## Summary ## Notes [[Overpopulation has made everyone person less special]] [[Money is an unfulfilling and abstract form of meaning and value]] [[Humans have become more isolated]] ## Highlights There are certainly problems with capitalism but the problems you are describing are not unique to capitalism. These problems arise out of industrial society combined with overpopulation. #### On seclusion Human beings evolved to live in small groups surrounded by nature. We would know every single person around us intimately. Many of them would be family. We would spend all day everyday surrounded by loved ones. We would spend our days hunting, fishing and foraging with friends and relatives. What was “work” to us then is something many of us now do in our “free time” for fun. And the “work” we did then was satisfying. We would directly see and appreciate the fruits of our labor. The way human beings live now is extremely unnatural. We spend all of our time inside. We are disconnected from nature. We are disconnected from each other. We have few close friends. We are surrounded by people everyday but almost all of them are strangers. If we are lucky we live with a spouse and some children. Our relatives often live far away and have separate lives. Same with our friends. We do not live intimately together in groups the way we once did. And if we are unlucky, as more and more of us are, we do not even have a spouse, we are completely alone. #### Abstraction of value We do meaningless work in order to earn invisible money of imaginary value that we can then use to buy food at the grocery store. We do not get to see the fruits of our labor. We do not feel like we are accomplishing anything of value. We are just a cog in the machine. #### On speciality In our ancient past everyone was useful, everyone was special. If you were a decent singer the entire tribe would gather to listen to your songs. If you were a decent story teller the entire tribe would gather to listen to your stories. If you were funny, the entire tribe would cherish your jokes. If you were wise, your tribesmen would come to you for advice. Nowadays almost no one is special, if you are a good singer you can find a million others who are much better on YouTube. Your friends and relatives would much rather stream music on Spotify than listen to you sing. If you are a decent story teller, who cares? You can’t possibly compete with Netflix. As individuals we have been made redundant. There are simply too many of us.