Black and White Ethics
The economy of the Australian Aborigine before white settlement was based on energy. In order to get food they needed to expend energy. In order to have energy they needed food. There was no saving, nothing lasted, what you had you eat now. The trick was to expend the least amount of energy in order to survive. Their ethic required that they share what they have and they not be greedy and take more than their fair share.
About twenty five thousand years ago in the Middle East they worked out how to make containers to store food in. This was a major game changer, people could save. In fact people had to be careful with what they had because they wanted to save a certain amount of their grain to sew later. This opened up the possibility of greed. Not just taking more than your fair share, but holding on to what you have despite the need of other people around you. In this economic environment land and its products of it became property. This property became inheritable and class became an issue. Money came into play and the economy developed further – creating all sorts of possibilities for greed. And we are much better off for it.
The Australian multicultural experiment has been a huge success. Up until the 1950s ninety five percent of the population was of either English or Irish descent. There were the Aborigines and a smattering of Chinese, but the vast majority was British. Then the “populate or perish” immigration policies came in. At first it was decided to have exclusively white immigration. But it was soon decided that this was not what we wanted for Australia. Today people of all ethnic origins call Australia home and participate in the Australian economy.
But then their’s the Aborigines, the Australian Aborigine is not getting a fair share of the blessings this country has to offer. It is not fair to say that Australia is a systemically racist country. Particularly with the success we have had with every other race going. And the enormous amount of effort and expense that is being put into trying to accommodate indigenous Australians. The issue we have is that the most primitive culture on earth has been thrust into an advanced industrial culture in one step. We are all struggling to deal with it.
The Aborigine had an ethic of share what you have a don’t be greedy. We have an ethic of contribute and pay your way. They look at us and we have so much, much more than we need and we are not sharing it. We look at them and there not contributing and there not paying there way. This causes conflict between the two cultures. This is accentuated by one of the great achievements of the industrial revolution, welfare. Welfare has had a huge effect of the Aborigine, someone who’s traditional aim is to expend the least amount of energy in order to survive.
For my self I’m an artist and this requires a slightly different ethic from the rest of my community. I contribute and some one else pays my way. This can cause resentment, particularly considering that there are some people who say what I contribute doesn’t count. Welfare has been a huge boon to the artist. Wordsworth was a great poet of the early industrial revolution. He was able to write his poetry because he scored a bludge of a job signing offical documents. His job signing documents was not a great contribution to society. But this gave him the freedom to wonder the English country side writing poetry that revolutionised the way we use the English language. But it was signing documents that paid the bills. A bit of welfare for the boys as it stood at the time in England.
In 1999 Centerlink decided to put me on the pension. This has been supplemented by some income I get from my art. When I get what I am given, I don’t look at it as being mine. Rather it is something I have been entrusted with to pursue my art. A collage drama teacher I was talking with one made a disparaging remark about how I make my living. But in the end we are both being paid by the taxpayer to pursue our art. If you are being paid wages what is yours is very easy to define. But really it is an allowance you have been entrusted with and it is no more yours than my pension is mine. What we have is a pool of resources and how you apply your self sets what resources you have access to. A better ethic than defining possession would be to look at how you manage what resources are entrusted to you.
Robots are going to vastly reduce the need of labourers. And artificial intelligence is going to have a like effect on intellectual pursuits. Welfare is going to be replaced by a universal basic wage. Those who have jobs are going to be a privileged few. Those who don’t have jobs will want for little but something meaningful to do with their time.
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Clown Artist Philosopher 