Позитивные изменения. Тематический выпуск «Экономика будущего» (2023). Positive changes. Special issue «The economy of the future» (2023)
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In the short run, this intermediate stop will be the most urgent and relevant for the humankind – the transition from the material present to an idealistic future (in the good sense of the word), where all the best qualities of the concept of the human developed in the contest of the current era, that is, all its superior qualities, will be revealed and integrated into the social life.
Looking at this intermediate point from the viewpoint of today’s regular societal constructs (including the economy as a mechanism of human interaction), we can say that intangible aspects of life will prevail compared to the tangible ones. Education, management, culture, science, philosophy, religion, all aspects of information handling (sorting, analysis, synthesis, presentation), as well as general knowledge, morality, human relations will become more and more dominant, increasingly important and crucial in relation to the areas of material production, provision with tangible resources, physical security, etc. Among other things, these and other purely material spheres will be transformed into the mixed tangible-intangible form, integrating the missing modules, acquiring intangible meanings and contexts. The society will realize the primacy of intangible spheres over tangible ones, whether applied to a single individual or to the entire society – that is, the value, the context, the individual and societal benefit of a certain activity will be more important than the activity itself and its results in the form of tangible products and financial profits. There will be a shift in focus from the production and possession of things, and the provision of the necessary and desirable items to the person themselves, the way they are in terms of their qualities and competencies. Everything will follow this formula: “Everything that works for human development, in the sense of developing human qualities and competencies, is good; everything that does not work for human development or works for human degradation is bad.” The realization will come that a society of developed people has no place for mess and disorder, including in regard to any material spheres and the economy in particular. The economy, politics, science, education, security, and all other areas are secondary to the individual. A developed individual means every sphere, including the realm of material, is developed.
Accordingly, the entire economy, at this intermediate point of idealistic intangible in the development of the human society, will be fast-tracked to what can be defined as the implementation of positive social impact, where the humans and the society represent both subjects and objects of impact, developing human qualities and competencies at the individual level and at the level of the entire society. The economy of the near future is an economy of positive social interchange, where everyone without exception will contribute – every person, every enterprise, institution, industry, sphere, state, etc. – everyone will create a positive social impact that becomes a common measure for all. This is in fact what we can call a human-centered economy and a human-centered society, where a person is not an object to be provided, equipped and complemented from the outside by the society or the state, acting essentially as a consumer who is owed by everyone. Instead, it is the person developing as a subject, the starting point of everything, who has the primary qualities and competencies to perform any activity, who has the primary initiative to decide to act and who has chosen voluntarily to be creative for the benefit of themselves and the others, and whose development as a subject is the ultimate goal of their actions and the actions of the entire society.
Economy of the near future will be a hybrid of commercial and non-profit mode of operation, where every action will be evaluated in terms of its positive social impact.
It is crucial to note here that this particular economic model does not make a distinction between those in need who receive benefits without actively contributing through creative work, often hiding behind misguided notions of social justice and identifying themselves as “the people,” and the genuinely developed, proactive individuals who work for the social good and assume great responsibility for their actions. Unfortunately, the latter group is frequently disparagingly labeled as “crooks and thieves” by the former. In the new economy, everything depends on the individual contribution of each person to the society of positive interchange, on the real effect of this contribution. This division can be avoided because the society and its entire social and economic activity is put on the same track and measured by the same standards. This stands in contrast to the current division where the commercial sector, although economically sustainable, and even prosperous at the top of the social pyramid, is often perceived as “evil” by the society. On the other hand, the social sector is viewed as “good” but struggles to achieve financial sustainability due to being marginalized and disadvantaged. Such disparity often leads to feelings of deception and resentment among the latter group, prompting them to come together in an effort to restore a sense of “social justice” against perceived “oppressors” who they believe consistently exploit and cheat them. At times, those in power may employ a mix of incentives and concessions, gradually raising the social security standards to placate the dissent and maintain the status quo, preventing the collapse of existing social mechanisms.
What do we mean when we talk about the human qualities and competencies that shape the essence of an individual and indicate their level of development? They can be described as the basic skills and competencies that are natural and universal for all humans, regardless of their external differences, and which can be assessed to determine the development level of the individual and the society. We will name four of them:
• personality strength
• responsibility
• understanding
• morality
It is safe to say that the development of these qualities in any individual or the society in general correlates to the overall development level of that person or the society. The more pronounced these qualities are, the higher the overall level of development, and vice versa. Let’s talk briefly about each quality.
Personal strength is the actual level of power that each person feels within themselves, which is necessary to perform any activity. This is the primary attribute that defines the status or scale of an individual, determines their identity. How much power do I feel inside? Who do I consider myself to be? The way a person answers these questions determines what they feel like. This can also be derived from the way that person behaves in their actions and relationships with other people.
Responsibility means an area in which an individual is able to provide order. Each person chooses a particular level or scale of responsibility, which is determined by the size of the area they are able to control. For some, this area may be limited to “just me”, others take responsibility for themselves and their family; some people can be responsible for as much as an enterprise or even a country. The real responsibility can be measured by the degree of order established within the respective area. If the order is not secured, responsibility cannot be confirmed.
Understanding means the level of understanding – some people understand little, some understand more, some understand a lot. Like responsibility, actual understanding must be verified by practice.
Morality as a word comes from the Latin ‘moralitas’, which means “manner, proper behavior” – which in turn describes one’s taste for life. Some people’s tastes are quite low – bad habits, disorderly behavior, fondness of destructive activity, lack of motivation for development. Others have good tastes – aspiration to constant creative work, the sense of order, beauty, and a love for the people. This determines a person’s level of morality.
But let’s go back to the economy. Based on the above, we can say that the economy of the near future will be a hybrid of commercial and non-profit mode of operation, where every action will be evaluated in terms of its positive social impact, regardless of whether it is produced by commercial or noncommercial means. Since intangible spheres of activity (alone or in combination with tangible production) have immeasurably greater potential for having positive social impact in relation to the old-time tangible production sectors, these new sectors will eventually acquire greater commercial value as they are gradually incorporated into the regular economy. Eventually the new sectors based on intangible or hybrid production will gain economic independence and become the undisputed leaders of the new economy. The old, purely tangible industries (manufacturing of commodities with zero intangible value or utility) will either receive a complementary intangible module, to become hybrid in nature and get integrated into the economy of the future, or will disappear, becoming a thing of the past.
The economy of the future is the economy of mutual exchange of intangible values and tangible values that have acquired the status of manifestation or carrier of intangible values. In other words, there will be tangible things carrying intangible value, or a tangible thing will be part of a module combining tangible and intangible items that have a positive social impact or meaning to a person and/or the society. That is, all the products in the economy of the future will have an intangible module, representing their positive social impact.
The economy of the future will assign the greatest value to those products carrying intangible value that offer an opportunity to increase the development level of the humans (i.e. their qualities and competencies). These can be products in the field of information, knowledge, culture, or any other field. Accordingly, the leaders of the new economy will be those industries and enterprises that create such products.
The logic and model of the new human behavior in the economy of the future will be based on the understanding of values as products of positive social impact, that is: “I buy something that will make me better (as a person, in the sense of the development of my qualities and competencies), increase my development level and will therefore improve my financial well-being.” That is, the entire society will be working to create a more developed person, which in turn, through having all the necessary qualities and competencies, will contribute to the development of themselves and the society, thus acquiring even greater development and helping others to develop and fully supporting themselves and those around them financially. It is crucial to highlight that the development agenda is not forced or compulsory for anyone. Everything must happen freely, exclusively because of individual’s goodwill and desire. The reason is that the society understands that each person has their own development level and stage, their own development path, which they feel and identify on their own.