Meritocracy Is The Ideal

 

“For those who have come to power, wealth, and glory not by their strength and effort, but simply through inheritance, what right do they have to complain? The very existence of such blood-lineage dynasties is disgusting. Power is the property of one generation. It shouldn’t be transferred, it should be seized.” – Reinhard von Lohengramm

Meritocracy is the only way. Any society that has flourished has allowed the innovator, visionary, and reformists to bring forth the necessary changes that society needed at the time. It is nepotism, stagnation, and corruption that allow for decadence to take hold. The strongest capitalistic companies understand that sometimes you must cut out the old, and usher in the new yet that alone is not enough. A company must have the right strategy and vision. Without either, they wither away unless they have tied themselves to the interests of the state. A good example of this is banking, and health care industries who have used the corruptible state to protects its interests, and keep it afloat. Others are not so fortunate. HP, Dell, Cisco, and Oracle, and many others are being washed away with the sea of innovative as other innovators have taken hold, and pushed them out. It is why the market is so effective. The market is ruthless and efficient. Innovate and win if not wither away. When the state combines its power with that of the special interests the market can no longer function in the way it was designed to be. The market strives for 100% profit, and 0 costs. It is its end goal the dream of any company to maximize wealth at the lowest cost possible. Why do companies strive for lower wages, efficient technology, and numerous other cost-reducing strategies? When corporations become stagnant and make mistakes they should be allowed to fail, but when the state protects them it is a coercive behavior that only leads to corruption and economic decline.

The problem with the market? It has no morals. The market place does not value individuals who fall ill, who feel stressed at their job, who need an extra week or two of vacation. The market doesn’t reward the individual worker but the capitalist with the capital because in the market those with capital are kings. The kings of the modern world. This is why the socialist, communist, and others from the left have battled fiercely for over one hundred years for worker’s rights, and for the state to fill the void. The intention is pure since it stems from their empathy. A variable that the market by itself will not factor in if left alone. Yet even those who criticize the corporate free market must be amazed at how efficient it has become. From the automobile, telephone, radio, television, computer, and the internet. The market has worked wonders for society and especially a select few who benefit from the hard work of our ancestors. This is why I find inheritance so damaging capitalism is a system designed to reward the innovator, the entrepreneur. Yet we allow many who have achieved nothing to live on vast amounts of money that they have neither worked for nor earned it. Unless they are taught to work to be diligent and attempted to manage the wealth properly it has been proven time and time again that without the correct reinvestment the wealth is often squared over the new few generations. I reason that something must be done regarding inheritance. Those who achieve should rule those who leech should be at the bottom of society.

The greater issue is that of efficiency. The market is becoming so efficient in many ways that many technology companies are innovating at a rate so fast that this newfound efficiency will profoundly transform society. A society based on labor and capital will no longer be sustainable. The market is reaching its perfected state. I tell the capitalists that they were correct. Markets are a superior way to run the economy than state planning. But what they can’t answer is what happens after. What happens when the “dream” comes true. Exponential productivity at an extremely low cost. When there are barely any wasted resources, and productivity. The Capitalism boom and bust cycle exists because it is the nature of markets is to be volatile. To create the new, and one must destroy the old. The irony is that as I predicted many years before as a teenager this mere fact. It was clear to me that if capitalism continues its natural course it will only lead to one logical conclusion its demise. The system’s destiny is to destroy itself. This is why it is won the ‘war” in the 20th century. The state has the opposite goal. The state is like a living organism of bureaucracy that history has shown will do everything it can do maintain its power. Bribes, propaganda, nationalism, etc are all systems of the state’s desire to maintain itself. Capitalism, in theory, doesn’t have such desires. Cars replace horses, the television replaces radio, computers replacing jobs, and numerous other examples demonstrate the essence of free-market capitalism. The essence of its demise. To create an economy so productive that there is no market. Can this truly be achieved? Perhaps not and that would be the sound argument of those who believe capitalism is here to stay, but for those who think we are in for a transformation can see that something will break. If suddenly truck drivers, cashiers, lawyers, doctors, sales workers, accountants, assembly line workers, police, and many other professions are phased out of the society because human labor is no longer productive, or efficient enough. What happens to the market? The market ceases to exist. If there is no scarcity there can be no profit. If there is no profit the institution of the ‘company’ becomes null.

The market ends and dies.

Future of Education

MOOC(Massively Open Online Courses) are being played as the great innovation of education and it’s downfall. So which one is it? I believe it is both, its going to change the landscape, but I can guarantee that the old model everyone is use to is going to die. Teachers and administrators should be afraid because it marks an end to the easy money and laziness that has plagued higher education. Knowledge will be freely accessible and open to all(now I mean truly open, not like some of the scams that are going behind the scenes). Big top rich schools are leading the charge but they too forgot that the goal of education is to be free and open. Such things as selling licenses for courses and at outrageous rates tells me that the “old guard” hasn’t yet seen the big picture yet. They still think they can make big and fill the school coffers. They believe that by having the brand and the power of a “diploma” is going to see them through. They are gravely mistaken for the education system is going to see the greatest liberation it has ever seen. The idea of “credentialism” as we know it must end, if we are truly aiming for a better global education on a grand scale. For a piece of paper does not determine knowledge but merely that you have sat in a classroom, taken tests, finished homework, and completed projects.

Our education system is like a factory that wants to produce good little citizens that do what they are told and fit in the societal structure. Universities like Harvard, and MIT are not seeing where the long term goal of this will be. Eventually everyone, professionals, hobbyist, and others will be producing in one form or another their own original content where they may not offer “credits” or “diplomas” but like in the ancient times were merely reading made one more intelligent it will be the same with open online education. A person will be able to choose not from just “institutionalized” colleges but also from people from all walks of earth. It is a similar theme of “internet anarchy” which has revolutionized the music, film, and the publishing industry. The Copyright industry is still fighting piracy, alas the government still want to “withhold” dangerous information, and now education wants it to be 1985. Jokes on them. Internet and the philosophy it has unleashed is here to stay unless we all get unplugged. Change is constant and occurring and it has no mercy on anyone. These dead institutions act as if they can survive and maybe they have a chance to evolve and evolve themselves yet there will be casualties there always is. It is often not pretty but it is necessary for progress to evolve and develop.

In truth the education system has for too long gotten fat with money and laziness. It abused the economically poor students and wage laborers. It is a system designed only for the truly wealthy as it was originally intended when the university system was put in place in Europe. It is a new era and a new time where this no longer has to be true. A person no longer needs to mortgage away their future for the promise of a better tomorrow. It will be a future where people around the world can contribute to world of knowledge as Wikipedia, Piratebay, and Youtube have shown what global creators and collaborators can make possible. To deny our desire for knowledge right, wrong, complete, or incomplete is criminal. The truth is as the old barriers break down it can only benefit our own personal liberty of knowledge and if we as a species are so afraid of what that can bring than what does that say about ourselves?