0 – Four yardsticks for social evolution Right now, in the core of some star, hydrogen is being crushed into helium, helium into carbon, carbon into iron. Burned, forged, changed. One day that star will die and scatter the elements it made
1 – The Dollar-Vote
1 – The Dollar-Vote Two products on a shelf. One costs less. It costs less because someone, somewhere down the line, paid the difference — a river, a wage, a forest, a pair of hands. You choose one. You pay. The money
2 – The health of the organism
2 – The health of the organism A sourcing manager has two suppliers open on her screen. The columns are identical but for one number: one supplier is cheaper. She does not know, and is not asked to know, that the cheaper
3 – The development of the individual
3 – The development of the individual Picture the first government. Not a parliament, not a flag. A handful of people around a fire, working out together where to cross the river, who keeps watch tonight, how to share what the hunt
4 – Access to accurate information
4 – Access to accurate information The First Right Before the vote. Before the trial. Before property, speech, or worship. Before any right ever written down, one thing had to be in place, or none of the rest could function. Accurate information.
The ‘True Price’ initiative.
The ‘True Price’ initiative. This Dutch non-profit is calculating the true cost of products, and a grocery store in Amsterdam labels their produce with two prices; the ‘normal’ price and the ‘true price’. The article in The New Yorker is excellent and