As a society, we get off-track when we lose sight of REALITY. For example, over the last couple of decades, a large percentage of those who achieved the best scores in college took jobs in money management. Arguably, a money manager doesn't DO anything real. They do not invent, produce, or distribute goods. They don't provide a service other than to manipulate money. Since money is an artificial construct (albeit a necessary one) this allowed a disproportionate concentration of talent to be used in a non-real endeveaor. The results of this are now quite plain.
When it becomes more "economical" to waste than to conserve, when it makes "sense" to sacrifice the future for expediency in the present, when we accept damaging and illogical ideas as a result of an emphasis on non-reality based constructs, we doom ourselves to failure as a society and as a species.
On Jun 2, 2009 Patsy wrote :
I must agree with Frank; but, here is a thought:
As a society, we get off-track when we lose sight of REALITY. For example, over the last couple of decades, a large percentage of those who achieved the best scores in college took jobs in money management. Arguably, a money manager doesn't DO anything real. They do not invent, produce, or distribute goods. They don't provide a service other than to manipulate money. Since money is an artificial construct (albeit a necessary one) this allowed a disproportionate concentration of talent to be used in a non-real endeveaor. The results of this are now quite plain.
When it becomes more "economical" to waste than to conserve, when it makes "sense" to sacrifice the future for expediency in the present, when we accept damaging and illogical ideas as a result of an emphasis on non-reality based constructs, we doom ourselves to failure as a society and as a species.