Many useful things are entirely made up. Concepts like justice, love, community, hierarchy, nationhood, borders, property, gender, etc. are all social constructs. They exist because we choose to make them exist. In the immortal words of Terry Pratchett, “Take the universe and grind it down to the finest powder and sieve it through the finest sieve and then show me one atom of justice, one molecule of mercy…” Social constructs are the “big lies” we create because we need them to make sense of the world, and ideally make it a better place. Money is just another social construct we created because it serves a useful function.
Yeah, there are definitely a lot of times where money is important as a measure of the logistical practicality, and I actually do respect those practicalities… but some days it feel like the world has been taken over by people more fixated on getting money than making the world better. At the very least, there are other social-constructs worth balancing against the financial considerations.
Totally agree. It’s always important to remember that these tools are means to an end, not an end in themselves, and to make sure we are designing the tool to serve useful and constructive ends. If the tool isn’t serving a beneficial purpose, it’s time to consider another tool, or possibly redesigning it. We invented the tool. We not only have the power, but also the responsibility to use it wisely, and to make it better when it’s not serving its purpose.
Many useful things are entirely made up. Concepts like justice, love, community, hierarchy, nationhood, borders, property, gender, etc. are all social constructs. They exist because we choose to make them exist. In the immortal words of Terry Pratchett, “Take the universe and grind it down to the finest powder and sieve it through the finest sieve and then show me one atom of justice, one molecule of mercy…” Social constructs are the “big lies” we create because we need them to make sense of the world, and ideally make it a better place. Money is just another social construct we created because it serves a useful function.
Love that quote.
Yeah, there are definitely a lot of times where money is important as a measure of the logistical practicality, and I actually do respect those practicalities… but some days it feel like the world has been taken over by people more fixated on getting money than making the world better. At the very least, there are other social-constructs worth balancing against the financial considerations.
Totally agree. It’s always important to remember that these tools are means to an end, not an end in themselves, and to make sure we are designing the tool to serve useful and constructive ends. If the tool isn’t serving a beneficial purpose, it’s time to consider another tool, or possibly redesigning it. We invented the tool. We not only have the power, but also the responsibility to use it wisely, and to make it better when it’s not serving its purpose.
Sir this is a meme group
He‘s literally describing how memes work.