savethehumanrace.org/theartofsurvival

The Art of Survival
a philosophy of sustainable economics
by
Peter Edward Pierson

After many years of contemplating the nature of mankind, I experienced a moment of clarity: the basic nature of man and mankind alike evolved around the struggle for survival. Big surprise, one might say; does not all life? Is that not the very nature of life? One either actively pursues survival or allows their existence to end.

Unfortunately for many people, the actual struggle for survival is still a daily reality. Starvation, disease, homelessness, and oppression persist throughout the world despite all the scientific and technological advances mankind has achieved.

In contrast, others exist in a world of opulence fueled by advances in information technology and access to abundant energy sources. The accumulation of wealth by these individuals and their societies represents unprecedented access to the available goods and services essential to mankind's continued survival.

But the concept of wealth has taken on a life of its own in which the accumulation of "wealth" for its own sake has abandoned its relationship to the survival of the human race. The competition in this world to achieve and maintain this contrived wealth has resulted in divisiveness and conflict. Sharing of knowledge and products that could improve the quality of life for all is restricted as the agendas put forth by a few advance with little regard to the environmental consequences or the future of the human race.

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For mankind to progress to the next level, where everyone's potential and future may be realized, man's cultures will require evolving to a more enlightened state of being. That said, my contribution to the conversation begins by looking at the existence of a single individual where no other individuals exist.

In the Beginning...

Suppose you were all alone, existing only by finding or creating by yourself all that you needed for your own survival. In such a situation, your considerations and actions would represent the most basic system of economics possible to study. We are defining economics as a branch of knowledge dealing with the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services, which is, of course, basic to our very survival. Without at least food and water to consume, our survival would end in a relatively short period of time.

"Demand" is the term used in economics to refer to the needs and wants of an individual at any given moment in time. Supply is the availability of goods or services at any given moment in time to satisfy that demand. The relationship between demand and supply and the factors that affect them both is the core of the study of economics.

So here you are, all alone, deciding what to do next. Of course, lots of different factors weigh in on the decisions people make every day and from day to day. Even when you are all alone, you are still constantly reevaluating your situation. But at some point, if you are planning to stay alive, you will have to begin to address the basic requirements for the human body to continue to function: water and food.

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Sooner or later, you will become both thirsty and hungry, which will create a demand for products to satisfy those particular needs. The question is, where will the goods necessary to satisfy those demands come from?

Demand occurs, but supply must be produced. Production is the process of transforming the raw materials available to us into goods and services for consumption. As far as our one-person economic system goes, these are the factors that determine our economy: demand, supply, and production. As our economic systems grow in population served and complexity, distribution becomes the link between the production of the goods and the individuals who want them. But since we're all alone at the moment, whatever we are producing is likely intended for our personal consumption.

Definitions are all well and good but do nothing to satisfy your thirst or hunger. So you're all alone and begin to get thirsty and soon realize that without a source of freshwater, you're not going to survive for more than a few days at best. The adult human body is composed of up to 60% water. That water is constantly being processed through and eliminated from the body. This requires us to continually be replacing the water we have lost. Once we have lost around 15% of the water we are made of, our continued survival is unlikely.

Since there is no one else to help you or provide you with water, you're just going to have to do it yourself. If you're lucky, depending on where you are, there is a source of easily accessible fresh water somewhere around. Maybe you can locate a stream or pond or even a nice puddle of fresh water if you scout the area.

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But just finding a source of fresh water doesn't necessarily mean you have a finished product ready for consumption. A naturally occurring source of water is a natural resource, and the water derived from there is our raw material, but it may not be what is called potable or suitable for drinking. The potential for contaminants to be present in naturally occurring sources of water is rather considerable. Water is one of the most effective solvents we know and tends to dissolve all kinds of things in nature as it flows across surfaces. Moving sources of water, such as a stream or river, may appear somewhat less murky than, say, a muddy puddle or stagnant pond, but may still contain contaminants or parasites capable of making you quite ill.

So do you drink the water or attempt to purify it in some manner? How thirsty are you? Just a little or dying of thirst? How great is your need at that moment in time for that particular product?

Although I digress momentarily, the concept of time is going to be a recurring theme. Time is a bit of an elusive concept, yet our existence here is both subject to and a measure of it. So, for our purposes, we consider time as a measure of change.

Which brings us back to your thirst and need for water to satisfy that thirst. If the need is great enough in the moment that you cannot see yourself surviving any longer without addressing it, you will do whatever is necessary to satisfy it or resign yourself to allowing your existence here to end. If you are so thirsty that you cannot see going on without a drink of water and you come across any source of water, you will most likely drink whatever is there regardless of what you may think of its condition. That drink may end up making you wish you had not survived, at least for a while. But if you do survive, at least it served its purpose.

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Let's say you have a little more time to satisfy your need and would prefer a less contaminated product. So how do we transform our raw material into a more finished product ready for consumption? If you don't have an answer to that question, we already have a problem. Production originates from us. Humans are the predominant species on our planet with the desire and abilities to transform the raw materials from our natural resources into almost any product that can be conceived of. And conceiving of the desired product is the first step. Nothing happens unless there is a demand for a given product.

Once a demand exists, someone has to figure out how to extract the raw materials from the existing natural resources available to us and manufacture them into the desired product. Which brings us back to you. You are the only inhabitant in our hypothetical little world. If you lack the knowledge necessary to manufacture the desired product, you will either have to find a way to acquire that knowledge or come up with a different solution to satisfy your demand, or simply dismiss the possibility of manufacturing that product at that time and move on to attempting to satisfy some alternative demand.

So what does all this mean in terms of you getting a nice drink of clean, uncontaminated water? If you cannot come up with any alternative, it means you will continue to drink straight from the original source as before and hope that your body becomes adapted to the contaminants in it. Or, with a little more time to explore your options and your environment, you could possibly come across another natural source of water that seemingly meets your needs better without any further processing.

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Maybe you would consider creating a rainwater collection system of some sort. Constructing such a system would once again require some additional knowledge and materials. What are you going to use to catch and store the rainwater with? Where will these materials come from, and how will you construct such a device? How much time do you have to devote to this project, and how important is it to you? Even then the possibility for contamination exists.

Perhaps you should consider a method for purifying water from any source. What about boiling it? That's one of the oldest and probably simplest methods, and simple is good for our purposes. Maybe you were aware that boiling water for a sufficient period of time is a common method for purifying water. Many people are aware of this, and that little piece of knowledge may be essential for producing your purified water.

But even a simple approach that will result in our desired final product will require more work and knowledge than you might have considered. Don't forget we're starting with nothing. What are we going to use to hold the water while we boil it? How are we going to heat the water up to boiling? Over a fire? How do we start a fire? And what with?

Production is the backbone of our civilization. What we produce and how we produce it define who we are. Human intelligence is the driving force behind production. Our intellectual development has set us apart from every other species on this planet. This is why we are able to adapt to a wide variety of different environments and situations. This is why we are continually striving to learn more about ourselves, our planet, and the universe we exist in. This is why we can figure out how to get a drink of clean water.

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Our intellectual evolution included three milestones that contributed to our ability to create almost any product we could conceive of: creating tools, using and controlling fire, and creating art.

We're not the only species that uses tools, but we use tools to create even better, more complex, and specific-use tools. A tool is a device that can be used to produce or achieve something but is not consumed in the process. We use tools of one form or another to produce practically everything. The ability to conceive of and use tools to create tools for different purposes greatly enhances our capabilities to produce a wide variety of products. Try building a house, making your own clothes, or even growing a garden without any tools and see what you come up with. It likely will not be what you are used to.

Using and controlling fire was another important step forward in our capability for production. Fire represented one of the first forms of energy, other than our own physical energy, that we learned to access and control. Energy is the ability to do work. Without energy, production cannot occur. Without energy, nothing can be transformed into anything else. When we cook food over a fire, the energy released by the fire in the form of heat transforms the raw plant or animal material into the finished product. In our quest for potable water, fire is the energy source we thought to use to boil the water and transform it into purified water safe for consumption. Energy is always required for production regardless of what is being produced.

But energy is subject to the law of conservation in that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed. Energy comes to us in many forms and exists everywhere.

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The challenge is in accessing the energy available to us from the resources available to us.

When we start a fire, we are releasing the energy contained in the material we are burning through combustion. Fires start when a flammable and/or combustible material, in combination with a sufficient quantity of an oxidizer such as oxygen gas or another oxygen-rich compound, is exposed to a source of heat or ambient temperature above the flash point for the fuel/oxidizer mix and is able to sustain a rate of rapid oxidation that produces a chain reaction.

So what does that mean to us? It tells us that fire releases energy, mainly in the form of heat, through a chemical reaction involving the material used as fuel, probably wood in our case, and the oxygen in the air through the process known as combustion. It also tells us that some form of energy must be applied to initiate the chemical process that results in combustion. This initial energy source can occur naturally, as in a lightning strike, or can be the result of us using our energy to, say, rub two sticks together until friction causes them to get hot enough to initiate the chemical reaction and start the fire.

According to Einstein, everything that has mass contains energy, E=mc², if you know how to access it. In our case, the chemical energy derived from the food we eat provides our living cells with the energy source they require for our being to carry out all our life processes. Our intellect enables us to determine which sources of energy we have the ability to access, and our own energy allows us to initiate the process necessary to transform the source into a form of energy capable of being controlled and utilized for our purposes.

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And finally we come to art! From the earliest cave paintings to modern works in all media, art possesses a special significance for us. The emergence of art marked a shift in human evolution. Suddenly, man was demonstrating the ability to conceptualize or think abstractly as opposed to thinking concretely.

But what exactly is art? In very general terms, art is the conscious use of skill and creative imagination in activities intended to make something special. So what does this have to do with a discussion of production in economic terms? Everything! In fact, our definition of art describes the very process used in the production of goods and services. Using skill and creative imagination to make something special is the process of taking the raw materials available to us and transforming them into an end product capable of satisfying a particular demand.

The intellect necessary to create art, particularly the ability to think abstractly or conceptualize, is also the same skill necessary for language and, frankly, every form of communication we use. Was art not one of man's earliest forms of communication?

This is the same skill that was necessary for the rise of scientific research. From The Evolution of Physics: from early concepts to relativity and quanta by Einstein & Infeld: "To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science."

In fact, the skills that man uses to draw a picture are the same skills he uses to create virtually everything he makes. Practically everything we do and everything we say and everything we create is a form of art.

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Gives all new meaning to the phrase "life is art," does it not?

Which brings us back to the subject at hand, production. Initially, our raw materials used in the production process mainly came from natural resources. When we think of natural resources and raw materials, we tend to think of all the different materials available for us to harvest from our environment, from naturally occurring elements and minerals to plant material for wood, fiber, and edible fare, and to other animals for meat, skins, horns, and bones. But our most important natural resource is often overlooked, man.

Man's intellect and creativity are the sources of the ideas and concepts that initiate the process of production. Man's physical abilities provide the initial source of energy required to take the process of production from the intellectual state to the material state. Without man, there would be no production or any reason for production. Production only exists because man developed the intellectual and physical abilities necessary for it to exist. My dog might argue that production only exists so she can have a squeaky toy, which from her perspective is probably true.

To this point we have now come up with five contributing factors of production. The first, of course, is man. Demand originates from man, for whom production exists to create the goods and services necessary to satisfy it. We provide the intellectual resources necessary for production to take place. These intellectual resources conceive of the process that will result in producing the goods dictated by demand. Additionally, we provide the physical labor required for production to exist. Unless we actually physically initiate the process of production, nothing will happen.

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Secondly, we require raw materials from which to produce our goods. Initially the raw materials all came from the natural resources that exist in our environment. But as production has evolved, raw materials have come to be any materials, either naturally occurring or from previously manufactured products, that can be used to produce the finished product desired.

Even then, not all the raw materials go into the finished product necessarily. Tools and equipment for producing the desired goods must themselves be produced or acquired from some source. As such, tools and equipment are our third factor of production.

The entire process is dependent upon sufficient sources of energy, our fourth factor. Energy is required to conceive of the process, acquire the raw materials, produce the tools and equipment that will be used, and finally produce the finished product. Many different forms of energy are used in many different ways, but all are essential to the process of production ever taking place. Energy is the foundation of production. The evolution of production over the years has been relative to the sources and availability of energy.

And finally we come to our fifth factor, time. Everything takes time. Time can be a limiting factor to production, but only in the sense that there is a sequence of events that must take place in order to produce anything. The question is, are we willing to put in the time necessary to produce the desired results, or do we even have enough time to wait for the finished product? In the case where we needed water for survival, waiting to produce a container to boil the water in to produce a purified product may initially take more time than we can physically survive without some form of water to consume.

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But inasmuch as time can be a limiting factor to production, it also demonstrates the importance of different products to us. The more time we are willing to put into producing a product, the greater the importance that product represents to us. In that sense, time is a measure of value. And just as time is a measure of change, value also is subject to change.

A sixth factor of production would be a place for manufacturing. As the only inhabitant in our theoretical world, this is not an issue of concern, particularly as you can set up manufacturing wherever you choose. But in the real world, this is certainly a factor for consideration.

As the sole inhabitant of our hypothetical little world, the economy you live with is the one you create. Whatever you need or desire, it's up to you to either find or produce. There are no stores to go shopping in and no internet to order from. If you cannot come up with it, it just isn't going to happen.

Every decision you make as to your needs determines your economy. And as these decisions change, so does your economy. As time goes by and you hopefully develop a system in which all your basic survival needs are met in a somewhat efficient manner for your lifestyle, you may have enough time to pursue other interests. Although these pursuits may be secondary to those necessary for survival, these are the pursuits that often make life worth living.

Then There Were Two...

The time has come to introduce a second inhabitant into our hypothetical little world.

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The introduction of a second individual opens the door for a variety of different possibilities with regard to our existence in this world. Of course, it's a relatively big world, and the two of you could easily coexist in separate locations without ever crossing paths. But what if you did? How will a second being in our world affect our lives? Specifically, how will they affect our economy, since that is what we are here to discuss?

In general, man is a social creature by nature. There are many advantages to being in a group rather than alone. As a group, people are able to help one another in their struggles for survival; they are more enduring. They feel more secure and able to protect themselves. Had it not been for our socialization, we would likely not have been as successful a species as we have been. And frankly, people just plain tend to desire being in the company of others rather than being alone all the time. Being in the company of others contributes to our emotional and mental well-being. Why, if we never had any socialization, we would not continue to exist as a species for very long. Let's face it, having and raising children requires at least a certain amount of socialization.

So, for our purposes, let's see what happens when we have a second individual join our world, resulting in creating our own little society. How will this affect our economy and our lives? We still have the same concern we had before, how to survive, but now there are two of us involved in the process. That means we need to produce more goods than we previously required. We will require greater amounts of raw materials for producing the goods, but we potentially have additional abilities from a larger pool of labor and added knowledge from which to draw. So how is this going to work?

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Well, we could each be responsible for our own well-being and for producing our own goods for our own personal consumption. When it comes down to it, no one probably has a greater interest in our well-being than we do. At least we would have the company of another. Perhaps not a good thing all the time, as sometimes personalities clash, but having someone to socialize with is generally beneficial to our overall well-being.

Of course we are each distinct and have different abilities, knowledge, ideas, and approaches to situations. Even if the two of us are completely responsible for taking care of our own needs separately, just through our conversations and observations of one another, we are going to gain certain aspects of knowledge and possibly be influenced to try a different approach to certain tasks than we might have previously considered.

If we're getting some new ideas from this other person, maybe we ought to try working together on a few things and see what happens. Let's face it, two people working together can accomplish tasks that would be very difficult, if not impossible, for someone working alone. The two of us have more potential energy and strength together than either one of us alone. Plus, we have someone else to bounce ideas off of and problem-solve with. Although there is a potential for conflict from disagreements arising from different approaches to varying situations, there is also a greater potential for discovery and innovation resulting in methods producing superior results.

Yet there is another possibility for our division of labor. We could divide up the different tasks and then share in the resulting output.

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Focusing our individual efforts on fewer tasks more to our liking generally results in us becoming more skilled at those particular tasks. We refer to this sort of arrangement as specialization. Through sheer repetition of a particular task, our skill improves, resulting in a more efficient workforce.

Or perhaps we would find that a combination of working on some tasks alone while collaborating on others made the most sense for both of us. We could gain the advantage of specialization on some tasks while taking advantage of the additional help for larger projects.

Regardless of the method of division of labor we employ, if we are sharing in the labor to produce the goods we both need for survival, we're also going to have to share in the resulting goods we actually produce. But who gets what and how much of what? And who decides who gets what? In fact, who decided who did what in the first place? These are some of the basic questions we try to answer in our study of economics.

Every person in our world is unique; no two people are exactly the same. For some, this may at times be a source of annoyance, as others may not wish to do exactly what you were hoping they would. But it also illustrates why we are our own greatest natural resource. Diversity is our greatest asset. Diversity is what makes us so adaptable. Diversity is the quality that makes the whole of our combined abilities, when working and freely exchanging ideas together, exceed that of the individual sum of our abilities.

In that each of us is unique, our abilities to produce the goods we require for survival and even the amount and types of goods each of us requires will also be unique.

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Which brings us back to the basic controversy that occurs when we create a society: who does what and who gets what? How do we allocate our labor and distribute our goods among the members of our society in a fashion that is equitable to all? How do we determine the value of our labor and the goods we produce?

A very simple definition of value would be relative importance, but relative to what? No two people are going to completely agree on the relative importance of every task performed or of every good produced by each member of a group. What is important to one person may be of little consequence to another. Value tends to be relative to each individual. Let's start with the basic needs. Everyone requires certain needs to be met in order to survive. Food and water are two of the most basic needs we have. Everyone is going to value food and water, but maybe not exactly in the same way.

No two of us are exactly the same, nor do we have the same tastes in food or require the same amounts of food or water to survive. We are all of the same species, yet each of us is distinct. Although the nutritional requirements we have for survival are similar, the differences in each of our physical makeups allow for slight differences in our physical needs.

Where we live and the environment we exist in influence our needs and values also. In frigid climates, warm clothing may be essential to survival while of little value in more tropical climates. And just as the seasons change, so do our needs and values. That warm clothing may only be necessary for part of the year. Once the seasons change and the temperatures rise, we may not have any need for all that warm clothing, at least for a while.

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The clothing still holds value, as the seasons will continue to change and frigid temperatures will return again, unless some other factor were to intervene. What if you moved to a different area with different environmental conditions? Maybe it never gets particularly cold in your new environment. Now all that warm clothing is of little value to you.

Value is not a static figure. It is constantly fluctuating depending on our needs, desires, and changing situations. Just as we are constantly growing, aging, and changing, so are our needs and values. To someone who is physically dehydrated, a drink of water may hold higher value than anything else at that particular moment in time. But once that thirst has been quenched, the value of additional water at that moment drops very rapidly.

Of course, our need for water is a continually recurring condition, meaning as quickly as the value of water to us drops, it will immediately begin rising again. Our need for water is so continual that despite the highs and lows in our demand, we essentially have a continual need for it. We cannot survive without fresh water, so we do our best to make it easily accessible to everyone. Even when our need for water is at its lowest point, water still holds value since it is essential on a continual basis to our survival.

Air, for the same reason, holds value. We cannot survive without air, yet due to its abundance, we are only aware of its value when it is contaminated or lacking. We are keenly aware of its value when we are struggling to get enough to survive!

We have touched on two aspects of value: necessity and scarcity. Products that are necessary to survival have intrinsic value, as we cannot survive without them.

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The question then becomes, what is necessary for survival?

We know that food, water, and air are absolutely necessary for survival. Even then, no two people will necessarily require exactly the same amounts to survive. But what else? Clothing? Shelter? It really kind of depends on the environment you exist in. So maybe it's not always the specific item that you require for survival, but the raw materials and the ability to produce what you require for survival.

The key to our success as a species has been our creativity and our adaptability. We've managed to find ways to use what we have around us to produce what we need to survive under all sorts of conditions. And not just survive, but thrive! But none of this would be possible without our unique ability to manipulate the raw materials available to us into the products necessary to survive under less than perfect conditions.

The natural resources our environment is composed of and which provide us with the raw materials for production, including our own intellect and physical abilities, are the source of our survival. As such, all of the natural resources that create the ecosystem we exist in are endowed with intrinsic value.

As we exist in essentially a closed system, our survival is intimately dependent upon maintaining the integrity of our natural resources and the environment we exist in. The natural resources that exist within our biosphere are all that we have to work with here. This is the essence of scarcity.

Okay, maybe not all of our natural resources are completely static.

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The fact that life exists on our planet means that we, along with all of the living plant and animal inhabitants of our planet, can potentially continue to reproduce, allowing our descendants to continue to exist as long as our environment remains viable and capable of sustaining life. Perhaps that is the real key to our continued survival: maintaining a viable, sustainable environment. Perhaps scarcity is more of a concept with respect to our existence in a relatively closed system and whether we can maintain the viability of that system to support life as we know it. In a closed system such as we exist in, every action taken has the potential to result in consequences that may impact life as we know it.

Then how do we determine the value of the products we produce from these natural resources? Our simple definition of value was relative importance, but relative to what?

The value of raw materials varies by the degree of our need for them and the availability or scarcity of them. The products we produce from these raw materials possess value from the materials they are made from and the intellectual and physical labor we put into them. Then we look at the degree of our need or desire for them, and again the availability or scarcity of the product comes into play.

Frankly, our perception of whether something is of importance to us is often the most relevant measure of value. There is no such thing as a definitive, unambiguous, absolute value with regard to everyone. Value is relative to each individual's perspective. There are products that most of us will value to similar degrees, particularly those of us that are in relatively similar situations. These products are usually those that are more vital to our survival.

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As products are less about survival and more about enriching one's life experience, values tend to exhibit greater fluctuations from one individual to another.

But if value is relative, how do we ever agree on exchange rates involving different products and forms of labor? Fortunately, there are only two of us in existence in our little hypothetical world at the moment. We still have the option of going it alone if we should choose. If we choose to create a small society, we do so because we find the association with another to be preferable to the alternative of going it alone. We participate in an economic relationship with another as long as we both find the relationship mutually beneficial. As long as the needs of each individual are being met at least as well as if they were on their own, and there are no major personality conflicts, the emotional and socialization benefits of being in a group would, for most, be preferable to going it alone.

Of course, it is still up to each individual to determine if the relationship is equitable. Everyone is different, and everyone has their own concepts of what an equitable relationship is. Once again, it all comes down to a question of value. Which brings us back to how we determine what value is and agree on it.

There exist both intrinsic and relative value. All of the natural resources that exist, us included, possess intrinsic value. These natural resources are the basis for our continued existence. That said, there is a basis of intrinsic value in everything we create. Yet, beyond that basic intrinsic value lies the realm of relative value. And that value can only be determined by each individual.

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We determine what the value of our labor is, what the value of the products we produce are, and what the exchange value of our labor and products will be. We agree upon values based upon our needs, our perceived benefit, and our perception of equality. We agree upon values because we desire to coexist as a society rather than alone. We compromise to that end because of the potential benefits that exist within the society. And just as our needs and values are constantly changing, so are those of society.

So who does what, and who gets what? Each individual makes that determination. Each individual determines how best to contribute their labor to their society and what goods they require from their society. As long as their demands are satisfied as well as or better than any alternative situation, and as long as they feel the benefits of remaining with the society outweigh the alternative, they will likely continue the relationship.

The More, the Merrier...

What if we were to add a third person or even a fourth to our little society? Would it change anything? How about a few more, say a million or more? Would this affect the way we make our decisions, the way our societies develop, and the manner in which we produce the goods we all require for our very survival? Of course it would!

Every time we add someone into our world, our society, or our family, a change occurs. We may never knowingly experience a difference in our lives, but since we all exist in a closed system sharing the same natural resources, any change that occurs in the world has the potential to affect us all, and let's face it, the only constant in the universe is change.

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Nothing remains the same from moment to moment. That is the very nature of life and the universe we exist in. We exist in a state of continual change. We are born, we age, we grow, we learn, and we change. We change, our world changes, and our universe changes. Change is the essence of our existence because the universe and all that exists within it exist in a continual state of motion, constantly changing. This state of motion and change may not always be apparent to us but is the very nature of our universe and of all the particles that compose all the ordinary matter in the universe. This is why we designated time as a measure of change. So rather than attempting to deny change, why not embrace the concept and work with it?

But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves here. The subject at hand is the increasing population in our hypothetical world. How will additional occupants in our little world affect our society and our understanding of economics? What are the possible consequences of a growing population on our ability to produce the goods necessary for our continued survival? For everyone's survival?

Let's start back at the beginning with demand and supply. Of course, now we're not just talking about a single individual's demand but rather aggregate demand, or the total demand for goods and services in an economy at any given moment in time. All that really means is we have to add up every individual's demand to get to our total, or aggregate, demand. So in essence, we are still talking about each individual's demand. But now we may have millions of individual demands.

To this point we are still discussing demand for essential goods: food, water, clothing, shelter, medical care—that which is essential to survival.

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And as we discussed earlier, no two individuals are likely to have exactly the same demand. Nor is the demand of an individual a static figure; it changes from day to day and year to year depending on the circumstances and environmental conditions we are exposed to and the changes we undergo as we grow and age.

Aggregate demand, too, will have its fluctuations depending on environmental conditions and changing populations. But taken as a whole over an extended period of time, our aggregate demand becomes somewhat more predictable. The more people that are included over a longer period of time tend to average out the extremes, leaving us with a figure that can be adjusted to compensate for long-term population and environmental changes. By calculating aggregate demand, we are also able to estimate the aggregate supply necessary to satisfy it. But then is any of this really any different than it was when there were only a few of us?

As our population grows, so does the significance of the concept of scarcity. There is only a finite amount of naturally occurring resources at any given moment in time from which we may harvest the raw materials we require to produce our finished goods. And at any given moment in time, there is only a finite amount of finished goods available to satisfy the demand of the entire population as a whole.

Perhaps it's time to look a little deeper at our concept of scarcity. Scarcity is one of the defining concepts of the economics of man. How do we best satisfy the demand of every individual with the limited resources that are available at any given time? How do we decide the best way the existing natural resources can be utilized for the benefit of all now and in the future?

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The survival of each individual is inherently connected to the survival of all other individuals in that we all share a common space in the universe and must utilize the same common natural resources. As such, it is in the best interest of all individuals to protect our environment and utilize the available natural resources wisely. And although we might look upon this as representing the limitations of our existence, that would be denying our intellectual and creative potential. It is true that at any given moment in time a finite amount of resources and goods exists, but we can continue producing what we require as long as we recognize both the abundance and the limitations of our environment.

This would be a good time to delve a little deeper into the essence of our natural resources from which we obtain our initial raw materials for production. When we talk about our natural resources, we are talking about all that naturally exists in our world. We're talking about the sunlight that bathes us, the atmosphere that protects us, the water we depend on, the land we exist on and all the elements and minerals contained there, and all the plant and animal life that exists on our planet that together have created the biosphere that provides us with everything we need to survive and flourish. Our natural resources are divided into two main categories: biotic and abiotic.

Biotic resources are those from living or organic origins, including all plants and animals and all the organic materials that are obtained from them. This would also include all the organic material, such as compost and humus, created as biotic matter decomposes. Abiotic resources, on the other hand, come from non-living or inorganic origins. These resources are from the elements that combined to create our planet. Abiotic resources include sunlight, air, water, land, and minerals.

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Although abiotic resources are not dependent on biotic resources for their existence, the opposite is not true. Organic life forms that have originated in our biosphere are dependent on abiotic resources. All living organisms in our biosphere require energy and nutrients in order to carry out essential physiological processes such as growth, respiration, and reproduction. Sunlight provides the energy that powers life, while the other critical building blocks of life, such as oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and more, come from the elements contained in the atmosphere, the land, or the sea.

We require both biotic and abiotic resources for our own existence and survival. All the food we consume that provides the energy we require to survive comes from biotic resources. But then the air we breathe and the water we require are both abiotic resources. All are equally important to us, and we could not survive for long without all of them.

Our dilemma results from a flourishing population on a planet with limited resources. How do we achieve and maintain sustainable development for us and all our descendants? How are we to satisfy the needs of our existing population without compromising the resources that will be necessary for future generations?

Maybe we should take a different approach to categorizing our natural resources. Let's start by looking at our resources when we divide them up into renewable and nonrenewable categories. Renewable resources tend to be biotic resources, as living organisms continue to grow and reproduce as long as the environment they exist in is capable of sustaining them.

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But then air and water, both abiotic, are generally regarded as renewable resources, as they continue to persist due to their abundance. Nonrenewable resources tend to be abiotic, as there is generally no natural regeneration of these resources. However, there are biotic resources, such as oil and coal, that are so slow to form they are generally considered to be nonrenewable.

So again, how do we maintain sustainable development? This should be the defining aspect of our economy. If we as a species are to continue to survive and thrive into the future, this is the challenge we must resolve. We must look at how our economy is affecting the viability of our future generations. Sustainable development means we develop our economy and societies in harmony with our existence in a closed system and in harmony with the concept of scarcity.

In a closed system, every decision we make has the potential to affect everyone in existence now and in the future in our world. So looking at our resources and how we use them and determining how we maintain their perpetual availability for future generations is the first step. Sustainable development means forming our economy in harmony with the ecology of the ecosystem we exist in and recognizing how biotic and abiotic components in ecosystems are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows.

Solar energy from the sun continuously bathes our planet. Most plants, algae, and cyanobacteria are able to capture solar energy and convert it to chemical energy through photosynthesis. The process of photosynthesis involves combining carbon dioxide from our atmosphere with hydrogen from water along with solar energy to form carbohydrates, a form of chemical energy that can be stored and used as needed for sustaining living cells.

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During the process of photosynthesis, oxygen is released as a byproduct back into the air and is one of the main sources of the production of oxygen in our atmosphere.

The chemical energy produced by this process of photosynthesis is the primary source of energy for nearly all biological life in this biosphere. The plants, algae, and cyanobacteria that produce carbohydrates through photosynthesis are known as primary producers or autotrophs. Autotrophs are the only life forms in our biosphere that are capable of producing their own food. All other forms of life in our biosphere are dependent on the chemical energy created by the autotrophs. These other forms of life are known as heterotrophs, which by necessity must consume autotrophs or other heterotrophs to obtain the energy and nutrients required for sustaining their essential life processes.

This process of capturing solar energy, converting it to chemical energy, and then transferring this energy from one life form to another as each is consumed by others constitutes the food chain. Actually, that should be food chains, as there is not just a single linear direct transfer through all forms of life. There are many numerous and varied forms of life, all of which have different nutrient requirements that are satisfied with different forms of diet.

All of the food chains begin with the autotrophs, the primary producers. The first group of heterotrophs, the primary consumers, are herbivores that consume only autotrophs. The secondary consumers consist of both carnivores, organisms that consume only other heterotrophs, and omnivores, organisms that consume both autotrophs and heterotrophs.

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Then finally the detritivores, the last group of heterotrophs, break down the dead autotroph and heterotroph remains, returning their components and the mineral nutrients that were used in the process of photosynthesis and essential life processes back to the ecosystem to be used again. Each linear path from producer to decomposer defines a food chain.

These food chains overlap and intersect with one another as particular food sources are shared among food chains. The result is more of a food web with different food chains connected either directly or indirectly to all of the other food chains. Any impact on a single food chain eventually has some degree of effect on all the others due to these interconnections.

The mineral nutrients required by plants, algae, cyanobacteria, insects, animals, and every other form of life in our biosphere are not limited to just carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen from carbohydrates. Plants require up to 17 different essential elements for growth and metabolism, while human physiology requires over 20 different essential elements for various biochemical processes.

Most of these essential elements, like nitrogen, sulfur, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and so on, are typically obtained by plants from the soil. These essential elements that enter the food chain through plants are then consumed and make their way throughout the various forms of life in their ecosystem until the decomposers return them to the soil to start the cycle over again. In this way, the essential mineral nutrients for all life are continually being recycled. This represents the essential connection between the biotic and abiotic components of our biosphere.

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Along with the mineral nutrients, energy, as mentioned previously, is also continually moving through all the different forms of life in our biosphere. While the mineral nutrients are continuously recycled, energy that started out as solar energy from the sun flows through the system as chemical energy. Through each level of a food chain, this energy is transferred from one form of life to another. Life forms use this energy for cellular activity, which occurs as this energy is released through the process of cellular respiration. Energy is continually being used for biochemical life processes or released as heat as it transfers between different life forms. Only about 10% of the energy from one trophic level actually transfers to the next in the food chain. The last of the energy is finally consumed and released by the decomposers at the end of the food chain. Energy flows in one direction through the food chain until it is completely released. The process of capturing solar energy and converting it through photosynthesis to chemical energy for use in biotic life processes must continually occur for life to exist in our biosphere.

The abiotic components of an ecosystem are the determinant factors of which varieties and how much biotic life can be supported in that ecosystem. The amount of solar energy that reaches an ecosystem and the availability of nutrient minerals in the soil, water, and atmosphere of an ecosystem establish the limits available for supporting life forms. A balance between biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem develops based on this availability of nutrients and energy.

This natural level of equilibrium, though never completely static, remains stable unless a transition occurs that impacts the balance of the biotic to abiotic components. As this is a dynamic system that exists in a continually evolving environment, this state of equilibrium is also subject to continual fluctuation.

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This is the reality of the ecosystems we exist in. Our survival and that of future generations is subject to our reaching an understanding of the concept of scarcity and sustainable development in this dynamic environment. So what does embracing the concept of sustainable development mean for us? And how has any of this affected our concept of scarcity?

In the same way the nutrients that support life on Earth have been continuously recycled since life first appeared on this planet, the resources used in the production of the goods we create must necessarily be recycled for use again and again if we are to address scarcity and sustainable development. These resources are the "nutrients" that support our economies and lives as we have come to know them. Every time we merely discard products with no consideration for the reintegration of the resources they were composed of, we inadvertently advance the condition of scarcity by limiting the availability of potential resources for future production. When that involves nonrenewable resources, we additionally diminish the actual potential of our economy.

As we live in essentially a closed system, these resources recycle whether it is our intention or not; nothing just goes away. This being the case, it is in our best interest to ensure there are no unintended consequences as a result of this process. If we merely discard our obsolete products into landfills and cover them over without taking into consideration the possible interactions that might occur, we run the risk of potentially producing reactions and creating contaminants that we may eventually find difficult to contain.

Perhaps the technology we employ in the construction of our landfills will be sufficient to constrain any consequences in our lifetime, and maybe for several more generations.

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But what happens when these structures that were created as landfills begin to degrade? Let's face it, nothing lasts forever, no matter how well conceived or constructed. So what happens in the future when these structures do begin to give way? What sort of potential contaminants may we be unwittingly creating to be released upon future generations?

Every time we knowingly or otherwise release some form of contaminant into our environment, we are potentially limiting the resources available to us for production, which potentially limits the extent of our very survival as a species. Contaminants alter the environmental conditions we exist in, which impacts the ecology of our environment. We are potentially contributing to an increase in the naturally occurring scarcity and limiting sustainable development every time we knowingly or otherwise contaminate our environment.

Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that causes adverse change, and pollution exists in many forms today:

Air pollution—the contamination of the atmosphere that disturbs the natural composition and chemistry of the air.

Water pollution—any contamination of water, whether from chemical, particulate, or bacterial matter, that degrades the water's quality and purity.

Soil pollution—contamination of the soil that prevents natural growth and balance in the land, whether it is used for cultivation, habitation, or wildlife.

Noise pollution—undesirable levels of noise caused by human activity that disrupt the natural ecology in the affected area.

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Thermal pollution—excess heat that creates undesirable effects over long periods of time.

Light pollution—the over-illumination of an area that affects the natural ecology of an area.

These are just some of the forms of pollution that are impacting and altering our environment and ecology. Every time we alter our environment, we potentially limit the resources necessary for life, as we know it, to continue to flourish.

We know we have limited abiotic resources, as they are essentially nonrenewable. Using them once and then discarding them from further use is simply unsustainable. Our biotic resources are generally renewable, but their ability to reproduce, grow, and flourish depends on the availability of the appropriate abiotic resources to sustain that growth. Any reduction or contamination of abiotic resources potentially reduces the availability of biotic resources.

Every time we impact the abiotic natural resources that exist in our environment, every time we inadvertently pollute or otherwise threaten the integrity of our air, water, and soil, we limit the potential ability of our biotic resources to continue growing and reproducing. Any degradation of our abiotic resources eventually results in a corresponding degradation of our biotic resources.

Life has been able to survive on Earth for over 3.5 billion years, in an essentially closed system, by maintaining the integrity of the environment through the process of natural recycling of materials and resources; why would there be any difference now?

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Although we have a limited supply of abiotic resources available for production, we have the ability to reuse the same resources an unlimited number of times. And as long as the environment remains viable, our biotic resources will continue to flourish and reproduce. Recycling of materials and resources is key to addressing scarcity and sustainable development. Simply discarding items should not be an option. Everything should be recycled to be reused as resources for production or decomposed to base elements such that they may be safely reintegrated into the environment.

In a closed system, everything works together. Any sort of change to any part of the system is going to eventually result in a corresponding change to the rest of the system. That is the very nature of a closed system: the elements within function with and are dependent upon one another. Another way we refer to this concept is as synergy, or in other words, the whole is greater than the simple sum of its parts. This concept relates not only to the world we live in but also to almost every facet of our existence. It is the basis of all our creations. It is the basis of all our societies. It is what has allowed us to progress to where we are today and where we will be tomorrow.

But there is another side to synergy; the loss of any of the parts may result in unexpected consequences. By definition, the loss of any part will reduce the sum of the parts and thus the whole. With many parts and an expansive whole, the loss of an insignificant part may not appear to have any consequential effect on the whole. But as the losses add up, their whole is also greater than the simple sum of their parts. Therein lies the difficulty in predicting how the loss of any one part may affect the whole; it is not necessarily the loss of any one part but the cumulative effect from the loss of multiple parts.

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This does not necessarily result in a negative effect on the whole, nor does it necessarily result in a positive effect. It is more a recognition that in a complex closed system consisting of oh so many parts, we just cannot take every possible consequence of our actions into account.

So recognizing all these different aspects of our reality, how do we incorporate the concepts of scarcity and sustainable development as fundamental principles in the economy of our growing civilization? We start where we left off and continue to expand the concepts that we have developed to this point.

When we left our two inhabitants, they were free to make their own decisions as to how they would provide for their own needs. They were free to be totally independent of one another or participate in a mutually beneficial partnership. At any point that the partnership was no longer deemed mutually beneficial by one or both, they were free to go their separate ways. And we looked at the relative nature of the concept of value. None of this has changed. No matter how many people are involved, the basic nature of people and their interactions is still the same. We are all still unique individuals with our own needs and desires.

But we are also social beings. We desire interactions with others. Our potential for creating and producing the goods necessary for our continued survival can be greatly enhanced through our association with others. Our greatest resource is us. It is our intellectual capacity that has allowed us to manipulate the natural resources we have available to us into products that could only be imagined at one time.

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When there were two inhabitants of our little world, we had the opportunity to double our intellectual and physical resources. Now we have the opportunity to greatly expand our intellectual and physical resources.

As unique individuals, it is in our best interest to nurture each and every addition to our society. No two of us have exactly the same intellectual or physical potential. No two of us are going to have exactly the same creative capacity. But put all of us together, and there is virtually nothing we cannot accomplish. Every individual is a gift to our community and brings something unique. Our challenge is to harness all this intellectual and physical capacity in a manner that is of the greatest benefit to everyone now and in the future. The question has always been how to organize an economic system that is capable of making the best use of our abilities for the benefit of all.

Even as our societies grow increasingly larger and more complex, they are still just individuals coming together for their mutual benefit. Creating a culture that encourages every individual to achieve their full potential represents the pinnacle of a civilization's development. And as every individual is unique, only each individual can determine how they can best contribute to their society. In the same way, only each individual can make the determination as to what they require to achieve their full potential.

As we are now a vast resource of intellectual and physical capabilities, our potential for producing the goods necessary to satisfy the demand of the entire population has grown in proportion to the growth of our population.

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As such, it is in our best interest as a species to recognize and adhere to the concepts of scarcity and sustainable development if we intend to respect the rights of future generations to exist and flourish. But there is no reason to view these concepts as limitations to our economic prosperity. Instead, we should view these concepts as the basis for creating economic stability.

Our methods of production should be based upon our existence in an essentially closed system. Nothing should ever just go to waste; everything should be recycled or reintegrated back into the system in a controlled manner. No factor of production and no product should ever have any detrimental effect on our environment. This, of course, includes the production and use of energy.

Energy sources produced and used at a cost of degradation to the environment represent a fundamental hypocrisy to an economy. Energy is the foundation of production in an economy. Without the availability of adequate energy sources, the ability to transform materials into the products we demand is limited. But energy sources that result in contaminating our environment are limitations to our economies and civilizations. Reliance on energy sources that result in contamination of the environment results in potentially limiting the availability of the resources necessary to our very survival and that of future generations.

The foundation of a stable, sustainable economy is based on maintaining a viable and healthy environment above all else. All the elements that our economy is dependent upon are derived from our environment. Any degradation of our environment, for any reason, corresponds to a loss of potential economic viability.

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But a growing population requires economic growth. Economic progress is the principle that relates economic growth, scarcity, and sustainable development in a continually evolving environment to a stable, sustainable economy. True economic progress results in improving the quality of our lives. True economic progress can only occur within a sustainable economy.

So maybe a little clarification is necessary here: what is the difference between economic growth and economic progress? Don't they basically mean the same thing? Not really, although growing populations increase the necessity for both if we are to maintain a sustainable economy and viable environment now and into the future.

As a single inhabitant of our own realm, all alone, we were responsible for all the production to supply all the goods necessary to satisfy our individual demand and assure our survival. First, we needed a supply of water. Once we had our source of water, our economy had its first product. Even if all we had to do was scoop some water out of a stream, it represented a product we had a demand for that was necessary for our very survival.

Well, actually, you might consider the air we breathe to be the first product in our economy, but we tend to take that for granted until it's missing or compromised. But if we do recognize air as the first product in our economy, when we found water, we actually grew our economy. Our economy grew from a single product to two products. And in this case, finding water actually represented economic progress also, as our potential for survival and thus the quality of our lives had improved. Our economic situation had grown and gotten better.

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Once we found a source of food to nourish us, our economy again both grew and progressed. Our economy grew because we added an additional product to it, and it progressed because it made our situation better. Our potential for survival had significantly improved with having both water and now food available, which definitely improved the quality of our life.

If we added a second person into our society and economy, we would necessarily require additional products to support the increase in our population. Additional water and food for a growing population would be economic growth. Population growth creates the potential for economic progress, but if all we are doing is increasing the production of the goods we are currently producing, there is only growth occurring without progress.

Well, actually, it could be argued that, being social creatures, an increase in the population of our society does represent an improved situation for us. The increased socialization opportunities of a growing population would likely improve the quality of most people's lives, meeting the intent of economic progress. But as our population continues to grow, and if we continue to only increase the amount of water and food to support this growing population, the benefit to our society will increasingly be mainly potential, while the social benefits of each additional person will likely only be of incremental importance to our society as a whole. Our economy will continue to grow to support our increasing population, but this will not necessarily represent any significant improvement in our situation, and thus only nominal economic progress, if any at all, will occur.

Economic growth is an expansion or increase in the production of goods and services.

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As the population grows, the economy must necessarily grow to support an increasing population. But if society is to experience economic progress, the economy will need to grow innovatively. Economic progress occurs as our methods of production and distribution improve and as the quality of the goods we produce improves. It does not necessarily involve economic growth, though the two often take place concurrently.

As the population continues to grow, sustainable economic growth is increasingly dependent on economic progress. Growing an economy to the point of overproduction under the assumption that unlimited production of redundant products will increase the quality of life results in conditions where sustainability is not necessarily a primary consideration. Unbridled economic growth merely for the sake of growth is often at the expense of the environment and sustainability. Growth of this nature potentially diminishes economic viability through unnecessary expenditure of resources that might otherwise be applied to future production of more beneficial products.

This doesn't mean we have to deprive ourselves of the products that improve our quality of life. In fact, the whole point is to develop a stable, sustainable economy that will enable everyone to live a life with the opportunities to fulfill their potential and an economy that will continue to provide the same opportunities for all future generations to come. Certainly this all sounds well and good, but what does it all mean in terms of actually creating a sustainable economy?

We need to look at the underlying concepts that result in real economic progress if this is to make any sense. So let's start by looking at the concept of innovation.

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We mentioned earlier that for society to experience economic progress, the economy must grow innovatively. Innovation is the introduction of something new. For progress to occur, innovation must occur. But innovation does not necessarily spawn progress. Just because something new is introduced into an economy does not necessarily mean that the quality of life for those involved improves. Innovation is exactly what it says: the introduction of something new. It is not necessarily good, bad, of benefit, or of no benefit. It is something new. It may be a new idea, a new method, a new device, or just a new way of looking at an old problem. Until it is put into practical application, the actual benefit that may or may not occur is theoretical.

Technology is the realization of innovation. Technology is the science of the application of knowledge to practical purposes. Innovation occurs when we conceive of a new way to look at our world. Advances in technology result from incorporating innovation into real-world solutions. Again, this is not an endorsement as to the relevance that any particular technology may or may not have with regard to benefiting mankind. This is a recognition of the process that occurs and is continually occurring and is necessary for us to realize economic progress.

Innovation and the resulting technologies are the drivers behind economic progress. As our population grows and our economic needs increase, economic progress becomes increasingly important if we are to maintain the viability of our world for future generations. And if economic progress is the principle that relates economic growth, scarcity, and sustainable development to a sustainable economy, efficiency should be the underlying basis for advances in new technologies resulting from innovation. Efficiency defines the structure of a sustainable economy.

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Making the best and wisest use of our resources can only be achieved through production based on efficiency. But there is more to the concept of efficiency in economics than just the process of production. The quality, durability, and value of products are all elements of efficiency. The greater the degree of quality and durability a product possesses, the less often that product will have to be replaced. Reducing the need for continually replacing products decreases the load on production, which reduces the expenditure of energy, time, and materials.

Producing higher-value products is part of the answer. Products with greater relative value, those that improve the quality of life of the people that possess them, are the types of products that make the best and wisest use of our resources. There are some products that almost everyone will find valuable. Other products will be valuable to some but not to others. Everyone is unique and has different needs and desires. The products that are most valuable to each individual, those that will elevate their life and contribute to their ability to reach their fullest potential, are the types of products that make the best and wisest use of our resources.

Consideration as to the end of a product's useful life should be part of the initial design of the product. This too is another aspect of efficiency. Of course, some products will last for a very long time and will even improve in quality and value with age. Maintenance and care for these types of items should be part of the considerations taken when they are being designed. But for those items with a more limited lifespan, the materials used in constructing the items must eventually be recycled in one form or another to maintain the stream of resources necessary for continued sustainable production and to maintain the integrity of the environment.

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Planning in the beginning for this eventuality can reduce the expenditure of energy, time, and materials required for this process when that moment comes.

Creating a sustainable economy means structuring our economy to operate in harmony with our existence in an essentially closed system. Maintaining a sustainable economy with a growing population in a closed system means using innovative concepts to develop technologies that will allow us to produce the goods we demand while preserving the environment we depend on. True, we exist in an essentially closed system. But we have renewable resources that are continually replenishing and naturally occurring nonrenewable resources that are capable of being continually recycled into new products. Once we understand the parameters we have to work with and the nature of the system we exist in, we can begin developing methods of production and products that will lead to true economic progress.

Nor should a growing population necessarily be looked upon as a burden to an economic system. Scarcity does not specifically exist because of a growing population but more because of how the issue is approached. There will always be only a finite amount of goods in existence at any given moment in time. But then there is only a finite population in existence at any given moment in time. A growing population does not necessarily place an undue burden on the existing resources as long as the methods of production and the goods produced are done so in a sustainable manner.

As our population grows, so does our intellectual capacity. The more people are given the opportunity to develop creative approaches to addressing our needs in a sustainable manner, the greater the opportunities to realize true economic progress become.

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As innovation flourishes, so do advances in technology. When these advances are the result of innovations that promote sustainable development and a sustainable economy, true economic progress results. Creating a society that nurtures and provides the opportunities for each and every individual to fulfill their potential is the basis for producing economic progress. So how do we get there?

Regardless of population growth, the basic principles of survival persist. We each have needs we require on a recurring basis if we are to continue to survive. Each of us is unique, and no two of us have exactly the same needs. No one else is capable of determining exactly the needs of another. No one else is capable of determining how best another might go about satisfying their needs. The responsibility for satisfying demand requires each of us, in some manner, to put forth the effort necessary to accomplish this objective. What has changed is the potential that exists for innovation leading to true economic progress. And through economic progress, the nature of our participation begins to evolve.

Since we are all unique individuals, as our population increases, we incorporate an increasing diversity of unique individuals within our society. Increasing diversity brings multiple facets of knowledge and ideas together, favoring the potential for the development of meaningful innovation. Bringing together people to share and explore diverse collections of knowledge creates the potential for realizing innovative approaches to resolving even the most complex issues. It allows us the opportunity to expand our reach of knowledge beyond the capabilities of any single individual.

As a group, we always possess the potential to achieve beyond that of an individual.

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And the more inclusive we are, the greater that potential grows. It all goes back to the concept of synergy: the whole is greater than the simple sum of its parts. Working together, openly sharing the knowledge each of us has accumulated in our lives, and building upon the knowledge that has been passed along to us from those who came before provides us with a wealth of knowledge and potential that only continues to grow as we grow. We, together as a world community, have virtually unlimited potential.

Our individual uniqueness supplies us with the many varied pieces necessary for conceiving of innovations of every imaginable concept. Collaboration and cooperation facilitate this process of creativity and bring together the components capable of seeing a concept through to fruition. But it is within each individual where the creative forces originate and eventually are realized as the basis for innovation that leads to advances in technology. And one of the driving forces behind these advances is competition. But perhaps not in the traditional sense it is usually thought of.

Competition is part of the nature of the ecosystems we exist in. It is not inherently good or bad; it merely is. In a closed system that is continually evolving with many different forms of life that exist, grow, change, reproduce, and eventually end, competition describes the nature of that existence and the relationships of the varied forms of life to one another. The many forms of life in our biosphere exist in a fluid state of equilibrium. This state of equilibrium is a result of existence in a finite space with limited abiotic resources available at any particular point in time to support multiple forms of life. Competition describes the nature of how this state of equilibrium comes to exist and continually evolves as multiple forms of life occupy this finite space.

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In a closed system, any change within the system affects the rest of the system. Environmental evolution produces continually changing conditions that result in changing populations of species as they either adapt successfully to these changes or decline. This continual process of some forms of life adapting successfully to changing conditions while others decline is the very nature of competition. Competition, arguably, is an innate quality of life that can, for our purposes, be defined simply as the persistence for survival. The persistence for survival is where this whole discussion on economics started in the first place. And competition is an intrinsic characteristic of economics. Understanding the basis of competition and our relationship with the concept is fundamental to our understanding of our existence in this biosphere and of our economies.

Currently it is estimated that there are, at the very least, millions of different forms of life in existence. But during all the time that life has existed here, there are estimates that over a billion different species of life have gone extinct. Every form of life continues to exist as long as the conditions that are necessary for its survival and reproduction continue to exist. There are many different conditions, both environmental and physiological, that are necessary to support different forms of life. Some forms of life have very specific conditions they require for survival, while others are more adaptable. Depending on the prevailing conditions, certain forms of life will flourish and their populations will expand, while others may experience a decline.

Sometimes expanding populations of different species may become a limiting factor to the possible expansion of other species. Every entity of life occupies space and requires resources to survive.

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And every entity of life comes into existence, we believe, with an innate sensibility for survival. Every form of life that comes into existence has some form of innate mechanism for consuming the resources necessary for survival. Every form of life has an innate mechanism for reproduction. Reproduction ensures the survival of the species. The fluctuating populations of the many forms of life within a closed system and the effects these fluctuations impose upon every other form of life are the essence of competition.

However, man's evolution has altered the concept of competition. As a species, man developed the ability to adapt to virtually any sort of environmental condition he was presented with. Then we took it a step farther as we began modifying our environment as we created our civilizations.

Man is but one of the species that inhabits this biosphere, and as such, his evolution and creations are as much a part of the evolving nature of our biosphere as any other. Even so, if we are to continue to survive as a species, it is incumbent upon us to respect the nature and integrity of the ecosystems in our biosphere that have allowed life as we know it to flourish for millions of years.

All life that exists in this biosphere has evolved in relation to all other forms of life. These relationships are not necessarily obvious, yet that is the nature of existence in a closed system. As we looked at earlier, all life is interconnected by the food web. The loss of any form of life directly impacts the food chain it was a part of. And as every food chain is interconnected with all others, any impact to one has implications for all. This is a natural sequence that is representative of the dynamic system we exist in.

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Every time we lose a species of life, the entire web of life has to adjust until a new level of equilibrium is established. Even what may seem to us as an insignificant or even nuisance form of life is an integral part of the web of life.

There are numerous intricacies in the relationships of life in our biosphere. But man has developed into such a dominant species at this point that it is incumbent upon us to consider how our actions and developments are impacting this web of life. Our continued survival here depends upon the viability of this web of life. This represents the essence of competition as it relates to our existence. Competition is not a winner-takes-all consequence but rather a recognition of the interdependence of all life. Our survival depends upon maintaining the integrity of our environment and its ecology, which includes recognizing and respecting the rights of all the different forms of life to exist in our biosphere.

Competition is about working together to ensure the survival of the species, all species. All life on our planet has evolved as part of a unified ecosystem. In such a complex, dynamic system that is continually evolving, it is difficult to recognize the full extent of all the interconnectedness. Once again we are describing the concept of synergy, where the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts.

Synergy is the underlying concept in the existence of our biosphere and all that exists within it and throughout our universe. Competition is about maintaining the integrity and viability of our biosphere and all life that exists within it. Our survival as a species is dependent upon us recognizing our relationship to and dependency on all other forms of life within this world.

47 Synergy...

Man is a social creature by nature. The survival of our species is dependent upon our socialization. So too is our individual health and well-being. And although we are capable of amazing individual accomplishments, without someone to share them with, they tend to lack meaning.

In the kingdom Animalia, man belongs to the class Mammalia, order Primates. Early primates are believed to have evolved from life on the ground into life as tree dwellers, which offered safety from predatory terrestrial dwellers and an array of food in the form of insects, leaves, fruits, and nuts. Trees and other plants rely on insects, birds, and mammals for help pollinating and dispersing their seeds, ensuring their continued survival as a species, and providing nutritious and flavorful forage in return. But there is only so much available for consumption on any one tree at any given time, so the early arboreal primates had to learn how to continually travel from tree to tree.

Climbing down a tree and traveling on the ground to find the next tree to climb involved inherent danger from terrestrial predators. Eventually, the early arboreal primates developed the necessary skills to travel through the canopies of the trees without ever having to set foot on the ground.

Of course, these skills involved improved stereoscopic vision for judging branch size and distance in coordination with enhanced hand and foot movement. They also required heightened memories and improved pattern recognition for navigating through three-dimensional space as opposed to just walking along the ground.

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Since these skills now necessitated substantially enhanced intellectual capabilities compared to their previous terrestrial existence, tree-dwelling primates are believed to have begun developing larger brains, as compared to other mammals, to accommodate their transition to an arboreal existence. However, the development rate of young primates from birth was now also slower than other mammals. Developing the physical and intellectual skills necessary to successfully navigate their environment had become more involved. As such, they experienced a longer juvenile period between weaning and sexual maturity than other mammals but also tended to have longer lifespans.

During this extended infant and juvenile phase, young primates were more susceptible than adults to predation and starvation. Their survival was dependent on a social structure consisting of adults to provide protection and food and teach them the survival skills they would require as they matured. Likewise, interacting and playing with other primate juveniles contributed to developing their social and survival skills. Adults may also have had to support one another, as one parent may have been occupied with protecting and feeding an infant while others provided protection and nutrition for the caregiver. But changing environmental conditions began limiting forestation in certain areas, and some of these now arboreal species of primates began transitioning back to life either partially or entirely on the ground.

As they began the process of adjusting to a more terrestrial existence and now lacking the physical characteristics and familiarity with the terrestrial environment necessary to endure against the predators they might encounter, living in social groups offered security inherent in numbers. As a group, they could look out for one another and alert the others if danger approached.

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And as a group, they possessed much greater physical strength and potential abilities than as isolated individuals.

What these primates lacked in physical characteristics was being compensated for with intellectual and social development. Their evolution to an arboreal existence had already initiated intellectual development for adapting to life in unfamiliar circumstances. Transitioning back to a now mostly unfamiliar terrestrial environment once again presented new challenges to confront. There existed new competitors for resources. New skills for locating and accessing food had to be developed. Life was changing again, and to once more successfully adapt involved the continued development of intellectual and social skills.

Though living in social groups represented a natural defense against predators, that was only one of the benefits. Increased resource detection, cooperation, and social learning are all benefits associated with group living. And as long as the collective benefits of group living outweighed the collective costs, social groups would continue to develop and evolve.

Primates naturally evolved into social beings, as this behavior enhanced the survival chances of the species under challenging environmental circumstances. And the process of evolving into social beings is believed to have originally developed from a trait common among all mammals: empathy.

The essence of empathy in mammals is believed to have evolved in context with parental care of infants. Being able to recognize when their infants needed care was essential to their survival and the survival of their species.

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The more empathetic the parents were to the needs of their infants, the greater the rate of survival of their infants to adolescence was.

And empathy is also believed to be the trait that allowed the group to recognize when danger was detected by an individual member. When one individual sensed a danger, empathy allowed the other members of the group to recognize and share that feeling. Being alerted to potential danger allowed the group to take protective action. As the care of infants and the detection of danger both contributed to the survival rate of the species, empathy continued to pass down through the generations and became well established in primates.

In early man, cooperation is then believed to have naturally evolved from empathy. Even with only basic tools, cooperation between group members enhances the abilities of the group to extend beyond that which single individuals are capable of accomplishing. Tasks that are beyond the ability of a single individual to achieve are much less overwhelming and more feasible for a group that possesses far greater strength and diverse abilities compared to an individual.

As a group, their capacity for resource detection was enhanced, as they were capable of surveying far greater expanses of territory, and no two individuals are going to view their surroundings in exactly the same manner. More eyes observing the world around them meant more opportunities to discover valuable resources in their midst. Increased resource detection meant more reliable access to the essential goods necessary for the survival of all. Cooperating together as a group resulted in greater consistency and stability in production per individual compared to the alternatives.

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Cooperation enhanced their ability for survival as a species and as individuals.

Early human scavengers are believed to have transitioned into small social groups of hunter-gatherers up to 2 million years ago. These small groups are believed to have been primarily egalitarian in nature, as they had only minimal possessions at best and a common goal: survival. In each group, all was shared, as all contributed within the basis of their abilities, and need determined distribution.

This system of contributing based on ability and sharing based on need enabled hunter-gatherers to engage in the pursuit that best suited their individual abilities while offsetting the consequences when, say, perhaps hunting may have resulted in less consistent yields than gathering or vice versa. Their aggregate production as a group compensated for disparities inherent in individual production while recognizing the pertinence of each individual's contribution to the group as a whole. Small children and their mothers could be subsidized when they were not able to contribute as much as they might consume. Support could be provided to those who were old, ill, or injured.

Individuals engaging with others gave rise to social learning, the continuous process of learning through social interaction with other people. Through social learning, man was able to broaden his knowledge and skills by interacting within a diverse group of individuals, each possessing unique characteristics. Diversity brings new ideas and ways of looking at challenges we may not have conceived of on our own. Innovation is cultivated where diversity is embraced, and of course, innovation is the basis for economic progress.

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With empathy, cooperation, and social learning as attributes contributing to the development of an increasingly resilient species, man's social and intellectual development continued to evolve. And the relationships and bonds between the individuals comprising these social groups were growing and evolving likewise.

With early man, social learning likely was focused initially on skills and knowledge relevant to basic survival. Methods for fabricating and technology for improving hunting implements and possibly hunting techniques may well have occupied much of the focus of early social learning, along with any other techniques or technology related to improving basic survival capabilities. But as social groups continued to persist and as the groups became more enduring, social learning eventually began to evolve as man's relationships to one another continued to grow.

Through continued interactions, man was developing basic skills of communication necessary for relaying information. Whether through drawing, creating basic symbols, physical demonstrations, or the beginnings of verbal communication, man was learning to express information and concepts to others. As their communication skills continued to progress, they began to develop means of expressing increasingly complex and even abstract concepts. Man was able to begin sharing more personal concepts of life, including thoughts relating to social development and structure. Man was beginning to develop and express concepts relating to culture.

The gradual development of culture in man's social groups represented another milestone in man's social and intellectual evolution.

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As man's interactions with one another continued to develop and as he was now able to contemplate and discuss increasingly complex concepts that previously he had been unable to express, he began developing concepts regarding the nature of his relationships with one another and with life in general. As these concepts continued to develop, those that contributed to improving the lives of the group members would find acceptance. And as social groups interacted, they too would share different concepts with one another, and gradually small societies based on common cultural beliefs developed. The development of culture in man's social groups, based on shared beliefs, customs, and behaviors rather than just as a means of survival, added a new aspect to man's evolution.

Working together in a cooperative social group had already provided a degree of resilience and stability to man's capability for survival. With the emergence of the development of culture, the transition of social groups into societies was a natural progression in man's social development. Humans were not just learning basic skills from one another; they were also continuing to broaden their knowledge and their intellectual abilities, and they were continuing to develop more profound relationships with one another. They were learning to complement one another by combining their unique abilities to the benefit of the group. This strategy was creating groups capable of adapting to almost any sort of conditions they might encounter.

As the more successful groups continued developing into small, unified societies, the behavior of the individual members was increasingly centered around benefiting the group. Prosocial behavior is a natural evolution of individuals coming and working together in a successful and cooperative lifestyle. Behavior that benefited the group benefited the individuals.

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Prosocial behavior also provided individuals an opportunity to distinguish themselves within the group through innovative and conscientious activities.

Recognition of individuals for their contributions to their community provided an incentive for the continuation of this behavior. Through recognition by others, individuals experience a sense of self-value derived from having been of benefit to their community and the continued success of their species. Anything and everything that is well-intentioned and contributes to the successful continuance and continued development of humanity, regardless of how simple or complex, contributes value. When an individual willfully contributes to the best of their ability, regardless of the nature of the contribution, they live a life of purpose and of value to the species and deserve recognition for their value to humanity.

Man's continuing social and intellectual development was contributing to his adaptability under dynamic circumstances. Adaptability is a key attribute to the long-term continued success of every species. As the adaptability of the human species was benefiting from the evolving intellectual and social development of the individual, these were attributes that the species would continue to favor. Additionally, as his social behaviors continued to evolve, early man was developing a new quality, altruism, where man's concern for the well-being of others existed independently of his need for personal benefit or recognition.

Man's evolution as a social being was maturing. His health and well-being were increasingly and inextricably tied to the health and well-being of the group. As such, actions he took to benefit those around him promoted the well-being of all, including himself, both physically and mentally.

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Early hunter-gatherer societies are believed to have naturally evolved to a life of altruism because these characteristics contributed to their quality of life and the stability of their society.

Man was developing the intellectual and social qualities necessary for him to become the dominant species across the globe. By working together and learning from one another, man was able to adapt to continually changing circumstances in a dynamic environment and expand his knowledge and abilities far beyond that of any other species of life in existence on the planet. Empathy, cooperation, social learning, culture, prosocial behavior, and altruism were contributing to the evolution of a species with unlimited potential for growth.

As his intellectual abilities continued to expand, he eventually discovered he was capable of manipulating the natural resources available to him in endless ways. He began to domesticate crops and animals for consumption rather than hunting and gathering. This new practice, agriculture, enabled man to develop increasingly stable communities and growing civilizations.

Man was on his way to revolutionizing the concept of existence. And again, the qualities that had brought man to this point in time—empathy, cooperation, social learning, culture, prosocial behavior, and altruism—are the same inherent qualities fundamental to maintaining sustainability as man's civilizations continue to evolve. Man's manipulation of our natural resources has extended well beyond our early endeavors into agriculture. We have forever altered our environment through urbanization.

Urbanization represented the beginning of our move towards creating an extensive built environment.

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The process of urbanization is not inherently good or bad; it is just the reality of an increasing population of inquisitive and creative social beings continuing to evolve. We and our creations are no less a natural part of the evolution of our environment and ecosystem than those of any other species.

The difference between us and other species is the degree of intellectual development we have achieved, leading to our ability to manipulate our environment in ways no other species has ever been capable of even conceiving of. Our intellect is what has allowed us to continue to evolve beyond simple survival strategies to where we develop increasingly complex societies and create an increasingly complex built environment for our species to exist in.

Everyone acquires knowledge in many different ways and with different levels of effectiveness, just as everyone processes that acquired knowledge in different ways for different reasons with different results. Intelligence is actually applying knowledge in a rational manner to new situations. Intelligence produces innovation. And intelligence is as varied and unique as each individual is.

Sometimes knowledge seems to come to us from nowhere, out of the blue. These types of revelations are often cited as moments of intuition. And rather than being a "conscious rational process," intuition is believed to be more of a subconscious process where long-term memory of past experiences and knowledge is evaluated for patterns and relevance to current situations. As we are unaware that this process is taking place, when the results suddenly manifest in our consciousness, we attribute it to intuition. That this process is taking place at all demonstrates the unique complexity of human intellectual development.

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But these moments of intuition can provide the inspiration that leads us to unique discoveries and understandings of our existence and that of the world and its components in which we exist.

Our early social and intellectual development evolved concurrently. Likely, this is no coincidence but rather signifies the nature of the relationship between the two. Our intellectual development depended on social interaction as a catalyst to evolve beyond a basic level of understanding. Much in the same manner, our social development depended on intellectual development to evolve beyond a basic level of socialization. Neither one would likely have continued to evolve without the other. Collaboration among unique and diverse individuals expands the potential for accumulating knowledge. This sharing of experiences and knowledge among a diverse group of individuals produces an environment favorable to contemplation and innovation.

But this was only possible thanks to the development of a method of communication capable of expressing both concrete and abstract concepts. The development of such a language was the defining ability that allowed our evolution, both socially and intellectually, to transcend that of all other species in our biosphere.

We are not the only species with the ability to communicate in one form or another. And that we were able to expand our ability to communicate to encompass complex and abstract concepts points again to our unique evolutionary path. This ability to express complex and abstract concepts to one another broadened the scope of our intellectual development. Now we were capable of expanding our view of life. We were able to see beyond the present and look to the possibilities the future might hold for us.

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But we were also able to document and retain the history of our existence, at least after a certain point in time. The ability to formulate, express, and discuss these concepts took our social and intellectual development to an entirely new level.

Still, our potential as a species and as an integral part of this world is most congruous when our intellectual pursuits are guided by our social qualities. Empathy, cooperation, social learning, culture, prosocial behavior, and altruism represent the foundation of human social development. These are the attributes that address the well-being of the species as a whole and the quality of life of each individual. Without these qualities to guide our continuing intellectual development, our societies and our social development, along with all our creations in turn, suffer. Our greatest intellectual achievements and material creations are those that are developed in harmony with our social qualities.

Every individual represents potential. Providing for and encouraging each and every individual to develop to their fullest potential produces a society embracing its fullest potential. Universal and unconditional access to education, health care, nutrition, and shelter is fundamental to our continued development as a species. Only when our entire population has open access to all the essential resources necessary to living a healthy life that allows them to fully pursue their interests can society begin to approach its full potential.

We are not just individuals; we are a community. And as a species that has come to inhabit and dominate every region in our world, we function as a single worldwide community. What happens to or with any group or society within our community has some form of effect on the rest of the community.

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We may not be aware of it or recognize the effect that is occurring, but as an interdependent global species, any effect on any part of our community impacts the whole of our community.

In that same manner, every individual is an integral part of our community. Ensuring that every individual develops to their fullest potential is in the best interest of the community. As a community, we possess all the knowledge and abilities necessary to address any challenges we may face as a species. Educational institutions provide opportunities for us to examine, contemplate, discuss, and explore the infinite avenues of intellectual, artistic, and spiritual research with others engaged in similar pursuits. These institutions represent social learning at its best.

Understanding life and the universe we exist in has taken us on an intellectual journey of endless possibilities. That we even recognize the vastness of the universe we exist in is an accomplishment in itself. Openly and freely sharing knowledge creates a basis for a continually expanding accumulation of information, awareness, and appreciation for the universe we exist in.

Problem-solving and innovation flourish in an open environment. Open access to information and knowledge without restrictions and collective collaboration on understanding difficult challenges impacting the well-being and sustainability of our existence provide the greatest potential for realizing sustainable solutions to the challenges we face as an evolving community. Universal access to educational opportunities is the foundation of equitable and sustainable societies. Any restriction of educational opportunities to any segment of our population represents lost potential.

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It is our great diversity of individuals that has enhanced our intellectual development. As unique individuals, each of us has developed unique bodies of knowledge as a result of our personal journey through life. No single individual will ever experience life in exactly the same manner as any other. They may share similar experiences or even share a presence together at a particular event, but their experience will be unique to them, as our means of perceiving the world around us is unique to each of us. Each one of us interprets the events and experiences we live through in our own unique manner. Each of us possesses a unique perception of life and the world we exist in. Together we represent virtually an unlimited resource of experiences and knowledge. Sharing of those experiences and knowledge is what has enabled our species to continue to develop intellectually without bounds. A diverse population provides us with knowledge, inspiration, and awareness of possibilities we may never have experienced or conceived of on our own.

The function of a society is to provide the opportunities for each individual to realize their full potential and to live healthy, safe, happy, and prosperous lives. The success of a society is recognized as wealth—the happiness and well-being of the society. Everyone deserves the opportunity to be successful. Every individual deserves to be wealthy. Every individual should have the opportunity and access to the resources necessary for them to pursue the interests that bring them happiness and contribute to their well-being.

The capacity of a society to provide for the welfare of every individual is dependent on embracing the diversity and vast array of knowledge and abilities of all the individuals that comprise the society.

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No single individual possesses the interest, aptitude, or time within their lifespan to acquire all the knowledge and master all the skill sets associated with every facet of our existence. As a community, we possess almost limitless knowledge and abilities for problem-solving, innovation, and production. Our strength and resilience come from our unity as a species. Through open collaboration and cooperation, there is almost nothing we are not capable of accomplishing.

Our defining quality as an intellectual and social species is that of empowering those around us. We, as a species, have been evolving to this point for a very long time. From empathy to altruism, our evolution as a species has long centered around empowering those individuals in our family and social groups. Promoting the welfare of the group, demonstrating the ability to contribute in a significant and purposeful manner to the welfare of the group, helping others to realize and reach their potential, and recognizing individuals for their contributions to the community not only enhance our capacity for survival but also provide individuals with avenues to personal fulfillment.

Our social and intellectual evolution leading to the realization of our sense of community represents our natural tendency for survival of both ourselves and our species. This sense of survival is nothing unique to our species but rather a natural consequence of life. "Self-preservation" is the term generally used when referring to behaviors that ensure the survival of an organism and is thought to be universal among all living organisms. The process of an organism avoiding being harmed or killed is considered a basic instinct for most forms of life under most circumstances and is further associated with an organism's potential for reproduction.

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Those organisms with sufficient survival instincts will successfully adapt and mature to the point where they are capable of reproduction, ensuring that the most capable of the species contribute to the continuation of the species.

With different forms of life, this process plays out in different ways. And the qualities that are associated with self-preservation are as varied as the life forms that exist. But the end result, under stable environmental conditions, is the perpetuation of the species. This is not to diminish the existence of the individual but rather to recognize the significance of the continuation of life through the continuity of the species. Every individual is subjected to a limited physical life span within this existence. This is a natural consequence of where we exist, the forces we are subjected to, and the nature of our biology. As such, our immortality exists through the continuity of the species. We are the continuation of those who have come before us, just as those that succeed us will be our continuance.

The direction we continue to evolve towards is determined by the lives each of us lives. Our evolution developed out of adaptations to our behavior beneficial to our continuing survival as individuals and as a species. The social behaviors we developed that enabled us to adapt to a continually evolving environment embody the abilities we acquired that were necessary for the survival of our species. Our tendency towards coalescing as a community and sharing the challenges inherent in the pursuit of survival developed into a mutual concern for each individual's potential for survival. As the potential for the survival of each individual translated into the combined potential for the survival of all, supporting and encouraging the empowerment of others was in the best interest of all.

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Empowering one another is fundamental to a sustainable social culture and economy. Helping another in need, empowering another individual to realize their full potential, and acknowledging the value of every individual's contribution to the whole of society represent the most valuable gift one can bestow upon another. Every aspect of our social evolution has been guiding us to this end.

The only behavior exhibited by beings that supersedes that of self-preservation is that of sacrificing one's own well-being to protect that of another. Parents of offspring commonly go to great lengths to protect their family members. Close companions and friends will often sacrifice their own well-being to protect other members of their circle. Acts of great courage and sacrifice of individuals reaching out to protect total strangers while risking their own well-being are more common than many of us are aware. All these acts of self-sacrifice to protect another demonstrate the capacity we possess as living beings to ensure the survival of the species even at the expense of our own personal safety and well-being. All these acts represent transcendent examples of empowerment through self-sacrifice.

The primary occupation of most forms of life is addressing the requirements for their continued existence. Innovation and technological advances have brought us to a state where individuals no longer necessarily have to engage strictly in occupations necessary to provide the staples people require for survival. Once the demands for survival have been satisfied, at least temporarily, other pursuits can be followed.

As our intellectual evolution continued, our interest in pursuits that challenged our understanding of our existence continued to develop.

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Art, science, philosophy, and spirituality have provided us with avenues to continue exploring and developing an understanding of our existence. For many, these pursuits are necessary to their well-being and represent their greatest potential. Often the works produced by artists, scientists, philosophers, and spiritual seekers are recognized by others for creating works or producing discoveries that bring another level of understanding and appreciation to our existence. These types of works are often just as important to our intellectual and emotional well-being as food and water are to our physical well-being.

There is no pursuit in life that is less important than any other if it represents the fulfillment of an individual's potential and allows that individual the opportunity to experience self-esteem, wealth, and prosperity and be recognized for their contribution to the welfare of society. Everyone, no matter their ability, no matter their occupation, should be able to approach any pursuit in life as their purpose and their art. When everyone contributes according to their ability, regardless of what that may be, and everyone receives according to their needs, society reaches its full potential.

Our survival has evolved to a point where it is less about our ability to produce the goods and services we require and more about understanding our relationship to one another, to the planet we exist on, and to the universe we exist in. As individuals, understanding our relationship to mankind and to all life in this biosphere is essential to understanding the concept of sustainable development. Perhaps this is where we finally consider the significance of ethics.

The fundamental assumption guiding sustainable development is that everyone here now and in the future has the right to health, safety, happiness, and prosperity.

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Recognizing and respecting each individual and their contribution to our community is a basic tenet of sustainable development. As such, universal access to education, health care, nutrition, and shelter is fundamental to our continued development as a species and to creating a sustainable future. But a sustainable future only occurs when we consciously make that choice.

As we have evolved socially, intellectually, and technologically, our relationship to our species and to our environment has likewise evolved. Our actions as a species have altered the evolution of our environment, which has affected every form of life in our biosphere. Again, this is not necessarily good or bad, just a consequence of where we have evolved to. But as our influence on our environment has grown, so has our responsibility to understand our relationship to our environment and all the varied forms of life that comprise our biosphere. Ethically, we have assumed responsibility for maintaining the viability of our ecosystems. As an interdependent species that has developed the ability to manipulate and alter the fundamental sustainability of the environments we exist in, it is incumbent upon our species to ensure the continued viability of our ecosystems to support all the varied forms of life that exist in our biosphere, as we too are a component of and dependent on this system for our own well-being and continued existence.

A sustainable economy is a product of wisdom: the wisdom to recognize and appreciate the nature of our existence and our relationship to the world and universe we exist in. The wisdom to appreciate and respect all forms of life and to recognize our relationship and interdependence with these different forms of life. The wisdom to appreciate and respect every individual and all the diversity and different cultures that exist within our species.

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The wisdom to recognize that genuine wealth develops out of the relationships we experience in our lives and through empowering those around us as they journey through their lives.

Economics is about providing the goods and services people require to live a happy and fulfilling life. Developing a sustainable economy depends on intelligence, wisdom, caring, and making a conscious choice to live in peace and harmony. Together as a global community, we possess the ability to address all the challenges we face today and may face in the future as we move forward. Embracing a culture based on these qualities that we have discussed and that embodies an appreciation for all the diversity that exists within our species, where everyone has the opportunity to live a happy, healthy, and fulfilling life of purpose, is our path forward in our continuing social and intellectual evolution and in creating a truly sustainable reality for our species as a global community now and into the future.

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