• GreenBeard@lemmy.ca
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    2 months ago

    Many useful things are entirely made up. Concepts like justice, love, community, hierarchy, nationhood, borders, property, gender, etc. are all social constructs. They exist because we choose to make them exist. In the immortal words of Terry Pratchett, “Take the universe and grind it down to the finest powder and sieve it through the finest sieve and then show me one atom of justice, one molecule of mercy…” Social constructs are the “big lies” we create because we need them to make sense of the world, and ideally make it a better place. Money is just another social construct we created because it serves a useful function.

      • GreenBeard@lemmy.ca
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        2 months ago

        Totally agree. It’s always important to remember that these tools are means to an end, not an end in themselves, and to make sure we are designing the tool to serve useful and constructive ends. If the tool isn’t serving a beneficial purpose, it’s time to consider another tool, or possibly redesigning it. We invented the tool. We not only have the power, but also the responsibility to use it wisely, and to make it better when it’s not serving its purpose.