💾 Archived View for jsreed5.org › log › 2022 › 202209 › 20220929-prosperity-and-responsibility.gmi captured on 2023-01-29 at 03:27:52. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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For a long time, I've had a feeling that the free markets of the first world have driven the price of goods artificially low. Unchecked resource extraction, hyper-streamlined supply chains, and just-in-time inventory models have left us in a situation where end-consumers can pay very low prices for products, but the paradigm only works if while resources are not exhausted and the system doesn't lose momentum.
We've long known that Earth's natural resources are finite, but the last two years have shown the danger of relying on the momentum of the system. The strain on our current supply chains have caused major shortages on all sorts of products. Inflation has skyrocketed as a result. Part of me wonders if this is a form of course correction after consuming our natural resources at such a high level in the last century.
If this is the way things should be moving, though, we face a dilemma. Our intense extraction of resources has been a large part of what has driven prosperity and poverty reduction since the 1800s. By "prosperity" here, I refer to better access to food, clean water, housing, and economic opportunities. The gap between the poor and the rich is growing at the moment, and human rights and freedoms are under some form of attack almost everywhere in the world. Is that the price to pay for better stewardship of the planet and less reliance on a fragile global economy?
Some people say this dilemma is a result of overpopulation. Others say all we need to do is try X political or economic policy, and that'll fix the problem. Others blame our state on a lack of trust and charity in modern society. Maybe all of these are true, or maybe none of them are. I can't tell. But I don't see any silver bullet to simultaneously increase prosperity among the disadvantaged and responsibly become self-sufficient and independent societies.
In the meantime, I suppose I can do my own part by simply trying to improve myself. I can get healthier and rely less on the medical industry to solve my problems. I can try to eat less and help ease the strain on our food supplies. I can use less electricity by picking up analog hobbies, like board games or hiking. And when I am online, I can use Gemini, Gopher and other low-impact information systems.
Still, I worry about the world sometimes.
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[Last updated: 2022-09-29]