Power: Hidden in plain sight

In a post today I was talking about the individual responsibility we have to find out about the things that effect our lives and it was met with both agreement and disagreement. On of the disagreements was the time and effort it takes to learn about much of these things and, the complexity and boredom associated with much of it. Most answered from a more crypto perspective but, this is something that (as I mentioned) is true about all things that effect our lives significantly. In my opinion, there is a certain amount of engineering in this.

If we look at the factors that directly influence our lives, very few actually know much about them. It could be finance, banking industry, government, law, policy, economy, tax, healthcare, insurance, probabilities, mental conditioning, personal health, exercise etc but, we all feel that we have a decent understanding of likely most of those areas. Is it true? Unlikely as for the most part, there is a great deal of complexity in each and each is a field of study, if not several.

Not only that but for the most part, unless interested directly these things are tedious, boring, difficult and unattractive to delve into. even though they affect us all directly.

As I see it, if you want to hide something without hiding it, make it seem difficult and, make it as boring as possible to look into. In a world full of instant gratifiers and leisure and pleasure seekers, most aren't going to invest the time and energy to actually find out if what seems hard and boring, actually is hard and boring to learn.

The other thing is the time it takes to find out. Even though each of these areas can be individual fields to specialize in and investigate for a lifetime, a general overview that can be used to create an understanding of systems, doesn't take that much effort.

Finance and economics is a good example of this. Yes, it is a rabbit hole depending on how you approach it but, building a basic understanding doesn't take that long, especially when there are very good guides to be found online. Yep, understanding how banks are actually the major creators of money (out of thin air with interest) might not be as exciting to watch as an episode of the latest hit series but, which one is going to have more effect on you over the potential 100 years of your lifetime?

This is the problem with instant gratification as it fails to recognise the fact that although YOLO! for most people, they aren't going to be hit by a bus tomorrow, next week or ever. Most are going to fulfill the average (proababilities) of around 80 odd years. Yet, here they are not investing into the things that are likely going to influence their lives for every day of those 80 years but instead, will consume a show that will be forgotten by next week.

In my view, this is a control mechanism. Make irrelevant simple and compelling, make relevant complex and boring. The masses are masses for a reason and it is generally because they don't understand what the minorities are actually doing even though, they feel that they do. We know we are at a disadvantage but instead of looking behind the boring curtain, our attention is drawn to the next shiny must have product.

This is the problem. Everyone wants the easy path, the quick fix delivered but, the ones doing the delivery are the ones who have designed the system so that they are the go-to pill dispensary. In the case of Big Pharma, literally. The system is made complex so that the average person can no longer deal with it themselves. Like lawyer language only being decipherable by another lawyer even though the simplifying of the language is all it takes to make them largely redundant.

It is a system of middlemen who are paid premiums to deal with the things that we as the mass feel we are unable to deal with ourselves and in so doing, they make value without providing anything of real value. All they are doing is being an interface between points that often, we could learn to do without them.

If we look at the movement of money across borders, it is easy to see this happen. If my brother in Australia sends me 100 dollars, he has to transfer through a bank. I think last time he sent money for his niece's account, there was a 12% surcharge to get it to Finland. 12%. He could have sent it through the mail but, that is illegal. Well, we know what the cure is for this particular complexity is already, don't we?

But this happens in a thousand ways every day as middlemen all over the place take their cuts while we wonder why, no matter how much we work, there is never enough left over to break out, get away and live economically free. The largest consumer of our finances likely isn't a necessary service at all. Blockchain might trust might streamline many of these middle services out of business.

The personal investment costs of time and energy to find out about the boring to simplify the complexity will more than pay itself off in a lifetime but, it isn't attractive, it isn't fun. At least for most people. It is easier to say that the system is broken (it is), unfair (it is) and blame the external believing it is all outside of ones control than to actually find out if that is true.

In my opinion, the idea that it is all out of our control has become a social meme for those to make themselves feel better about not taking responsibility. The unfortunate truth is, we all have some agency over the directions our life takes and the decisions we make are on the information we hold. Perhaps knowing what happens at the end of Game of Thrones or the latest ridiculous 'reality' show will affect the outcome of our lives but, it is highly unlikely it is going to improve the quality of our lives.

How we invest our time and the experience and knowledge we pick up along the way is going to dictate not only what kinds of decisions we make but, what kinds of opportunities we identify and evaluate. Not only this, these factors will be passed along, generation after generation as we teach our children to have values, just like us and, indoctrinate them into being much like us.

Knowledge isn't power, it is just a doorway. It is the wisdom on how to use it that is the key. However, one still needs to gain the knowledge and, if it is easy to get, it isn't likely valuable to hold. A lot of it is a lot less complicated than it seems, it has just been put out of reach with an open jar of cookies in front of it.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]

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