Money as Flow

Long have I thought of my erosion control work as being metaphorically applicable to the flow of money through our culture, especially in terms of slowing the flow so that more soaks in high on the slopes rather than running off and converging into eroding channels downstream. An elaboration on this image came to mind as I reflected on a pattern Donella Meadows called “Success to the successful.” The way wealth shapes legislation to increase the flow of wealth to the wealthy is analogous to the way a drainage gathers more water. As it acquires more water, it flows faster and gains the power to cut channels deeper which steepens the surrounding slopes and extends the headwaters so that the system can pull even more runoff into the drainage.

This led to a thought that when we say the Universe is shaped by the Second Law of Thermodynamics, it means literally that the flow of materials in the direction towards less possibilities shapes the Universe in multi-dimensional ways. Different flows shape different dimensions but certain patterns emerge from all the flows. Convergence is one of them. Water flowing over the Earth in the direction towards less possibilities usually etches converging drainage patterns. Money flowing through a culture towards less possibilities creates cultural patterns of “success to the successful”. That’s just the pattern that arises somehow from the Second Law. It’s quite natural. The important thing is the rate of convergence. The evolved wisdom of nature tells us that slowing the rate of convergence creates greater abundance of that flow throughout the system and metaphorically shows us ways to achieve this.

Thinking of money as losing potential energy as it flows in the direction towards convergence leads me to think of how, for people high in the drainage (not much money), it only takes $1 to buy a shirt at a yard sale while for people at the bottom of the drainage (lots of money), it takes them $50 to buy a shirt where they go shopping. A dollar has more potential energy high in the drainage, can accomplish more. It’s in the culture’s interest to create ways to slow down the flow and the rate of concentration in the same way that it’s in our interest to help the rain soak in high on the slopes where it helps plants grow that will, in turn, slow the runoff from future rains and transpire more back into the air to fall again so that even more can grow.