Globalization is a large and complex topic: It has been a prominent point of discussion and debate in modern times, and has been foreshadowed and thought over by centuries old philosophers. Topics which fall under the scope of globalization include: central banks, mass media, tyranny, international organizations (UN, European Union, NATO), regional and global currencies (Euro, Bitcoin), inflation, and law making.
To understand where we are as a society in our progress along the path of global unification, how we got here, and what major players are influencing this situation (including what strongly established institutions already exist and what their functions are), one must consider a large volume of history. To gain a full understanding, or to fully explain this topic, is not the intention or scope of this article. But it is the intention of this blog to help people understand how globalization impacts them, and how they can impact the process of global unification. So that we can side-step as many dangers as possible while reaping the maximum possible benefit for society.
In this article we will cover just a few factors in the great equation of globalization. So that the reader will at least have some foothold or picture of what may be a new or unexplored topic for them. Yet to consider these presented topics in such depth that even a well read veteran of the subject may come away with a new insight or idea which they had not thought of before.
The major topics of this article are: 1. Inflation 2.Utility of Available Goods
What is inflation? One could go into more detail, but the important fact to consider is that as the government introduces more money into the economic system, the value of each individual dollar goes down, and hence, prices appear to go up. Overall, the price of basic items and commodities appear to being going up in an uncontrollable fashion. This doesn't mean that the VALUE of the items being purchased are increasing though, even though prices are. For instance, the value of one apple is not going to go up by 40% because it costs 40% more. No matter when you eat an apple, it will have about the same number of caloric and vitamin content, due to it being hard-coded into it's genetics what it will be shaped like and how it will grow. The same applies to many products, including livestock and natural resources. This leads many people to believe that "Inflation is bad." I mean, if it's always going to cost more money to buy the same products then something must be wrong? Right?
Many argue that inflation as we know it today really began around 1913 with the creation of the federal reserve system. Here is a short video which shows that there really was no noticeable growth in inflation pre-1913, followed by a consistent linear growth rate through to the present day. As will also be shown in the data presented later in this article. The creation of the fed is a major landmark in the history of globalization.
The apple example we talked about before does not apply to all types of products which we enjoy buying. For instance, "A computer." As time goes on, the meaning of "A computer" changes. A lot. Let's limit the scope of what mean by "A computer" in general to a business laptop. As time goes on "A business laptop." Although always called "A business laptop" will constantly evolve into something better than what it was. Unlike "A shovel." Similar to the apple example above, a shovel today is doing the same job as a shovel from 1985. A computer from today is doing a LOT MORE WORK than a computer from 1985. (This raises an interesting philosophical question: what is work?) Let's take a look at some data.
This is the basic graph for Moore's Law. Computer scientist Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, is also responsible for creating "Moore's Law." Created in 1965, and revised in 1975 Moore's Law predicts that the number of transistors available per manufactured processor will double approximately every two years. This is known as exponential growth.
The dots on this graph show a strong linear correlation. What is important for you to know is that the y-axis (The vertical, left hand axis of the graph) showing the number of transistors is on a logarithmic scale. Meaning that the numbers increase more, faster, towards the top. If we stretched out the Y-Axis so that there was even spacing (instead of logarithmic spacing) as transistor count increased, we would have the familiar parabola shape of exponential growth. So this graph, though visually linear, is designed to show exponentially increasing growth.
I wont be showing the graph for it here, but take it from me that the graph for "number of computations/ second" has the exact same exponential pattern as this "number of transistors" graph. Since "a calculation" can be taken a a unit of "work" we can conclude that the possible work done / computer is growing exponentially over time.
Also, as many people know. The cost of computing power is also going down. This graph of computations/second per $1000 shows exponential growth.
How does this compare to inflation?
Here we have a graph of the total value of all currency in circulation.
This graph does not have a logarithmic Y axis, it is NOT exponential. It is linear. This also agrees with the video presented earlier.
If we take the argument that inflation is a "problem." And that it is caused by the introduction of new currency to the system (from the fed). Then we can see that the increase of this "problem" happens in a consistent, linear, ratio over time. It is going up the same amount as time goes on.
However, as we saw in the graphs above. The rate of work done by computers is growing exponentially. Consumers and businesses are able to get more computational power for exponentially less money as time goes on. The pace of the growth this "work" value does not fit with the pace of the introduction of new currency. It out grows it easily. Computers are not the only field in which we can observe a significant growth rate in utility, but they are one of the most impactful and convenient to quantify.
We can see a similar pattern to what is seen with computational power in this graph of US GDP.
Americans are getting exponentially more work done as time goes on. Is it strange that this type of exponential growth in the total amount of product created correlates one-to-one with the exponential increase in CPU power? Not really.
OK I cheated a little bit on that last one. Exponential GDP growth probably also has something to do with population growth. So now you're saying "so what, there is only more gdp because there are more people."
This graph shows that any individual person, on average, is producing more as time goes on, but at a consistently increasing pace. I would argue that this is because the utility, the use-ability of what tools are available to them, is increasing at an exponential rate.
How is it possible that the value of one human being's work is always going up? Anyone can answer that question. We are making better tools.
Hence the title of the present article: "Globalization, Inflation, and Accelerated Utility of Available Goods."
What I'm touching on here is this "Accelerated Utility." Arguably, at any point in history, there is some degree of acceleration in discovery, and technology. Whether this be a linear growth, a decline, or an exponential growth depends greatly on the era, the region, and crucially, the regions access to trade and knowledge from other regions. We don't need to dissect all this knowledge, we need only to observe the present age.
What's different about our modern age from any other previous age is that we now have recorded, digitally verified records of many types of statistics and metrics. Furthermore, these records are easily available to a majority of people and semi-permanent. This means that they can not be easily destroyed, altered, or obfuscated. We can see the big picture now. Through use of these statistics I've attempted to show a correlation between an increase in globalization and inflation to an increase in the real-world value of the things we now commonly produce and buy.
The purpose of this is to slow the demonization of the concept of world unification. In future articles we will examine some of the inevitable conflicts which may arise in the near future and how the only powers we may manifest to overcome these problems could only be the product of widespread globalization.
I will show that the "Evils" of globalization and centralization are part of the necessary framework for the type of exponential growth in the use-ability and power of products we may readily buy, as well as large-scale research and tech projects which could bring human kind to the next levels of scientific discovery. And that "evidence" of this "evil" as manifested by such phenomenons as inflation are merely necessary byproducts of human progress.
We should not reject globalization but instead take an active role in it's progress. It is inevitable, which can be clearly shown by the pace of modern trends. This will ensure the best of possible outcome, and ensure that we as a people are in control of our fate on earth, as well as the fate of the earth. If too many people turn a blind eye, or choose the path of ignorance, skepticism, or rejection, then we are more likely to be left with the tyrannic horror story we have all been breed to fear.
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