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Hi! My name is Anne. Welcome to my traveling blog! Read the latest stories below or check out the list of previous stories in the blog archive on the right!

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Alan Watts - Money, Guilt and the Machine

So a while ago I came across a speech by Alan Watts called 'Money, Guilt and the Machine', and while usually I skip past these very long talks there was something to Mr. Watts way of speaking that was very appealing: a serious and very deep topic explored without any jargon, and laced with a bit of humour.
The topic he spoke about is one about how we view money, the outdatedness of our current implementation of money (value based on gold of which there is a finite amount, while goods and services are ever increasing), and the idea that we as humanity have of how we have to earn that money.

What he suggests at the end of the video is a very interesting idea: money no longer being based on gold, but on the amount of goods, meaning there won't ever be inflation or deflation, and no longer having a need for taxation. In fact, it would become the other way around: people would get a basic income as a human right, a kind of welfare check without any of the obligations and requirements we currently face.
Our industry would become automated, meaning a huge decrease in 'dumb labour', giving us more time for ourselves and our families, and time to pursue our dreams and wishes. The machine would essentially pay for itself, and by giving the people a basic income we maintain a healthy economy.
This is a very rudimentary explanation of what the video is about and I highly recommend watching it for a much, much better explanation. The ideas he puts to us are highly idealistic, but I feel that they are not unattainable. I believe that humanity can make it work, though it will have to be a world-wide decision which is not likely to happen any time soon (when have humans across the world ever agreed on something? :P), but what a wonderful world it could be...

The video I found had a very busy background that was very distracting to me, so I got a hold of the soundfile and added a more relaxing, easier on the eyes image to it. In addition I translated the English subtitles the video had into Dutch, keeping English as an option. If you've got 30 minutes or so to spare, I highly recommend watching it.
It starts off a bit slow with some religious undertones. This is the part where he introduces our concepts of guilt, and you'll need to listen to this as well to fully understand the actual message that comes later on.