great leap forward in my view, as it is still going to have the same, dog-eat-dog attitude fuelling it.
We need to all realise that “survival of the fittest” is an outdated concept for humans in the modern world, and that adapting to our current environment is the best way for us to survive as a race. Our current environment of living in a world where nuclear weapons are only going to become increasingly available, and therefore competition between nations or ideologies or religions is only going to lead to annihilation on a grand scale. In such a world, competition and rivalry is not going to be sustainable, whether that is in war or with money.
When enough of us realise this, then money will simply become an unnecessary inconvenience, as we will have no enemies, nobody to protect ourselves from and sharing and caring will be everybody’s “default” setting.
So cryptocurrency, or sportscar, or beautiful wife - none of it will come close to equaling the utopia we can create when all of the selfishness and fear is let go from our souls.
Best Wishes
Jack