It's both the measure, the scale, the environment, and the terms of exchange.
It's the simplest globally agreed on proxy for the transmission of everything that exists.
Thus money is a proxy for everything no matter how abstract or concrete, freedom, self determination, the ability to bring complex things in your imagination to fruition by enlisting the help of others.
Money is nothing but...
If I was a fish, money would be my water and my gills.
Language & Communication itself is even less than money, it's just air vibrating or scribbles on paper, it has no purpose or meaning but what we give it.
It's also the fundamental operating system and protocol of both individuals and humanity.
I suppose in the context of this thread, we can look at the productivity of a system that includes money or does not.
A small system, like a tire production line, can measure its productivity in terms of money, which is outside the system. But a large system, like society, includes money, and cannot measure its own productivity using internal things.
By the way, why suddenly the money=bad sentiment is so popular? I thought USSR example loudly showed us what happens when people think that money is evil.
Easy -- users often don't respond favorably about MAJOR spending categories that are absolutely required. For example -- there's big negative sentiment about healthcare and its costs, but I rarely hear favorable responses like "thank you the country for we have healthcare".
Or "thank you military that we haven't got invaded yet" (we are all users of the military). That doesn't depend on the country/region.
"Users" are too short-sighted to invest in major spending categories. Only the countries who can reasonably push their population towards long-term investments still exist.
> The phrase "money is the root of all evil" is a common saying that originates from the Bible, specifically 1 Timothy 6:10, which actually states "For the love of money is the root of all evil," meaning it's not money itself that is evil, but the excessive desire for it and the actions people might take to acquire wealth that can lead to negative consequences like greed and unethical behavior.
We in our company don't do anything unethical nor unlawful, but love money very much, and are very glad other people find our work useful.
PS: Just remembered that many people who respect the Bible, for example members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, don't have any problems with money.
When companies focus on profit at the expense of all other goals, the result is typically disadvantageous to customers, employees, and society at large.
See also: crapification; financialization; parasitic private equity
I can't speak for HN, but I imagine some readers are more interested in the benefits of cool technology beyond putting more money in the pockets of investors and management.
> When companies focus on profit at the expense of all other goals, the result is typically disadvantageous to customers, employees, and society at large.
I grew up in USSR and saw with my own eyes what happens when personal profit is not the #1 focus.
Yes, _commercial_ companies should also focus on everything else as well, but profit must be #1. And the society steer the businesses towards good things by implementing laws that businesses must follow.
Commercial corporations _exists_ to make money to shareholders. It's written in laws and company bylaws. That's exactly what society decided commercial companies should do. If a _commercial_ company puts something else before profits -- it can be sued by shareholders (lawsuits follow laws, aka boundaries put by society).
And by the way, we already have framework to do your idea: companies can register as "non-profit" or "public benefit". So your suggestion is easily implemented today by forbidding commercial companies and only allowing non-profits or public benefit.
That works out ok as long as they are one of a large numbers of producers, competing equally, without monopoly power or excessive physical power, for a large number of consumers free to Ursula their own best interest; a certain amount of information symmetry is also a necessary axiom.
If instead you have a small number of monopolies with legislative capture, then you need them to be virtuous.