Hey everyone, I'm currently reading a very interesting book called, Sapiens A Brief History of Humankind, by Yuval Noah Harari. I am currently about 3/4 finished and I just read an interesting chapter about "Capitalism." In this post I will share a small bit to give you an idea of this book...
"Capitalism distinguishes 'capital' from mere wealth. Capital consists of money, goods and resources that are invested in production. Wealth, on the other hand, is buried in the ground or wasted on unproductive activities. A pharaoh who pours all of his resources into a non-productive pyramid is not a capitalist. A pirate who loots another ship and buries the treasure on a Caribbean Island is not a capitalist. But a hard-working factory hand who reinvests part of his income in the stock market is.
Capitalism began a theory about how the economy functions. It was both descriptive and prescriptive- it offered an account of how money worked and promoted the idea that reinvesting profits in production leads to fast economic growth. Capitalism now encompasses an ethic- a set of teachings about how people should behave, educate their children and even think. Economic growth is the supreme good, or at least a proxy for the supreme good, because justice, freedom, and even happiness all depend on economic growth. The way to bring justice and political freedom to a country in need, according to a capitalist, is to have economic affluence and a thriving middle class that are essential for stable democratic institutions, and have strong values of free enterprise, thrift, and self-reliance.
The history of capitalism is unintelligible without taking science into account. The human economy has continued to grow due to the fact that scientists come up with another discovery or gadget every few years. Banks and governments print money, but ultimately, it is the scientists who foot the bill. Over the last few years, banks and governments have been frenziedly printing money. Everyone is terrified that the current economic crisis may stop the growth of the economy. So trillions of dollars, euros, and yen are created out of thin air, pumping cheap credit into the system, and hoping that scientists, technicians, and engineers will manage to come up with something really big, before the bubble bursts. New discoveries in fields such as biotechnology and nanotechnology could create new industries, whose profits could back the trillions of make-believe money that the banks and governments have created since 2008. If the labs do not fulfill these expectations before the bubble bursts, we are heading toward very rough times."
Well there you have it. The last paragraph made me think of the crypto world. Blockchain technology that could lead to new industries, way of life, currencies, and the next generation of the Internet as we know it. You can see lots of investors throwing in their money today into the next big crypto in hopes that it will develop a new breakthrough in technology as we know it, and they will be rewarded handsomely via large profits if it comes to fruition. Conversely, if it fails, there will be many people hurt and rough times will follow.
I hope you enjoyed. This is a very interesting book and I recommend it for future reading. Thanks for stopping by.