The Future of Our Necessities
As the work I’ve been doing on game theory leaves the station, another equally interesting topic arrives. Self-sufficiency. Of nations, and of individuals like me and you. In a fragmented world, how can we fend for ourselves? In a connected world, how can we protect ourselves from potential future fragmentation? What aspects of modern life are important?
We live in a complicated world. I aim to reduce this complication in this section. Wealth gaps and values gaps between different societal groups are reaching unsustainable levels. We can’t rely on others to look out for us, especially those clinging to power. Through educating ourselves and prioritising our necessities, we can thrive.
I have 20 posts planned for this section. After this, we still have self-interest, connectivity, and cycles to discuss before tying it all together in the trends of geopolitics complete collection. Let’s get into it.
Introduction – What Necessities Do We Have?
1) Energy
2) Food
3) Water
4) Shelter (Including Clothing)
5) Healthcare (Including Sleep)
Self-Sufficiency – What Is It?
Self-sufficiency describes how an entity can meet its basic needs without relying on anyone or anything else. As our necessities are the most important things to survive, being self-sufficient in our necessities will provide a base layer of control and peace in our lives. Without this self-sufficiency, we are controlled by our environments and the systems in which we are contained. For food, we rely on supply chains spanning all around the world. We rely on the supermarkets functioning and making the right business decisions. For water we rely on water companies to clean this water and fit pipes, so we turn the tap and water comes out. For energy, we rely on governments to visualise where the energy industry is innovating and changing and to not get left too far behind. They need to explore how energy efficiency and scale can be improved and work with the companies to do this. These companies need to be incentivized to produce energy. To maintain roofs over our heads, we rely on our jobs to pay us a wage. Before even this, we need access to affordable housing. For healthcare, we need access to a doctor’s surgery.
So much we do relies on external sources, all of which are completely out of our control. I’m not saying we should all vanish off the grid and live in a cabin in the woods living off berries. But as individuals, we need to at least be aware of our self-sufficiency and how much the collapse in systems that run the world could thrust us into difficult situations. If we are aware of this, we can implement contingencies to not be wiped out by any negative impacts on our necessities.
As nations, the discussion of self-sufficiency becomes much more complicated. Are we still in a period of globalisation? Is the multipolar world emerging? What does this mean for global trade and supply chains? Are we in a period of the geopolitical war cycle where the attack on necessities can be used as a method to gain power? The combination of geopolitics and self-sufficiency raises the stakes.
Countries have to manage resources, national security, trade, and supply chains, among so much more. This can often involve strong relationships with other nations. The reliability of these connections always needs to be considered. Just like individuals can prepare themselves for self-sufficiency, countries need to too, all while not damaging their relationships with other countries so much that they become an isolated state.
Have We Always Had These Necessities?
In the past, we had different necessities due to the structure of society. As society gets more complex, access to some of these necessities becomes easier. More automated.
In the period of hunter-gatherers, arable land and waterways played a key part in the location of settlements. Now in the modern age of connectivity, where we can reach anywhere in the world in a day, we don’t need to consider these qualities when choosing a settlement.
So as we connect more, we innovate more and live easier lives. When we live easier lives, our desires change. Our problems change. From this comes the constant cycle of innovation. The improvement of human life changes our necessities. So these necessities might not always be our necessities. Could nuclear fusion provide unlimited free energy for everyone in the world, and be easily accessible by individuals?
Why These Necessities Are The Key Necessities
These necessities allow us to survive as humans. But, we can often become clouded by what we actually need to survive. Some aspects of our lives become so ingrained that we become controlled and limited by them. We all have systems that run our lives. Our habits and schedules. When considering necessities, we need to go above these systems. The chances are there are certain aspects of our systems we don’t need at all.
On a societal level, we adhere to specific values and beliefs. Innovation and changes in politics, technology and economics create shifts in which values and beliefs are most important. Values aren’t necessities. But they are ways that boost our quality of life. These are sub-necessities.
Sub-Necessities
The necessities listed above are vital to our survival. If we are lucky enough to have access to these, what sub-necessities can boost the quality of our lives?
1) Education
2) Entertainment
3) Technology
4) Art and Culture
5) Travel
6) Social Connections
7) Personal Fulfilment
8) Nature
9) Clean Environment
10) Personal Development
11) Values
12) Principles
To some people who live with a lower quality of life, these sub-necessities are the furthest thing from their minds. Necessities ensure survival. Countries in Africa and other poor areas of the world struggle to access even the necessities.
These sub-necessities are built on top of stable access to necessities. But lack of access to sub-necessities can contribute to the cycle of poverty and suffering in third-world countries.
Footballer Sadio Mane pops immediately into my mind. For those who aren’t keen followers of football, Mane is from Senegal. He has transformed his hometown of Bambali by providing necessities for the inhabitants of the town and surrounding area. He has built a hospital allowing access to healthcare. He built a secondary school to give children access to one of the sub-necessities of education. He also offers laptops to these students, and 4G internet for every family. On top of this, he provides money to these families every month to live off. He has built a petrol station and will build a post office. This is how those in power can help build a stable groundwork from which necessities can be provided and maintained. The generosity of individuals or groups in power to boost the quality of life of those around them can eventually provide the entire world with the necessities they deserve.
Taking Our Necessities For Granted
We in the developed world need to change our attitudes. We wake up every day in clean beds, heated houses, with food in the fridge. We walk up to a tap and water pours out. We don’t look deeper into things. We live on the surface of everything around us without looking deeper to explore how it even got there.
Every tree we see was planted by somebody. Every building is constructed by somebody.
We take our sub-necessities for granted when in reality, they aren’t in the necessity category for a reason. Materialism, consumerism, societal expectations. All cloud our judgements into what is important. If we are lucky enough to have access to sub-necessities then we can use them to boost the quality of our lives. But our necessities are what is important. And keeping in mind those who don’t have access to necessities must be an important part of our lives.
Consequences If We Don’t Have Access To These Necessities
· Stress
· Lower Life Expectancy
· Physical Health Problems
· Dehydration
· Malnutrition and Starvation
Preparation For Anything
It can be considered morbid to prepare for worst-case scenarios. Firstly, scenario analysis helps prepare for any scenario, and through preparation I feel more comfortable and in control of anything that comes my way. Of course, we still need to accept that we won’t consider every scenario and discomfort is bound to occur in some circumstances. Also, we can control our thoughts and feelings, actions, and behaviours, but very little outside of that.
So know how to grow your own food. Own a water filtration device. Have a survival bag. Have methods to produce your own energy. Even owning a first aid kit. Anything that can help you be more prepared can bring peace of mind. And even if you never use any of it, you’ve collected yourself a great bag to take on any camping trip!
Concluding Remarks
In this series, I’m going to cover the history, present, and future of each of these necessities. After we’ll look at trends in human innovation and if they will advance humanity or give us greater potential to damage our advancement. Finally, I’ll construct a self-sufficiency index of all the countries in the world before collecting all this research together in a final conclusion including the most important questions about the necessities of life on Earth.
Thanks for reading! If you want more like this then follow me on Twitter or Medium or subscribe on Substack for these posts directly to your email inbox. I write and research geopolitics and financial markets to organise my own thoughts and prepare myself for anything I can control. If any of this helps you to be more prepared and ease your mind, then that’s great. If you like what you read please share it with others. Have a good week.
Geopolitics Database: https://www.geopoliticsexplained.co.uk/geopoliticsdatabase-access
Geopolitics Explained Podcast: https://www.geopoliticsexplained.co.uk/geopol-podcast
or listen here: