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  • EADD Moderators: axe battler | Pissed_and_messed

What if Money Was No Object?

Mugz

Mugz

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Apr 6, 2004
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What if Money Was No Object - Alan Watts [HD]

Was just going to post this in the youtube video thread but thought after listening to the video again it deserved it's own thread, mods feel free to contradict my opinion, just thought it could provide some good discussion on the subject


I guess my answer would be to travel the world and do my writing, concurrently, travelling to extreme places and some places not as extreme but taking a tablet or laptop with me do write my screenplays and novels too.

After travelling for a couple of years and being sober during those years I guess I would try and get into the business of helping other people recover from their addictions as that is what I would love to do once I've been clean long enough to be in a position to help other people.

Watch the video and then answer the question, what would you do if money was no object?
 
I watched the video a few times, I dont think its just as easy as "if money was no object", if money was no object everyone would be doing whatever they wanted to do, nothing would get done and nothing would move. If you asked someone what would they like do it if they had say unlimited money it would be the most for everyone, do what they love, relax, travel etc.

The reality is how are you going to travel the world without money?

Great video though, valid points.

The thing is though I dont really like anything enough that I would want to do for a job, I like doing fuck all really. Getting in stupid mind altering states, socialising with friends/family, seeing the world. If they can turn that into a proffesion that I guess im on to a winner.
 
I would travel. I would write. I would use my knowledge and skills to help people worse off than me. I would find the bluest oceans and swim in them. I would find the best mountains to bike down. I would try new foods, new activities, new anything. Just experience as much as possible with my good fortune.

And all the while I would realise that the point in hand is moot. Money would not be my issue. My issue would be perpetual loneliness, knowing that whatever I did, wherever I went, whatever I achieved, I would be missing something: I would be missing her.
 
RLP said:
I would travel. I would write. I would use my knowledge and skills to help people worse off than me. I would find the bluest oceans and swim in them. I would find the best mountains to bike down. I would try new foods, new activities, new anything. Just experience as much as possible with my good fortune.

And all the while I would realise that the point in hand is moot. Money would not be my issue. My issue would be perpetual loneliness, knowing that whatever I did, wherever I went, whatever I achieved, I would be missing something: I would be missing her.
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Great post. I don't know if you have just had a recent breakup and would be missing that "her" or a metaphorical her for someone to share life with. I took it to mean the latter and I think that is probably a point that would be missed by a lot of people, certainly was by me in my first response. I would try and find someone to share my life with, someone that benefits me in ways that no one else can and that I benefit them in ways that no one else can. Someone hard to find but worth the wait. Someone to share my life with would really be a great thing, if money were an object or not to be honest.



edit - gonna listen to some of the other Alan Watts videos on the recommend videos on the right hand side of the page, some of those look interesting too.
 
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Not the latter actually, just an acknowledge that money plays no part in the most important aspect of my life and indeed, it is so insignificant in the long run that I would sacrifice such endless wealth and the opportunities it brings with it to be able to hold her hand once more.
 
I'm not sure what my point is but I guess I'm trying to edge the title to "What if love was no object?" Then I have enough ammo to write a short story.
 
I would be like Kangaroo Dad - that guy who lives in the outback and raises orphaned kangaroos.
 
Things didn't work out too great for Mr Watts so take any of his "what if..." nonsense with pinch of salt. The life i like leads to visiting the jobcentre every couple weeks and fuck that for a laugh. Yeah cheers Alan!
 
Ah Alan Watts. Let me guess Mugzy - recommended by your sponsor? ;)

Ugh. But leaving that aside, what if money were no object? As Mendo pointed out - I'd probably do much the same as what probably a lot of people would do - travel, take lots of drugs and potter with a bit of writing and arty stuff. Problem being that so would loads of other people so would all get a bit messy really. I could write The Great British Novel but who'd bother reading it when all the publishers had given up publishing in favour of travelling the world and learning to play the flute or whatever?

What would I do if money were no object? More or less what I would do anyway only more of it and in different places probably. And without the endless grief from folk demanding money with menaces over bills and stuffs and thats.

Have never really pinned down my views about money. As a concept it is clearly ridiculous and causes great suffering to billions. Tis a horrid thing. On the other hand I have no idea how it could realistically be replaced nor what it could be replaced with :\

Ismene said:
I would be like Kangaroo Dad.
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What if laws against bestiality were no object? ;)<3
 
It's worth remembering that money is a human invention and until it was invented we got on OK. We achieved such an advanced stage that we were able to invent money. You might say, before money was barter, but the same thing applies, it's a human invention.

I think it's easy to slip into the trap of underestimating mankind's creativity and assuming that things can't be different to how they are now. They have been very different, so they can be very different.
 
knock said:
It's worth remembering that money is a human invention and until it was invented we got on OK. We achieved such an advanced stage that we were able to invent money. You might say, before money was barter, but the same thing applies, it's a human invention.

I think it's easy to slip into the trap of underestimating mankind's creativity and assuming that things can't be different to how they are now. They have been very different, so they can be very different.
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Indeed, Knock. But would society (more specifically the technological aspect) have been able to advance to the stage we are now at if we'd stuck with bartering? I suspect not. Would we advance or stagnate if we went back to bartering? Dunno but probably more the latter. Yes people did kindasorta get on okay before money but was it really all that different? Still had appalling inequalities of wealth only in a different form. I don't think barter was any better than money really... but it does have some good features inasmuch as things have both intrinsic value as well as inferred value. A sheep can clothe and feed you or make a nice pet depending on how you place value in it. Advantage of money being that it's essentially universal in our society - you can use it for more or less any purpose rather than having to find somebody who wants it that has something you want. Nobody is likely to refuse cashmoney but if the fella selling the nice sparkly earrings you crave is allergic to wool and vegetarian he probably doesn't want to make with the sheep swapsies.

I may have oversimplified it a bit due to being overly simple though ;)
 
Money is no object in reality, it is an illusion. You are already as complete as you ever will be, no amount of money can change that. It can only offer temporary distractions.

Edit, i haven't watched the video or read anything about it.
 
Shambles said:
Indeed, Knock. But would society (more specifically the technological aspect) have been able to advance to the stage we are now at if we'd stuck with bartering? I suspect not. Would we advance or stagnate if we went back to bartering? Dunno but probably more the latter. Yes people did kindasorta get on okay before money but was it really all that different? Still had appalling inequalities of wealth only in a different form.
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Of course there were inequalities before money, but we can only really hypothesise about the nature of these inadequacies. Some societies seem to have managed fine without it.

How do we measure 'progress'? It's very difficult to do so in terms which aren't intrinsically linked to a materialistic outlook; it's the way we're conditioned. All our aspirations and values are shaped by it. It runs deep.

Although the exhange of currency and the pursuit of material wealth has, without question, been the spur for the majority of the technological miracles we encounter as part of day-to-day life, the fact remains that most of them have been achieved at great cost to the environment itself, not to mention the psycho-social impact that industrialisation inevitably entails.

Furthermore, the majority of technological advances are made for military ends. We are literally investing in our own destruction. You can build the most intelligent missile ever conceived, but at the end of the day it serves the same dreary, backward, destructive purpose as a flint axe-head.

Progress should be measured in something other than microchips and dollars. Not that microchips (or even dollars) don't count for something, but we have to find more sensible and logical ways to live. The industrialised caveman has come as far as he can.

I'm not saying I have the solution, before anybody starts. You don't have to have the remedy in order to see that somebody's very sick indeed.
 
^ That's why I specified technology as the measure I was using. Not saying it's the best measure but it's the one that seems most directly linked to money that we probably wouldn't have with barter-type systems.

I don't for one moment think we live in an especially advanced society by many other measure but would I fuck want to live in any earlier, non-monetised society that I'm aware of. I think money was probably a necessary evil for a while but it's limitations and issues are showing (and always have no doubt but I wasn't there to see them then). Somebody nees to invent a new system. Dunno what system but not one we've tried before.

Cornishman said:
Wise words there from Danny weed.

Like a modern day jesus h christ. :)
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=D

Does anybody know what the "H" stands for? Almost seems a bit silly giving the messiah a middlename but maybe it's the human side expressing its nature via the medium of an embarrassing middlename to piss him off when he has to fill in forms. Probably Hubert. Or Herbert. Although they seem kinda tame...
 
And being omnipotent he handily knew what brandname it would be given when it was invented too. Cunning, Ponti. Can see why he gets worshipped. Proper know-it-all in't he :D
 
I don't like these sort of things cos money is a object a fukin big one & i'm not going to waste time pretending it isn't . It would be handy if all the companys currently chasing me for money didn't see it as an object but sadly they do so it just makes things more frustrating .

Let's say i won the lottery , the one i don't play well unless someone buys me a ticket ;)<3 i would live a life of debauchery & screw the consequences .

I haven't watched the Video btw
edit

After watching the video i think i'm doing ok . I've had some crazy ups n downs in my life but i've spent more time doing what i want than what society deems i should , the rat race etc working jobs i hate .
 
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