I mean, do we really need to assume a preconfigured basis in order for wealth and power to be “incentivized”? They’re pretty self-incentivizing and built into human societies. On the other hand, I think you’d have to figure out some pretty radical rules and enforcement strategies to decouple the incentives from wealth and power. That presumably would require both wealth and power. Seems internally inconsistent.
Humanity has come so far and I'm sure it's possible to do it. I'm not saying wealth and power are bad. The ways of getting them are what's causing this. If you can become a billionaire by focussing on starvation, that could be a good one.
Today you are incentivised to get rich by making a technological innovation like Facebook. Facebook is a great money making business idea, however is it a life saver as much as solving clean water? I guess not. Unfortunately, we prioritised and incentivised the business models of Facebook and that's where we are.
FYI, I'm not picking on Facebook, it could be any big company today.
