Transcending False Dilemmas with Living Income Guaranteed – Part 4 – Abundance of choice vs Sustainability

This post is a continuation to the blog-posts:

Transcending False Dilemmas with Living Income Guaranteed – Part 1
Transcending False Dilemmas with Living Income Guaranteed – Part 2 – Sustainability vs Full Employment
Transcending False Dilemmas with Living Income Guaranteed – Part 3 – Tools of Intervention

Please read them first for context.

Example 4

‘We’ve created a society with an abundance of choices and so freedom to choose. Producing so many varieties of the same product places pressure on the environment, but reducing it would mean to give up the freedom we’ve gained.’

We all like to have options and choices – being able to ‘choose for ourselves’ which product we buy – the one that suits our needs just a little better, the one that has the specific features we are looking for. When we are not satisfied with a particular service, we like knowing that there are alternative providers of the same service and that we are not stuck with the only service provider.

Choices and options give u a sense of freedom, a sense of self-determination. So, it would seem that the more options we have available to choose from, the more freedom we have, the happier we are. And so, it would also seem that with the amount of choices we enjoy in our western consumerist lifestyle, we must have reached a state of absolute freedom. But have we?

Barry Schwartz did an excellent TED Talk presentation about this very topic and I will quote some of the key points he brought up as a quick summary – for the full presentation, click here.

“The official dogma runs like this: if we are interested in maximizing the welfare of our citizens, the way to do that is to maximize individual freedom. The reason for this is both that freedom is in and of itself good, valuable, worthwhile, essential to being human. And because if people have freedom, then each of us can act on our own to do the things that will maximize our welfare, and no one has to decide on our behalf. The way to maximize freedom is to maximize choice. The more choice people have, the more freedom they have, and the more freedom they have, the more welfare they have. This, I think, is so deeply embedded in the water supply that it wouldn't occur to anyone to question it.”

“We all know what's good about it, so I'm going to talk about what's bad about it. All of this choice has two effects, two negative effects on people.”

“One effect, paradoxically, is that it produces paralysis, rather than liberation. With so many options to choose from, people find it very difficult to choose at all.”

“The second effect is that even if we manage to overcome the paralysis and make a choice, we end up less satisfied with the result of the choice than we would be if we had fewer options to choose from. And there are several reasons for this. One of them is that with a lot of different salad dressings to choose from, if you buy one, and it's not perfect […] it's easy to imagine that you could have made a different choice that would have been better. And what happens is this imagined alternative induces you to regret the decision you made, and this regret subtracts from the satisfaction you get out of the decision you made, even if it was a good decision. The more options there are, the easier it is to regret anything at all that is disappointing about the option that you chose.

Second, what economists call "opportunity costs." Dan Gilbert made a big point this morning of talking about how much the way in which we value things depends on what we compare them to. Well, when there are lots of alternatives to consider, it is easy to imagine the attractive features of alternatives that you reject, that make you less satisfied with the alternative that you've chosen.”

“Opportunity costs subtract from the satisfaction we get out of what we choose, even when what we choose is terrific. And the more options there are to consider, the more attractive features of these options are going to be reflected by us as opportunity costs.”

“Third: escalation of expectations. This hit me when I went to replace my jeans. I wear jeans almost all the time. And there was a time when jeans came in one flavor, and you bought them, and they fit like crap, and they were incredibly uncomfortable, and if you wore them long enough and washed them enough times, they started to feel OK. So I went to replace my jeans after years and years of wearing these old ones, and I said, you know, "I want a pair of jeans. Here's my size." And the shopkeeper said, "Do you want slim fit, easy fit, relaxed fit? You want button fly or zipper fly? You want stonewashed or acid-washed? Do you want them distressed? You want boot cut, you want tapered, blah blah blah ..." On and on he went. My jaw dropped, and after I recovered, I said, "I want the kind that used to be the only kind.
He had no idea what that was, so I spent an hour trying on all these damn jeans, and I walked out of the store -- truth! -- with the best-fitting jeans I had ever had. I did better. All this choice made it possible for me to do better. But I felt worse. Why? I wrote a whole book to try to explain this to myself.  The reason I felt worse is that, with all of these options available, my expectations about how good a pair of jeans should be went up. I had very low -- I had no particular expectations when they only came in one flavor. When they came in 100 flavors, damn it, one of them should've been perfect. And what I got was good, but it wasn't perfect. And so I compared what I got to what I expected, and what I got was disappointing in comparison to what I expected. Adding options to people's lives can't help but increase the expectations people have about how good those options will be. And what that's going to produce is less satisfaction with results, even when they're good results.”

“Finally, one consequence of buying a bad-fitting pair of jeans when there is only one kind to buy is that when you are dissatisfied, and you ask why, who's responsible, the answer is clear: the world is responsible. What could you do? When there are hundreds of different styles of jeans available, and you buy one that is disappointing, and you ask why, who's responsible? It is equally clear that the answer to the question is you. You could have done better. With a hundred different kinds of jeans on display, there is no excuse for failure. And so when people make decisions, and even though the results of the decisions are good, they feel disappointed about them; they blame themselves.
Clinical depression has exploded in the industrial world in the last generation. I believe a significant -- not the only, but a significant -- contributor to this explosion of depression, and also suicide, is that people have experiences that are disappointing because their standards are so high, and then when they have to explain these experiences to themselves, they think they're at fault.”

As with so many things in life, when we see something as beneficial, we have the tendency of overdoing it and pulling it to the extreme only to realize how that creates other adverse effects and we have to reign ourselves in a again. Sleep is good – it is a vital part of life and required for the body to rejuvenate – but sleep too much and you’re just wasting time. Chocolate is good, it is one of those substances that can give great pleasure – but eat too much of it and your face will be plagued with zits. With all such things – the key is to add the magic words ‘in moderation’: Sleep is good… in moderation. Chocolate is good… in moderation. Having choices is good… in moderation.

So, looking again at the original statement that we have to choose between either freedom through an abundance of choices – and sustainability in refraining from utilizing resources that no one actually needs – we can now clearly see that this is a very ‘black and white’ representation of the story, leaving out important considerations. In understanding that yes, some choice is better than no choice, but too much choice is worse than some choice – we are able to pursue both freedom and sustainability –they are not mutually exclusive.

To this end, we suggest in the Living Income Proposal that before new products and services are produced and made available on the market, it must first be proven that there exists an actual genuine demand for it: that it is something people are asking for – and not merely the same product or service of which there already exists a multitude of options to choose from, only to then create the demand through marketing and advertisement.

Read More

Day 104: We have to Protect our Freedom!

The following paragraph is taken from the blog-post 'Day 102: Liberalism':

"Within liberalism it is believed that the individual can only “realise their potential” within being ‘free’. All individuals ought to enjoy equal freedom and within this is implied that people are only free to the extent that their freedom does not infringe that of others. Liberalism also likes to emphasizes freedom in the light of private matters and freedom as the absence of state interference. State intervention is often interpreted as undermining the individual’s liberty, which is why liberals are pro capitalism and proponents of free market economies."

The principle of individual freedom is used time and time again to prevent a way of organising society in a way that places the group above the individual.

So - we take a moment here to look at the question: what are these individual freedoms that are so important to be defended?

Apparently we are all immensely free and any proposition to focus our efforts towards the common good instead of individual pursuits of happiness would infringe on these freedoms. So, I took a moment to look at a human being's life and started wondering what all these freedoms are that people keep talking about.

Looking at a human being's life today, there really isn't that much people can 'choose' for themselves. You cannot choose to go to school, this is usually mandatory, you cannot choose to go to work, you have to go to work to make money. So - in terms of the basic structure of your life-path, it has already been laid out before us and there's nothing much you can do to change that at all.

So, what we can do is 'fill in the colours' - we can choose what we study. However, this choice is not exactly 'free' in the absolute extent, because what we study is often determined by intelligence, by money available by the parents or support structure and by the prospect of how much money you'll be able to make with a job once you've completed these studies.

We can also not exactly choose what job we want to do, because it depends on whether there are any vacancies available and if you can 'compete' with other people out for the same position.

So, what is left then? We can choose who we spend our life with, but even this is often determined by the need for financial security, where marriages often happen for money and not for 'love'.

Then, what does choice come down to?

To what we wear? Come on! What you wear is firstly determined by the size and shape of your body, by what is available in the stores, by what you can afford, by what is seen as acceptable in your social group of friends. And that's not even considering the limitations imposed by regulations that would deem certain ways of clothing to be offensive or 'too provoking'.

What brands we buy, maybe that's where our freedom lies. But what brands we buy is again influenced by our social environment and most of all by advertisements - where companies continuously brainwash us to think and believe that their brand is the best and buying their brand would make us happy. When we act on this brainwashing, is this the freedom that is spoken about?

Maybe our freedom is in what we do with our 'free time', like what hobbies and activities we partake in. But what we can do with our free time is again determined by the money we have available, what are talents and skills are.

Freedom could be picking out the next holiday-destination - but then again, can you really speak about freedom when you're talking about one or two weeks in a year where you are able to leave your home while the rest of the year you're forced to work?

Or maybe you mean that freedom is the ability to go vote once every so many years to choose the people to represent you in politics - but I mean, really - you only vote once every so many years and beyond that, you have no say.

I'm just trying to figure this out, you know - what everyone keeps talking about.

Let's take an Equal Money System as an example. You'll still be going through education and herein have a say in what you enjoy studying. You'll still work, although will only require to work for about 4 years and after that, it's up to you if you want to contribute or not. Your clothing will still be determined by what is available, except you'll have time to play with making your own clothes and be creative within it. You'll have a massive amount of free time where you can really dedicate time to what you enjoy doing, to developing skills and interests. You'll be able to decide who you live with and this time money won't even be a constricting factor. In terms of politics, you'll be involved in all decision-making, not just once every so many years. So - looking at all the freedoms we're so afraid of losing - you won't lose any in an economic system that is focused on the well-being of the group - you'll only gain more.

So, someone please explain to me what these important freedoms are we apparently stand to lose, because I'm just not seeing it!

Related articles

• Day 102: Liberalism
• Day 143: Free Stuff! And True Activism
• Day 137: FREE Choice and True Activism
• Day 142: Money and True Activism
• Day 122: TRUE ACTIVIST COLLEGE EDUCATION

Read More

Day 87: Competition and Efficiency

This is a continuation to Day 81: The Role of Government in the Economy

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to believe that ‘competition’ is the key to a well-functioning economy

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to believe that ‘competition’ is the key innovation and creativity

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that within the design of competition there are always losers and winners – where from a group, only ‘one’ can make it and be successful where the remaining others of the group perish and lose everything within the competition race

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to believe that competition is ‘efficient’ – where competition will allow only ‘the best’ to make it, and those are ‘not good enough’ to lose – and so ‘naturally’ allow ‘the best’ to prevail – without seeing and realising that currently within this world competition is an unfair game, as ‘who is the best’ is defined and dependent on how many resources one has available – where those with the most funds will win the game as they will be more able to support themselves in developing well-functioning goods/services – and so it is not a matter of ‘weeding out the competition’ as ‘those who aren’t good enough’ – but merely a selective process of ‘survival of the fittest’ as ‘survival of those with the most money’ – and so, the whole race/game wasn’t really a competition from the beginning, as the outcome was already pre-determined where he who has the most resource will be the Winner – and as such I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that competition within the economy and business environment is actually inefficient – as there can only be one winner (or at least very few), and where the rest spend their time and money investing in the *hope* that they might also win, while it is already pre-determined who will win and lose – and as such, there is not point to get everyone involved in a ‘race for the best’ – as we already know who’s going to win and dominate the market, as the one with the most money – and so there’s no point for all those other people to waste their time and money as they are not going to make it anyway, and as such competition is really just a waste of time and money for many – where we try to create the illusion that ‘everyone has an equal opportunity’ but where ‘only the best will make it’ – while there is no such thing currently as ‘equal opportunity’ as opportunity is linked to money and money is currently not equal

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that since the one with the most money will be most effective at creating / producing / innovating – we might as well assign the task of production to a singular firm and provide this firm with the resources/funds to make the best out of it – where people within a firm produce and create goods/services for the sake of perfection, creating the best product possible – and not for the sake of competition of ‘wanting to be the best’ from the starting point of ‘dominating the market’ and reaping massive profits – while others lose everything within the competition game where ‘Winner takes All’

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to believe that efficiency and productivity can only take place within a ‘competitive environment’ – and within that I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that an environment of cooperation can be way more efficient – where our own human physical bodies are proof of this, as our human physical bodies are the most energy efficient machines in existence and are incomparable to any manmade machine – where our human physical body does not depend on competition, but one close cooperation where each part, each organ, each cell does its part and does this to the best of their ability – and where all cells receive equal amount of resources, if competition and the unequal distribution of resources would take place – our whole body will soon collapse as each part is dependent on each other’s cooperation – which is exactly what is happening to Earth as a Body – where we are not supplying equal amount of resources to all the parts of the body causing poverty, starvation, pollution – where even though the rich may momentarily be “well-off” – once the balance has gone out too far – they too will perish with the rest of us, as there will be no-one left to slave away their lives and supply them with the resources they want/need

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to believe that government and economy should be separated – without seeing and realising that in a world where the government is supposed to represent and serve the people – and where money is the main point controlling people’s lives – that you cannot do one without the other – and so the economy and government within serving to the people from the starting point of What is Best for All should not be separated but be One and cooperate / act as a single entity within ensuring that everyone’s needs are taken care of and where nobody has to be a loser for the illusion of competition as apparent “efficiency"

Read More

Day 44: Homo Economicus & The Invisible Hand - Part 2

 See Day 43: Homo Economicus & The Invisible Hand for Context

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to have defined 'rationality' as the ability of only behaving and acting within a way which maximizes personal utility within self-interest

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to ever question the definition of 'rationality' within the context of the human and the role of the human within the economic system -- as I have never accepted and allowed myself to question my own self-interest and whether serving and pursuing this self-interest is in fact of any value and worthwhile pursuing within the context of what is Best for All

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to define and characterize the human as being a 'rational' being -- where I have accepted and allowed myself to believe that this 'rationality' gives the human as a being a higher status than for instance animals -- and within that I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that everything is in reverse -- where the animal is in fact superior to the human for being able to consider others besides oneself, but where we've accepted and allowed ourselves to see 'caring about others' as weak and standing in the way of survival -- so we rather put up a tough front and present ourselves all 'rational' as if this rationality has any value, while it doesn't -- as this type of rationality as self-centered behaviour only accentuates how limited we've accepted and allowed ourselves to be and become, where we've become these 'one-track-minded' beings who only care about their own self-interest and do not care about the consequences which result from pursuing one's self interest -- and believe that there is no way that we can all work together

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to believe that the human is special in comparison to other Life Forms on Earth such as animals and plants -- and since I believe myself as a human to be special, our self-centered, egotistical, selfish behaviour must be special -- and thus this self-interested tendency ought to be cherished and used as a guideline for how things are done in this world, since I have accepted and allowed  myself to believe that I am a human and the Universe revolves around me, and everything which exists is here for me to use as I please within my Pursuit of Happiness -- and thus I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to stand still for a moment and look/investigate how my actions within pursuing my goal as satisfying my self interest is harming/affecting others, as I have accepted and allowed myself to have been blinded by the light of my own perceived specialness

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to believe that us humans are perfect just the way we are -- God created us this way, so we must be perfect, so we must act upon our nature -- and within that I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to take human nature for granted -- where I have never ever accepted and allowed myself to really look at what it is we as humans exist as and how our nature affects the Entire Earth -- as otherwise I would have seen that this nature is in fact nasty, as it only cares about itself and nothing and no-one else

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to look beyond my preconceived ideas about what it is 'to be human' where I took our very nature as self-interested beings completely for granted, and used it without questioning as the measuring stick for everything and everyone in this world -- where everything has been assigned value according to our wants, needs and desires within self-interest within the belief that we are the center of the Universe and that we are perfect by default

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that the world and the state it currently exists within and as, would not have been brought about by 'perfect' beings -- and so, it must be that we are imperfect beings -- who require to correct and change themselves to a form of perfection as Responsibility towards all Life -- so we can sort out the mess we've created in our Delusion of self Grandeur

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed the definition/characterization of the human as inherently self-interested

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that we as humans do not have to live by this characterization -- but that we can change our nature to whatever it is we want it to be, and thus it would make the most sense to change our nature to What is Best for All -- as this would be starting point/principle which will bring about the best possible version of this reality, where no-one has to suffer and where all are taken care of equally!

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to not question the nature of the human, and instead use this nature as the starting point for our economic system -- where all systems and structures are built around this one point: people will do what will serve them and only them best -- and where incentives as manipulation are put into place to direct the activity of humans towards what the Leaders within this world think is best -- but now, these Leaders are also just self-interested selfish beings, so obviously they are going to put structures and incentives in place which will serve them best! And so the illusion of choice is created where apparently the ordinary man on the street has a 'choice' in what he/she can do -- and where he/she will always opt for what suits him/herself best -- without seeing and realising that this is not real Free Choice as the options which had been made available, were carefully selected by the Leaders and presented in such a way that you will do what you think is best for you, but only within that limited window of choice which had been demarcated for you, so it is not really what is best or what you want , but only that which was best within that moment within the options available, the options which were made available to you -- and is thus in fact very limited, and where these choices will always end up serving the interest of the leaders while giving you the illusion that you are also serving your own self-interest, and can have the experience of being a 'winner'-- without seeing or realising what actually goes on in terms of the bigger picture/game at play -- but we won't care and so we won't see because we believed we got ourselves 'the best deal'

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to see and realise, that the current economic system clearly confirms that the human is but an organic robot -- and if you push the right buttons / provide the right input / incentives -- they will do exactly that which you want them to do

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that the Invisible Hand theory is flawed, as one's self-interest can only bring about a world that's Best for All if everyone has the same point of self-interest and where we all agree on this One point as what matters is that which is Best for All -- but we don't agree on this and only care about our own self-interest and what we think is RIGHT, and everyone else is WRONG and I'm not going to cooperate with anyone who has a different view on things than me, because I am right and I am better, they are wrong, they are less -- why should I care about them and their wellbeing?!

I forgive myself that I haven't accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that the Invisible Hand theory can only work if everyone gets the fuck out of their egos and agrees on what really matters as the physical dimension of this reality which we all share and are bound by -- within the realisation that we only have this one Home as Earth which we all share, and if we share Earth unequally everyone is going to be affected in a way that's not Best for All -- so we should share the Earth in a responsible way where none are left out and all are taken care of because we want to be taken care of and so we shouldn't create a world where others are in positions which we would not want to be in -- where there are currently MORE positions within the world that we DON'T want to live than there are positions that we DO want to live -- which clearly indicates that we have a lot of work ahead of us to sort out this Mess we've created so we can all live a Life which everyone can enjoy

Read More

Day 42: What is Economics – Part 3

I commit myself to debunk all beliefs about economics as what people “think” it is about and what it is – so we can get on a common ground and develop an Economic System which is Best for All Life

I commit myself to show that economics is not just about ‘capitalism’ but about certain questions and choices we as a society have to make in relation to resources, their distribution and the principle which guides the direction of resources – where currently we have opted for an economic system of inequality which distributes according to money and human wants instead of an economic system of equality which distributes according to Life as the only Real Value

I commit myself to expose how our current definition of economics is unacceptable – and that it requires to be re-aligned / re-defined according to what is Best for All – and not just what’s Best for a Few

I commit myself to expose the Human Nature for what it is, which is reflected within the Nature of the Economic System which values wants and desires over Life – preferring unsustainability over sustainability at the cost of half the population in terms of Humans – and countless animal and plant lives

I commit myself to show that economics is not merely an ‘objective science’ but a value system which we decided upon which drives the money circulation within this world – and since it is based merely on values – we can decide what these values are and change them so they are aligned to the Principle of what is Best for All

I commit myself to show that our current economic system is unsustainable and will inevitably come to its end – the only question which remains is whether we will end it before it ends us

I commit myself to show that all the suffering in the world brought about through economics directly or indirectly is in fact deliberate – as the starting point as the definition of economics is specific within what is being valued – and since we currently do not value Life, this is reflected within our economic system which leads to millions suffering in the name of Desire

I commit myself to expose that the suffering as poverty and starvation within this world did not come about because of a lack in physical resources – but a lack in the will of Humans to take care of one another as Humans

I commit myself to the redefinition of economics where economics is about the practical consideration in terms of how many resources are available, and how many beings need to be taken care of – and distribute them accordingly within the principle of what is Best for All – where Needs are prioritized over Wants

I commit myself to an Equal Money system which is the Embodiment of What is Best for All Life as Living Principle in Application – where no-one will Suffer or Starve in a World of Plenty

Read More