The Essence of Wealth: Harnessing Collective Intelligence for Abundance
Wealth is the natural result of the metabolism of our collective intelligence.
When we think of wealth, we often imagine a Ferrari or a Maserati, a spectacular house, or a paradisiacal vacation spot. These are the tangible manifestations of wealth. But they are not its essence.
Consider Olafur Eliasson, an incredibly inspiring designer. Observing his work, I see wealth as the natural outcome of the metabolism of a vast network. A network that transforms energy into movement, movement into productivity and information, information into knowledge, and knowledge finally into capital.
We can see how this network converts electrical energy into movement through electric cars, and perhaps in the future, with an autonomous transportation system. Movement transforms into productivity through the automation of labor (ROBOTs) and into information through the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence. Information becomes knowledge with our collective intelligence, assisted by natural language processing tools like ChatGPT. And, of course, that knowledge turns into capital when we use it to start and grow businesses that monetize it.
If we understand the structure of this network, we will see that billions of people are connected today through social networks, which will be enhanced by artificial intelligence to create new representations of the universe around us. This artificial intelligence will allow us to program proteins, develop new materials, and change our understanding of the fundamental principles of matter.
However, there are other networks, formed by billions of people connected by fundamentalist religions, nationalism, or any form of autocracy like communism. These networks restrict the freedom of serendipity and the formation of a collective intelligence free to seek knowledge. They grow with a lethargic and slow metabolism, inclined towards war, inflation, poverty, and the destruction of the network itself.
In essence, wealth is not simply what we possess but how we leverage energy, information, and our collective intelligence to create new representations of our reality. This allows us to discover knowledge and generate abundance. Wealth is the natural result of the metabolism of our collective intelligence.
Thanks for reading,
Guillermo Valencia A
Cofounder of Macrowise
July 10th, 2024