“Easier said than done.” He rubbed his face. “Events are not deterministic. I am not sure, what all got them on the path to mess up that ecosystem so much.”
“Well,” she said, “there are the economic systems to consider.” She studied the monitor. “Funny, they believed in something they called ‘Capitalism.’ They first used some rare material like shells or metal as a meta value to trade goods and services.” She took a pause looking. “Then they created polities with elites and created this thing called ‘money’ literally named after the place they mined and minted it. Later they just went to printed stuff. It all was based on a belief in a mutual promise, which I guess is as good as anything.”
He laughed looking at the scape. “They believed money was absolute and a trading system based on it was ‘objective.’ First ‘Cargo Cults,’ then ‘Capitalism’ as a cult. Kind of like their religion, only no guy with a beard.”
She countered, “Actually, there was a guy with a beard and another belief system called ‘Communism.’ Marx or something. And the people from one cult fought the other. The weirdest thing is that they thought that this exchange mechanism was the sole basis for a value system in their polity. Perhaps meaningful, while things are scarce. But really stupid with technological evolution when all stuff becomes abundant.”
He squinted at the scape letting out his breath. “Interesting contradictions. In some areas they were so advanced, but they still adhered to pure materialism in their science and philosophy despite the obvious contradictions. They blew each other up with nuclear devices, so they had an understanding of the quantum world.”
“No simple answers.” She agreed, “No simple answers.
After the Silence Stops (aka hstriepe.com) 