Everything Has a Price

I promised that my last post on Rando Calrissian would be called “Everything Has a Price.” I figured I’d delve more into how the monetary innovation I created with The Currency Paradox could be intuitively used to create more precise pricing of goods and services but I’ve had a change of heart. That doesn’t mean that I think what I wrote in TCP was incorrect or flawed in some way; indeed, I’ve given others eight years to poke holes in it. Considering it has yet to be challenged as a premise, I think it’s safe to state that the idea is sound. Over the years, I’m sure I’ve built an argument substantial enough to have validated the concept. As I’ve stated before, I’m also sure it will be “rediscovered” by others at some point, more than likely without attribution. That tends to be the way of the world nowadays.

On this July 4, many people are celebrating the birthday of the United States of America. Truth is, I’m just not that optimistic about the future of this country or the world in general. By my estimates, the next five years are likely to be the lull before the storm. Part of me hopes I’m wrong but part of me thinks that change, even catastrophic change, may be the only thing that shakes Humanity out of its complacency. Despite all of the “optimistic” takes, the U.S. and the world is on a road to nowhere, convinced that the technological progress we’ve made foretells a future in which we as a species ultimately reach Utopia. Oddly enough, I think the same thing but for very different reasons.

Despite all of its substantial benefits, what technology has largely done is made Humans weak. It has allowed people, largely in the West to overestimate the level of control they have over the world and the planet. We’ve overthrown religion, family, community, and other social institutions for a new secular religion, one that deifies money, consumerism, unchecked emotion, and lack of responsibility and social fortitude. It’s been stated that “strong men create good times, good times create weak men, weak men create bad times, bad times create strong men”; I really appreciate the symmetry of that statement. It is profoundly true. And, no, that isn’t my opinion, it’s very much a fact. Don’t believe me? It’s not a coincidence that empires tend to fall just as they’ve reached their apex. Not a one yet has transitioned into a Utopia or even close to.

We live in a world dominated by the weak, those who lack circumspection, introspection, accountability, honesty, fortitude, perseverance, and, most importantly, wisdom. A world dominated by weakness is not one in which great things can stand. Notice that I did not state that great things could not be created, only that they could not stand. The simple reality is that the weak and cowardly are unfit to lead because leaders have to be willing to face all of the things that lesser men turn from. Yes, weak men, indeed weak people, are lesser people. Weakness is a foundation upon which greatness can’t be sustained. What is “great”? That which builds the most essential components of human existence, the things that make life worth living. Family, community, prosperity, dignity. Those are the pillars of the Human experience, the things we’ve sought for centuries even when we didn’t know we were seeking them. All of our progress, all of our technology, was not to build a world of ease or of consumers but to create a world in which our descendants had a better chance of not just surviving but thriving on this planet and, eventually, others. The past is the crucible meant to forge the future; the suffering of those in the past can only be justified by the creation of a world that honors their sacrifices. I still think Humanity will persevere. But it won’t be with the world we’ve created today. Today’s world is one of hubris and self-indulgence, a world that does not value either truth or Truth. We worship a tool called “money” and allow ourselves to be led by the least of us, the weakest of us, the most shallow and callous of us. They are people who view themselves as superior and the rest of us as cattle, creatures to be led, to the slaughter when necessary, but by the nose always. A “superior” group of thieves and cowards, people for whom expediency and deceit are their true currency. They don’t even hide themselves because the world has been so thoroughly programmed that its come to view even the most dysfunctional behavior as “normal.” The lesson of Judas has been lost, that a man loses his soul when he sells his integrity at the expense of his fellow man. We live in a world in which almost everyone’s soul is for sale and we relinquish what is priceless for thirty pieces of silver. Those who orchestrate those bargains know that the price is cheap while the reward is high. For a relatively low price, they’ve turned people into slaves, ones who actually think they are still free. Some would say that it’s “the greatest trick the Devil ever played.”

I expect the world to change very soon, mostly in very unpleasant ways. If I’m right, how would I want to spend these next relatively peaceful years? That’s pretty easy. With the people I love the most doing the things I love the most. I’ve noticed a desire to withdraw from Twitter and I’ve been away for a few days. I’m not gonna lie, there’s a part of me that despises the idea that any of the people whom I greatly dislike and/or greatly dislike me may comfort themselves with the idea that they somehow wore me down. My capacity for confrontation is infinite and I’d never give ground to cowards and weaklings. That’s simply not how I’m built. But, at this point, there really isn’t any more left for me to state and, considering none of them had the guts to confront me directly, they aren’t going to magically develop spines if I stay on the platform. They’ve already reconciled being cowards and that’s not going to change. I’d rather leave them in the asylum and focus on things that matter to me more at this point. Any mind that I was meant to change has already been changed.

Does that mean I’m gone for good? Maybe. Probably. But, as I stated when I ended The Currency Paradox blog, endings are essential. It’s necessary to end things in order to begin anew. I’ll continue to write but for different reasons. I did my thing, now it’s time to move on.

To anyone who despises me, don’t worry, the feeling is mutual. The difference between you and me is that I had the modicum of personal courage it took to call you out directly. I did it in a “safe space” so that you would have no excuse you could tell yourself when you couldn’t muster the spine to show even that much guts. You can tell yourself you didn’t want to “punch down” but we both already know that is just another lie to tell yourself. But that’s fine. In a few years, you’re going to realize that I was trying to do you a favor.

When the messenger is gone, the message will still remain. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.