Are currency/monetary base economic systems coming to their logical end?
Are currency/monetary base economic systems coming to their logical end?
I get the history as to why we got to our current economic situations, but no one is arguing for a system that casts off current economic issues that are pushing humanity towards destruction. I'm not saying this can happen over night or even within our current life time, but it's obvious that capitalism and even socialism has reached the end of their usefulness.
The idea that social structures have a "logical end" is pure hubris and have no basis on reality.
no
It really is the most efficient way to manage and trade scarce resources. Going back to a barter system wouldn't be possible with the size and scope of a global economy.
The title and question are different, what exactly are you asking? I don't see currency as a concept ever going away.
Their usefulness to whom
Humans are not known for solving problems on time
Not until we reach a post-scarcity society.
We're already there. The only thing preventing it is tribalism and the world oligarchs. We have the knowledge and capabilities, just not the willingness.
I'm not sure you know what post scarcity means.
Imagine a world where nobody needs to work, but everyone can still have any material desire filled at any time.
Think Star Trek. Unlimited energy resources, combined with replicators which use that endless energy to create unlimited stuff without any labor required.
Hohoho we are very far from post scarcity. Read any newspaper.
Capitalism is fine, we just need to tweak regulations for it to better incentivize the result we (humanity) are looking for.
I wish I had your confidence that capitalism can be tweaked into a fair system.
I honestly think the logical end point to capitalism is self-destructive extreme wealth disparity.
It works in cycles.
The last Guilded Age (think Roaring 20s) ended with the great depression. Which then triggered the creation of all the great economic policies the boomers enjoyed as children, which they've been dismantling since the 70s.
Once things get bad enough, (very nearly there now) the cycle will repeat.
No.
First we need a better system for resource allocation. Monetary systems are extremely inefficient, but they're far better than the "trust me, bro" approach of many of the alternatives.
A global post-scarcity society could in theory take over, similar to how it works in Star Trek, but there are a lot of other hurdles that need to be overcome first.
As long as proper distribution of resources requires an effort, it will also need an incentive to do so. Currently this incentive is provided by allowing for a profit margin, and while this does also provide a mechanism for skimming off the top, at least said skimming can be somewhat controlled by a free market ensuring better circumstances for those willing to skim less.
I'm quite curious to know what you mean by 'usefulness' in this context?
No. The concept of money is millenia old and likely too useful to discard. What MIGHT change is how that money is implemented. Wouldn’t be the first time either.
It’s pretty hard to imagine a way for groups of people with varying goals and interests to operate without some form of value exchange. This can either be barter, or some form of currency. Our specific kind of extractive capitalism based on creating endless cycles of debt and credit can certainly be replaced with any number of alternatives, but the idea of money itself is just too basic and useful to humans, imo.
As much as in the 70's when folks said the same or the 40's or at the turn of the century.