Making sense of money: Part 1

This is a write-up and reflection on the first of our community workshops unpacking the nature, power, and possibility of money.

What money is

Debt

The community shared that, rather than existing as an independent entity, money serves as a representation of debt. As one participant offered, this function as an IOU is seen on UK bank notes which carry the phrase: “I promise to pay the bearer the sum of…”

How we might make sense of this is to say that money is a mechanism through which we standardise and formalise the exchange of goods so there is always a means through which someone can be recompensed for their time, goods, or services. 

Two consequences of this feel important to mention. 

First, the emphasis on debt might be changing how we relate to others. We tend to understand exchange as a loss, unless we have received something of equal value in return. It is possible this is a fundamental part of our nature that is going to be impossible to rewire. But the enormous variety of systems for managing the exchange of goods that have existed across the world (including systems in which the person with the most is expected to and revels in giving away the most and systems where debts are wiped at the start of each year) suggests otherwise. The point for now is simply to note the way money makes us think about giving and receiving in relation to loss and value. 

Additionally, establishing a universal framework to regulate transactions between two entities restricts our capacity to influence how global resources are distributed. Rather than allowing us to consider and affect broader resource access when making a purchase, the use of currency isolates the exchange into a purely bilateral interaction, detached from the wider context.

Power

Our group discussed the way that money acts as a form of power, not a neutral entity. There are many ways in which this shows up. Most obviously money gives a person or entity the power to do something that those lacking in money cannot. This could include buying their way into high office, displacing communities to make room for major infrastructure development, or eating expensive foods. Money also gives people power over others - principally by requiring that people exchange their labour (and time, energy, emotion) in order to receive it but also because it confers status and so influence. 

As a final note here, it is worth saying that we should not overlook the capacity for money to exert power even in its absence and without the direct involvement of people. We only need to consider how many of our decisions, thoughts, and actions are determined by the pursuit of money - or the fear of lacking it - to see its inexhaustible power.

What money does

Thinking

As a system of thought, money operates on the assertion - not the fact - that value can be quantified numerically. While many would object to assigning a numerical price to a tree, a memory, or the feeling of joy, money does this. We routinely evaluate nature by its economic productivity or the cost of its preservation, purchase the experience of joy through holidays and possessions, and consume nostalgia as one of the entertainment industry's greatest manufactured products. Equally problematic is the way in which money defines out certain things from being valuable. If an investment - whether in a company or social cause - cannot bring about returns that are numerically calculable, society renders it unimportant. 

Flattening

When we cede the power of valuation to money, we diminish our personal capacity to define what is worthwhile, ultimately narrowing our collective understanding of value. During our discussion, we examined how financial viability often overshadows actual worth, illustrated by a London skyscraper whose flawed design caused severe disruptions. The building's shape concentrated sunlight, driving street-level temperatures to 120 degrees Celsius, while its immense scale generated violent wind gusts. Despite these hazards, one can speculate that the essential question upon conception of the building was not: is this of value but can we afford it. A participant connected this to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), noting that this economic metric includes the production of weapons and the extraction of fossil fuels. Because these activities generate monetary returns and can be financed, their deeper societal value is largely overlooked.

Obscuring

When exploring the case study of the London skyscraper mentioned above, one participant pointed out how the building dwarfs the skyline and obscures all that is around it. This is literally true - and a significant insight into the power of money. As with value, we might ask what we’re missing, obscuring, or overlooking when we think about the world through the lens of money and what systems, processes, and ways of thinking we’re missing out on. 

Alienating

Money acts as both a facilitator and a disrupter within human relationships. On one hand, it functions as a facilitator by smoothing exchange, but as a disrupter, it fosters estrangement and distance. The introduction of financial transactions into interpersonal exchanges imposes structural constraints, limiting both the duration of contact and our perception of their worth. Consider a caregiver, for instance: why would they extend a visit past fifteen minutes if their compensation is capped at that amount? This observation points not to a personal failing of the caregiver, but rather to a systemic design that dictates such choices.

Furthermore, we can hypothesise that the primary function of currency - enabling trade across geographic distances - has simultaneously eroded the connection we have with the items being exchanged. Currency excels at large-scale commerce, providing a standardised unit to translate worth and establish fixed pricing. While this drives global mass production, which can be useful for lowering the cost of essential goods, it ultimately tarnishes our relationship with these items since their value is less. 

What money could be

While the task of reimagining money will be one that we turn to in our upcoming workshops, these first discussions gave us a glimpse to what is possible.

Energy

Society commonly views money as an object possessing inherent value, a perspective that drives us to accumulate and hoard it. This tendency, however, contradicts our parallel understanding of money as a tool that facilitates and enables opportunity. Instead of treating it as a possession to be kept, would it not be more helpful to view money as a form of social energy that circulates to where it is most required, casting us not as permanent owners, but as its temporary stewards and benefactors? How might we design financial systems if this were the case?

Abundance

Our end discussion focused on the tension between scarcity and abundance. We explored how money fosters a scarcity mindset by (as above) flattening and obscuring value and encouraging accumulation over distribution. 

In reality, global abundance is already a fact, as ample evidence demonstrates the planet produces enough food, water, and resources to guarantee a good life for everyone. If we were to organise society around this inherent abundance rather than artificial or manufactured lack, how might that reshape our systems, our relationships, and our very understanding of human nature? Freed from competition, conflict, and want, what could we be? And, given that the price mechanism creates scarcity for many and drives up resource depletion (because a higher price can be commanded for scarce goods) what other means, frameworks, or heuristics could we use to determine how resources are shared?