What is the single greatest reason America is so wealthy? According to the analysts at Stratfor, it is because of a river.
What is wealth? It is a term that is not precisely defined. Some may say it is the amount of money that you have stashed away in your bank account. But if a catastrophe occurred, that money wouldn't mean much to you. You can't eat it. You can't build a house out of it. It can't keep you warm in winter and cool in summer. It is merely a medium of exchange.
Another way to define wealth is to say that it is a store of knowledge. Without knowledge, where would you be? Wealth has to begin with knowledge, I would think.
In my post about machines, I wondered if we have become too dependent upon them. An individual's knowledge should include a basic ability to stay alive. If one is too dependent upon machines, one's own life is hostage to the machine. That could be said to be another form of poverty.
I'm all for raising the level of civilization. But fundamental things should not be forgotten.
Just before my father died, he liked to talk about living off the land. He knew how. He was born and raised in the country. But being a city boy all my life, I only know about living off the land- not actually doing it. I wonder if all my knowledge gained from books in school is worth nearly as much as being able to survive off the land, as the old man said.
Colonizing space is just another way to survive. But living off the land is where is all began. Wealth cannot even have a meaning if you can't use it for survival. You have to eat and have shelter and so forth. You shouldn't die just because there's a drought. Or any other force of nature, like an asteroid strike. You need to be able to survive, or your wealth means nothing.
A commenter on Free Republic included a link to the following video. I think it is appropriate to the post, so I'll include it here. It's Hank Williams' A Country Boy Can Survive.
Update:
I guess the bottom line is this: if it can't keep you alive, it isn't worth much. If you were to choose between alternatives, then the longer something can keep you alive, the more it is worth.
Wealth then is about value and how to properly evaluate it.
To forget useful skills do not make you richer, but poorer. To know how to make a fire could be a life saver. The electricity could be out. No matches could be available. No cigarette lighters to be found. You need a fire, what do you do if you don't know how? You may die.
Another thing to remember is that we almost allowed the knowledge of molten salt reactors to be forgotten. Not good. We may desperately need that energy some day.
Also, those in high places who think they are superior may be forgetting what the true value of religion is. There was a reason for it to exist for all that time, mainly because it helped keep people alive.
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