Nerve 22 - Be the Good Mould

Be the Good Mould

An evolutionary angle on capitalism

Image by Nick Daly By David R

While thinking about this issue's theme I recalled a video clip; a US pop philosopher was staring out across an urban sprawl and saying that the human species is like a mould spreading mindlessly, eating everything in its path and transforming the face of a once beautiful earth. He said it in a way that denigrated both humans and mould. We can't blame mould for what it does. It possesses what all life has; the drive to grow, explore and colonise. We have it too. No doubt there have been contented, static periods in the history of homo-sapiens, but nomadic, competitive and have lots of babies tendencies have asserted themselves repeatedly and put us on every continent. Like the mould, we are colonisers. But what happens when we run out of new territory? For mould there will always be new apples to eat. Humans however, have run out of space, giving us limited outlets for our mould-like impulses. We can continue to believe in growth but it must now be balanced by destruction; of our surroundings and each other (the same thing). We used to call this 'empire'. In its modern, dominant incarnation we call it capitalism.

Capitalism is a cat chasing its tail. It is a legitimised, quiet form of warfare with no ideals, no big picture, no hope to offer a species which stands on the crest of 3.8 billion years of painful evolution and would like to finally relax in a hot bath and live longer and more happily than what is strictly necessary from an evolutionary point of view. Capitalism creates a world where we have to run to stand still, offering the contradictory provision of wealth on credit; pensions and inflation. It also offers affordable options for a more passive expression of our urges with its vast toy and sex industry.

So what makes the mould go bad? There is no original sin and there is nothing inherently destructive in any of our natural urges. Every day is a balancing act that pits ego against love; the desire to accumulate against the pleasure of giving; the responsibility to family against responsibility to the community; the love of nature against the love of electricity. We manage these juggling acts not as individuals but as parts of a collective. We check each others behaviour and, hopefully, everyone benefits. We don't live in a secret fortress under the sea or in gated communities. We don't get our news from one blinkered, cosy newspaper. We take responsibility for our trash and for the people we upset. We live with the consequences of what we say and do.

THE BAD MOULD EVOLVES AND LIVES IN ISOLATION - from humanity and from the consequences of its actions (at least until the last moment). I heard something upsetting on the radio once. A foreign factory making clothes for the UK had been exposed for sexual abuse against child workers. A UK businessman came on and was asked 'If you knew children were being abused in a factory that supplied your company, would you try to stop it?' He answered an unequivocal 'no'. Paraphrased: 'It's not my job to interfere with employer-employee relations in a contractor company. That's not how capitalism works.' I imagined how the interview could have continued if the interviewer had some balls.

'When your children were in school did you expect them to be taught certain basics of morality - don't steal, don't punch, share your sweets?'

'Yes.'

'At what point did/will you tell your children that none of this matters?'

'When they try to get a decent job, when they can remove themselves from the community, hide behind fences in a hierarchical structure and a fantasy land where money solves all problems.'

Probably this man would find it difficult to watch a child being abused. He is simply protected from the consequences of being a bastard. He lives in an unnatural, non-ecological system which is not a closed loop and in which input and output are not balanced. He consumes oil and people and produces shit - not the type of shit you can grow things on but the type that sits in landfills for decades.

How does this isolated, unrealistic system come about? It is made possible not just by the traditional tools of fascism: bureaucracy and compartmentalisation ('I'm just doing my job'), but by the global translator we call 'money' (one dead child / one tree = x amount of money). It's helped by the double edged sword of digital technology that allows you to make friends across the world while your local shop keeper goes bust and also allows a CIA drone operator to kill without looking anyone in the eye. Capitalism is presently the most powerful distancing system we have; the thing that lets 'decent' people do horrible things.

We must therefore attack all systems that separate action and consequence, all attempts to translate suffering into entertainment, money and progress. We must make the world less cosy and safe, keep in touch with the victims, and resist both rich and poor ghettos. The words 'I'm just doing my job' must be put on the same level as 'the problem with black people is...' We must know where our food comes from and where our waste goes. Mindless growth and competition is at best our default mode. With our painful history to inform us and the stars as far away as ever, we need to take conscious control of our programming. The modern world provides astonishing opportunities for non-destructive, non-competitive growth and creativity. The expansion of both consciousness and communication can create a loop of positive feedback with mind boggling possibilities.

Let us be the GOOD MOULD.

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