Does Only Money Talk?

Many people believe that “money talks”; and of course it does. However, as history shows, it is not the only thing that talks.

The Roman Empire had more money than did the Vandals; yet the Vandals sacked Rome. China, Russia and Middle East had more money than did the Mongols; yet the Mongols conquered them all. Kuwait was much wealthier than Iraq; yet Iraq ran over Kuwait.

In addition to military action, there are other things that talk as well. These include the Bible, the Bhagavad Gita and the Quran; as well as Hobbes, Locke, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Jung, Ayn Rand, John Lennon and Andrea Dworkin. Some of these people had positive view of money and others did not. Regardless, they all talked, and all of them had a huge influence.

Most of the money that is presently made comes from technology, which is an outgrowth of science. The people who have disrespect for science have no business claiming to be in favor of money or capitalism. Without science, capitalism would be nothing more than exchange of basic goods at the level it was in Medieval Persia. Most of what business sells is based on science, and it is important that people remember this as many tend to forget.

What is science itself based on? Philosophy. It was the Enlightenment philosophy of 18^th century that liberated the human mind to engage in open and serious inquiry into nature and life. Which means, by transitive logic, that wealth is based on philosophy. Many of the people who are into money see philosophy as worthless; yet without it there would not be science, democracy, prosperity, liberty, or regular people living in comfort and dying at age 95.

What does this ultimately mean? That some people need to learn more about history. Property rights are a fairly recent invention, and for a very long time most people were serfs and the money belonged to the nobles and the kings. There are some who take property rights for granted but see human rights as a luxury. Historically, their property rights are a luxury as well.

So that while money definitely talks, there are any number of other voices, and some of them are quite influential. Without science and philosophy, the businessman – if there was even such a thing as that - would have very little of what he has now. The money world needs to develop respect for science and philosophy. These things are the true root of money, and it is imperative that this be understood.