In support of the money exchange machine

“I grow little of the food I eat, and of the little I do grow I did not breed or perfect the seeds.

I do not make any of my own clothing.

I speak a language I did not invent or refine.

I did not discover the mathematics I use.

I am protected by freedoms and laws I did not conceive of or legislate, and do not enforce or adjudicate.

I am moved by music I did not create myself.

When I needed medical attention, I was helpless to help myself survive.

I did not invent the transistor, the microprocessor, object oriented programming, or most of the technology I work with.

I love and admire my species, living and dead, and I'm totally dependent on them for my life and well being.”

I really love this “credo” by Steve Jobs — so much that I almost added it to an earlier point in this piece “#21. No one builds anything great alone”. I am truly in awe of humanity and how very interdependent we are.

There are at least 2 billion people in the world who, like me, rely on the incredible interdependence of humanity for their lives and well — being. They have reliable access to food, clothing, laws, music, healthcare, and technology that they didn’t grow, make, enforce, or invent themselves.

This reliability is possible because of two foundational factors:

• Infrastructure: Roads, rail networks, electricity grids, waste management systems, and countless other systems that ensure resources and services flow consistently to billions of people. Even when infrastructure is provided by governments, it depends on invention, creativity, and human effort — each of which requires motivation.
• A System of Rational Self-Interest: A free market where individuals and organizations can choose to create and exchange goods and services. This system channels our natural (and selfish) desire to improve our own lives — and, consequently, the lives of those we love — toward collective progress.

These two factors are deeply intertwined. Infrastructure cannot exist without invention, and invention thrives only when there is alignment between effort and incentive. Humans rarely dedicate immense effort purely out of love for others; instead, rational self — interest drives us to build systems that ultimately benefit society.

It’s worth noting that most people who produce the goods and services we rely on don’t care deeply — if at all — about the individuals who consume or access them. The farmers who grow our food, the engineers who design our technology, the artists who create our music — they are largely motivated by their own needs, desires, and circumstances, not by any personal connection to the millions who benefit from their work. And yet, despite this detachment, the system works.

Of course, the systems we’ve built are far from perfect. We live in an imperfect world, and human beings are imperfect. There’s not even agreement on which variation of these systems works best. What we see across the world today are different iterations of the same foundational ideas, adapted to local cultures, histories, and needs. I think that’s a good thing. Experimentation allows us to learn, adapt, and improve.

Though imperfect, these systems have given billions access to resources and services at a scale previously unimaginable. I truly believe that it is this kind of system, rooted in rational self — interest and free exchange, that gives us the best chance of solving humanity’s problems at scale.