how ‘the market’ is a kind of metaphysical entity and how it is harming us

—money has replaced thought to where people don't think of whats sensible—but whats profitable. money has become the only metric for right-thinking—we think we’re ‘right’ when we profit.

—cognition no longer seems to be required, you just plug and play.

even the people at the top aren't innovating or thinking, but following the rules of market to be more ‘efficient’.

—the market tells us that being self-interested leads to success, and that self-interested people benefit society, when this is NOT the case. it’s said that people aren’t inspired to achieve or innovate when they don’t have incentives, but this denies the inherent creative and explorative capacity of humans.

—robert nelson, in his article titled what is ‘economic theology’? describes the market as an ‘economic gospel of efficiency’ which replaces good and bad with the concept of ‘efficiency’.

we no longer consider moral implications of our behaviors, but only whether they are ‘efficient’ in a market environment.

—peter seele and lucas zapf have an article titled “the markets have decided”: markets as (perceived) deity and ethical implications of delegated responsibility that conceptualizes the market as a metaphysical entity which is delegated the responsibility of organizing human affairs. they discuss how this can be dangerous.

—the market feels like it is a delusional measuring device for people’s humanity. if you can game the market, and be self-interested, you’re said to have superior cognitive function—you’re suspected to have the ability to engage in higher order thinking. if you can’t work the market, you’re told you’re subspecies, not ‘human’ enough, or not the right kind of human. markets inherently produce ableist, ethnocentric, and normative class structures based on who can follow the religion of the market—efficiency.

—zapf and seele discuss how any mention that ‘the market’ as we know it may potentially be pernicious is considered sacrilegious and controversial to people who are consumed by the dogma the market promulgates.

in closing: the spiritual system of the market has failed us. while it has pushed us forward in some domains, it has completely alienated us from our work, our bodies, and the rest of life. the market deity is feeding on our souls and planet. we need new organizing principles to structure society, or we’re in trouble.

also:

jenny odell, in ‘how to do nothing: resisting the attention economy’, uses the example of a fight for the privatization of a rose garden in the name of ‘efficiency’ to warn against how the [metaphorical] parks and libraries of the self are at risk of ‘turning into condos’.