Provocation #170
What if the problem is capitalism?
Without safeguards the dynamics of the rich having better access to market information and cheaper credit means those with capital continue to get richer. Simple dynamics at play. To keep this excess manageable safeguards must be continually active, but increasing complexity keeps the dynamics hidden.

The counter measures to capital excess have lost out. A ruined planet ecologically and a ruined society moving back toward feudalism are the result.

Capitalism started early, with herders, breeding cattle, a new head From which comes cap, capital. Ever since the powerful have owned the surplus output of society, its capital. But they needed workers. No more. Any new job is a target for algorithmic development.

Now what? The best rationale for capitalism might be that it is the best way so far invented to create and support an elite without which governance is impossible. Of course the downside is that the insatiable quest for capital ownership leaves the people vulnerable and the planet a mess. Lots of new thinking needed. Or are we stuck with momentum we can’t change? Are we all just pretending?