As I’m getting older I’m increasingly realizing the extent of how fucked up the world is. I mean, how can the number one disease in America be obesity when half of the world is dying of starvation?
Should you spend your life as a volunteer in Africa helping a few or should you use Capitalism (scaling other people’s hard work) to build something big, like Microsoft, then start a fund to help people in Africa, like Bill Gates? Can you make more an impact that way because you’ve got more money?
At the root of the problems seems to be capitalism – supply and demand- keep half of the world starving so that the other half can live beyond their means. I’m a culprit too, why would I not reward myself with those gorgeous leather £200 boots when I’ve worked bloody hard to be able to afford them? It’s my money, I’ve made It, why should I sacrifice any of it? It’s easier to ignore the rest of the world and life in London is hard enough, Isn’t it?
So then I was thinking about another economic model that could work? Socialism has been tried, tested and failed- the problem is humans are inherently greedy and as soon as people get in a position of power they abuse it and corruption comes into play- Do you really think we live in a democracy?
But then I was thinking it’s human nature to be greedy – Right from the word go we fight for survival, the fastest sperm wins the egg. You have to fight your brothers and sisters at the dinner table for the biggest egg, fight off your colleagues for that promotion, fight off the other parents to send your child to the good school.
And then I got confused so I thought I’d share it on Twitter and wrote:
“Just a thought:aren’t we born into a capitalist society?I mean isn’t the sperm’s race to the egg hard nose capitalism?Work hard get reward?”
Kicking off a whole conversation on Twitter, Here are some of my favorite musings:
@hermioneway capitalism isn’t about hard work. You can’t scale hard work.
@hermioneway Nah, millions of sperms working to achieve a single goal with no overall owner is clearly communist.
@hermioneway Capitalism today is the losing sperm gets a bailout from the central bank.
@Alfie @robertloch: @hermioneway actually it is, but about other people’s hard work. the west has been scaling that for centuries.
@hermioneway no sperm starts out with £3m from his daddy, which DOES happen in a capitalist society. What about the egg?
@hermioneway that’s not capitalism that’s strongest/fittest survive … Darwinism 
Then i Tweeted: “Capitalism makes the world so unfair- is there any other model that could work? Humans are too greedy no?!: ”
@hermioneway Grass roots capitalism is the way out of poverty. Conscious capiltalism is the way forward. All resources are precious.
@hermioneway Indeed we are greedy, which sucks -but Sir David Attenborough has taught that other creatures are too. Hopefully we can change?
@hermioneway Social market economy http://bit.ly/7mKVom Has it’s problems too (see Europe) .. all systems can be broken by ‘people’!
@hermioneway Capitalism can be fair if the people at the top help the people at the bottom – entrepreneurs must put something back & pay tax
@hermioneway Free exchange of goods, services & ideas is the best system there is. Money puts food on the table. Ergo, capitalism.
@hermioneway capitalism takes advantage of the difference in social classes, but no other works in the materialistic society we live in atm
@hermioneway yes, charge an item’s true value and pay the workers fairer wages. Means your MacBook would cost tripple.
@hermioneway “Democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried” – Winston Churchill
@hermioneway yes but all sperms start off equal, none are given a head start by their background! Plus, I say they r all proletarian sperms.
So what do you think? It even worth having this conversation? What difference will it make? I’m gonna go buy a skinny latte and ponder.
Tangentially-related, one piece of advice I was given by one notable entrepeneur: “Do well, then do good”.
At least in a capitalist society we are given a large amount of freedom. We pretty much live in a free world. Free to give a fuck about the poor in Africa and free to help them if we want to. We are brought into a world with contradictions and dilemmas (as you mention) and it is up to us to choose what to do about it.
How we spend our time and money is one of the biggest questions that as a grown up sperm, we have to encounter.
I’m a personal believer that we only need a certain amount of money to be happy. Happiness should be the aim, not a massive amount of monetary wealth.
Though, in business you can make more money with money. Thus, the likes of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet won’t give all their money away until they are gone as it will have more impact.
Problems exist in our society now though, and you may as well live to see the changes. Next 100 years will decide the fate of the environment etc.
“Socialism has been tried, tested and failed”
France and Sweden are quite successful. Cuba has a far better healthcare system than the US.
The US model – greed, and borrowing to supply that greed – is not sustainable. And obsession with wealth acquisition leads to a decline in mental health:
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/01/us-may-have-a-long-term-increase-in-psychological-illness.ars
I went to a talk last year and you were advertised as one of the attendees. So I googled for your name and found a youtube interview. During the interview you said something like, “I’m always thinking about making money”. It was one of the depressing things I had ever heard.