Re: Annie Leonard’s brilliant work in the “The Story of Stuff“, and the hiding places where nature puts some of the missing stuff.
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Annie, Hi, great work, I’ve always admired it. I’m a natural systems scientist, and… there’s a whole LOT of “missing stuff”. Closely studying the mystery of how nature organizes things into “whole systems” has a secret power, that any one part can lead you to… layer upon layer of the missing stuff. We should have a lot to talk about, but catching your attention is a difficulty these days.
Most people assume that once they’ve found one answer to a question, that’s it, and there’s nothing else to look for. But oh no, that’s usually the beginning not the end. Like, people see 1 thing wrong with money and think fixing that fixes every thing that is wrong with money. Nope, you have to look at things from ALL sides to find ALL the gaping holes. Just patching up the first thing that comes into sight isn’t enough. After a stumble you may tie your scarf and in a hurry “look smart”, but not notice you’ve been sitting in mud!
One thing about money that gets left out by nearly everyone is checking to make sure you won’t still end up with a having ever multiplying ownership in a shrinking planet… That, of course, seems to be the main idea, and whole central purpose, for inventing money in the first place thousands of years ago, using lucre to multiply lucre. In that time we have invented thousands of different ways to do it.
What’s needed is a whole systems view to reign in and realign them all… For my approach might search [site:synapse9.com Keynes] since in talking about it I nearly always mention that one of the less known keen observations of Mr. Keynes was the defining trick for getting free markets to work without multiplying money.
Ultimately, though, the problem with pointing out the mistakes and problematic half steps people are taking, is that they are so used to having “fault finding” be abused, for showing disrespect, discrediting and assuming authority over other people (what else is politics now!!). Everyone tends to just run away from any sign that what they promote is connected to mistakes. Even when finding them is really the most positive discovery you could make on a dangerous mission, people often just back away.
For real truth seekers, when we’re so lucky, the discovery of error really just exposes new questions. Those eager to explore will find themselves taking the lead in finding the new answers too.
Jessie
related “missing stuff” posts: