this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2023
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[–] zephyreks@lemmy.ml 26 points 1 year ago (2 children)

How can a society built on capital work towards the betterment of society rather than the accretion of capital?

[–] fiat_lux@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago

Exactly. If organisations (private, public and other) had to maximise for social betterment, they would release annual reports measuring it. There might even be entire industries dedicated to auditing measurements of social betterment.

But no, we're stuck using a system of 'value' based on the prestige of owning shiny rocks and control of the areas where those shiny rocks are found. And finding new uses for things and people that aren't the desired shiny rocks so that you may demand and acquire more shiny rocks as others in the same time duration.

If a majority of countries can successfully ditch the gold standard and allow fiat currency - as they did a century ago, that means the world is also able to redefine what fiat currencies measure. There's nothing actually stopping us from requiring social and environmental impact to be included in the calculation of financial valuations, except the people who have a vested interest in keeping the current equations.

[–] blindbunny@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Stop measuring people's networth. Start measuring their societal value.

[–] mrnotoriousman@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago

I agree with not measuring net worth but how are you planning on measuring individual societal value? That just sounds ripe for discrimination and elitism.