Inflation is a genuine problem, with many fathers. Fewer people are paying attention to the drivers of deflation. For example, these technology platforms (which drive enormous business models) are fundamentally deflationary:
DNA sequencing
Robotics
Sensors
Machine learning & algorithms
Blockchain
By deflationary I mean that these technologies become cheaper rapidly and require less and less human labor to generate disproportionately large economic gains. Said another way, jobs don’t grow at the same rate as economic gain when organizations use these technologies in their business models. GDP grows through productivity gains while the hours worked declines. This amplifies the “wealth divide,” particularly when our education systems are still optimized to turn out worker drones rather than entrepreneurs and self-directed learners.
There are no simple or straightforward “solutions” to these trends. Neither inflation nor deflation are uniform; there is a distribution of impact severity over peoples and time. Multiple powerful incentives drive the changes. Riding this tiger is fun until it isn’t, and the dismount is downright scary.
I suggest we use two lenses to assess options and consider our paths forward:
1. Meaningful work which supports families. There is a correlation between addictions – opioid overdoses killed more than 100,000 Americans in the last 12 months — and lack of meaningful work. Work is good for us. Work that supports families is good for our social fabric.
2. Willingness to sacrifice today for a better future. There is effectively zero willingness in our political discourse today. Deferred gratification is no less critical for countries than it is for individual citizens.
I suggest these because they’re integrated lenses requiring maturity and tradeoffs. There are those among us who are called to work on foundational and underlying issues – healthy masculinity and femininity, education in an era of exponential technology, practicing forgiveness and citizenship, discernment, rediscovering the value of connecting the divine and the ‘secular,’ and so on. Yet we still need some way to integrate our efforts, a mechanism that supports conscious optimism. We choose X even though it’s inconvenient or less valuable to some, because it leads to a better overall outcome. (In math terms, a global optimum rather than a local optimum.) The “we” here is important, too. History is replete with example of the poor choices of a few who were powerful or influential. The best choices will align with trustworthy revelation, not just what our flawed guts tell us in the moment.
I call on adults to lead. Eugene Peterson’s translation of Ephesians 4:14-16 show us the way:
No prolonged infancies among us, please. We’ll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are easy prey for predators. God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.
