On The Efficient Production Of Joy

What is the purpose of "the economy"?

There's an on-going, heated debate around whether “the economy” is currently “good” or “bad.” Broadly summarized: many common indicators of macroeconomic performance are positive, and yet polling shows widespread dissatisfaction with the economy. The debate centers around why that is.

I'd like to take the opportunity to ask: what the fuck is the point of “the economy”? Why do we make all this crap if we don't like it? And if we don't like this economy even when it's "good," what would an actually good economy look like?

An actually good economy would specialize in the efficient production of joy. All other measures are worthless. Why would anyone care about any other form of production? What is the point?

To my mind, there is no point. An economic system that does not produce the maximum amount of joy is a bad economic system.

So how would we go about constructing an economy that specializes in the efficient production of joy?

In order to reliably and fully experience joy, humans must have our basic needs met. While we are capable of experiencing joy in the face of intense deprivation, no one would wish for it—it's a nice feature of being human, but not a situation you'd want to engineer. So it goes without saying that an economy specializing in the efficient production of joy would necessarily provide a comfortable subsistence for all: good food, suitable shelter, clean water, etc. Billions of people today don't have those things, so our economy is failing at the most basic measure of success in my book.

It follows that the most straightforward way to increase human joy today is to decrease deprivation. 828 million people—2.5 times the population of the United States—are hungry, despite the fact that "the economy" produces enough food to feed roughly 10 billion people. I cannot think of anything that would do more to increase joy than to give those 828 million people all the food they need. Extend that to every other basic human need, and life would be a veritable carnival compared to what it is today.

Now for the bad news: the capitalist economy will not be providing those things. The reason is that capitalism's only imperative is profit. Providing for human needs is entirely incidental to that single imperative.

You might say, “Well, capitalism would be more profitable and more stable overall if everyone had food, so surely that will happen.” To which I say: no. There is no wizard behind the curtain of capitalism, coordinating decisions to ensure its survival and optimum performance. This is why capitalism is constantly in crisis: the conditions for its success are perpetually being undermined by its normal functioning, and there are no guardrails to stop it from hurtling over the edge. If there were, capitalism would not be racing towards global climate collapse, but here we are.

All of this is to say that a joyful economy must have the joy imperative at its core, rather than the profit imperative, which means that it cannot be capitalism. Also, it cannot be an environmental doomsday machine because it's hard to be joyful with an ecological Sword of Damocles hanging over us.

To me, the word that describes an economy that meets these conditions is "eco-socialism." That is: an egalitarian economy that meets our needs, both materially and ecologically. That is the baseline.

So, now that we've got the basic conditions for the production of joy met, how do we start cranking it out in quantity?

Joy is most efficiently produced by meaning. There are some constants in where people find meaning in life: from relationships; from having a sense of purpose; from spiritual, personal, and intellectual fulfillment, and from the contentment that comes with living well. It then follows that an economy running like a well-oiled joy production machine would offer everyone ample opportunities to find meaning in these ways.

The specific form these things take—the kinds of relationships, the types of spirituality, the things that bring contentment—are culturally specific and so necessarily look different in different places. But even then, there are some broad constants, and one of those constants is the desire to contribute to others. Altruism is a universal human desire, baked into our psyche because we are social animals. A good economy would thus make it easy to contribute to the greater good; it would allow us to sate our thirst for altruism by drinking deeply from the well of giving.

We are dying of that thirst today. Our innate desire for altruism is either frustrated and repressed or co-opted and abused. We are drowning in ideological incantations to be selfish, to suppress our altruistic nature and embrace capitalism's cynical amorality. Were the economy to offer ready access to a truly altruistic sense of purpose, it would be a lush oasis in the desert of capitalist alienation.

Providing for this need is the path to healing our collective wounds. Our dying ecosystem, our war-torn world, and our suffering neighbors all need us. We can meet our desire for meaning by walking this path together, and along the way we will find the relationships, the spirituality, the intellectual stimulation, the skills, and the contentment that will produce a wild abundance of joy. A good economy would make this easy and rewarding, rather than difficult and impoverishing.

Lastly, if we're going to produce as much joy as possible, we need luxury. A proper luxury deepens our love of life while indulging our senses. It is a perfect mango, a hot spring surrounded by towering peaks, a deep massage, a three hour lunch with friends, an entire day spent in bed with someone you love. A joyful economy should be laser-focused on filling our lives with such luxuries.

The luxuries we live with today are, in most cases, cheap satires of proper luxury, mocking our desire for joy with tawdry bullshit that just distracts us from our misery and insecurity. These faux luxuries come at the expense of the many for the benefit of the few, vampire-like. They are forgettable, shallow, and tacky. A joyful economy would not abide such insults to the human experience, nor the obscene ecological toll they take.

So, now we know what a good economy should look like. We know it should give us ironclad confidence that our basic needs will be met. We know that it should ensure the regeneration and ongoing health of our ecosystem. We know it should offer us ample opportunities to find meaning in our lives. We know it should offer us true luxury.

And we know that all of these things are tied together: a life spent helping humanity meet its needs and regenerating our planet gives our life meaning and creates opportunities to consume the richest luxuries imaginable. When every person on Earth has the chance to lead that kind of life, then we will have a good economy.

—The Last Farm

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