Humans are profoundly different from all other species on the planet. How? We cooperate in large numbers. Animals cooperate in large numbers as well. But there is a limit to the size of these cooperative groups. Maybe hundreds. Animal groups also only cooperate on objective and real life goals like food, housing and care of the young.
People cooperate in the thousands and beyond. We share stories beyond the objective and the real life. We share stories from our imagination. We share beliefs in ideas. These common imaginary ideas guide our behaviors and allow us to cooperate with others we never met.
We cooperate and do great things. We cooperate and do the most terrible things. Our imagination and the stories we believe are the most wonderful and the most dangerous force on the planet.
Money is a shared story. A powerful, universal and maybe the most stupid story we tell. When we value money so highly, it’s concentration and our hoarding instinct is inevitable.
Computers, robots and artificial intelligence will make huge numbers of humans useless.
What is the next story? What will people do for work and money? We need a new story.