Only Women Can Save The World
An actionable way to fix humanity today.
Sex Requires Status
A hundred billion humans may have existed since the dawn of time. All of them complete strangers to us, except for a few we call famous, friends or family. Yet, without knowing them, we may find one thing in common to all, and one thing only… Sex. For every person, two people had sex, and a child was born and raised. Sex and children connect all humanity. We all want the same thing and so did all our ancestors.
Sadly, we are not equal in matters of sex. Half of us, women, pay the higher price over the longer term: children in the womb, at one’s breast, in one’s arms, on one’s back, on the hip, in tow… For the other half, sex is less serious and much cheaper. So cheap in fact that men would, in their dreams, offer it as often as possible to as many women as possible. Confronted with such a dizzying array of offers, what is a woman to do? The price for her never changes: pregnancy. So she does what any sane person would do: choose the better offer. Also known as the better man.
What does being a better man mean? Whatever it means, men have no say in it. Not only do women choose the better man, they also choose what ‘better’ means. Some will go for the stronger, smarter, or richer man. Others, for the funnier, kinder, or better-looking. Men will then strive to compete, and improve themselves to get chosen. The resulting pecking order sorts men out according to status. Whatever high status means for women, men will try to achieve it. Women make men better. No status, no sex.
Status Breeds Inequality
Women want status and men need it. The universal pursuit of status drives society forward. As people better themselves, they better society along with them. Civilization is built on women’s choices.
Not all kinds of status are created equal. We obsessively favor the conspicuous kind: easily shown and easily seen. Socio-economic status and physical beauty. Money and looks. This is to be expected. We are not competing within a small tribe of related kin anymore. The social arena is now global and full of strangers. And the best way to impress a stranger is through money and looks.
Conspicuous status brings about extreme inequality among us. We are born with varying looks that we have no hope to change unless we gain yet a more unequal quality: money. Money makes a few human lives, a thousand times, a million times, a billion times more valuable than others. Do we really believe that?
To even stand a chance in such a ruthless game, we may become extremely vain and superficial, greedy and exploitative. We may put aside morality and empathy, because in the end, they are all strangers right?
If ruining humanity and what it means to be human wasn’t bad enough, the thirst for conspicuous status and materialism will also destroy the planet. We consumers are literally consuming the Earth. When the rich get richer, we are not the only ones losing out. The Earth is the biggest loser. To be fair, without an actual planet to live on, it won’t matter then how low we let ourselves go…
Status Is Recognition
Conspicuous status is shallow. It tells us nothing about human worth and who we are as human beings. If we are to survive, we must redefine status toward more meaningful values.
Status is how we see and are seen by others in a community. What makes it so consequential is the hierarchy produced by those sightings. Yet, status is really just a part of a wider concept we may call ‘recognition’, defined as the acknowledgment of one’s existence by another human being. Just as we need status and even before we need status, we all need recognition.
Recognition permeates our entire lives. It starts at birth, when we are a given a name by our parents. And it ends with death, when we must be identified. In between, our greetings, kisses and handshakes, our birthdays, weddings and reunions, all our dealings and interactions, are manifestations of recognition. Recognition makes us human, we need it like a baby needs human touch.
As we give and receive recognition, we acknowledge love, friendship and family. Everything that makes life worthwhile. Recognition at a small scale, within our tribe, is all about personal relationships and therefore, always meaningful.
Imagine if society was less about conspicuous status and more about recognition. Kindness and generosity would be rewarded. The world would be less extreme and more humane to live in. This is possible if women show us the way. As the first and final arbiters of status, they can choose recognition and its profound human values.
Recognition Is Quanthum
How can we favor recognition? How can we acknowledge each other and make it not only valuable but visible? By simply remembering those moments every day of our lives. Enter Quanthum, a tool made precisely to quantify what makes us human. With Quanthum you may:
Keep an existential diary.
How? By acknowledging a human being and sharing a memory with them. Just once a day.
Why? To cut out the noise and distraction of modern life. To remember only what and who, truly mattered to you. No friending, following or messaging. No likes, comments or ads.
Express and share your memories.
How? By choosing a minimal and visible privacy setting for each memory.
Why? To reconcile the conflicting needs for peer recognition and decent privacy. Share privately (you and one other person), publicly (the [quant.hum] community), or secretly (only you). We are not the same person to different people, to the public at large, or even to ourselves.
Dedicate them to anyone that ever lived.
How? By acknowledging not only friends and family, but any human being, whether they be living or deceased, famous or anonymous.
Why? To stand against forgetfulness and impermanence. To remember anyone that made us who we are today. Dedicate your days to a loved one who has passed away, to a famous author or celebrity, whose work has moved you.
Redefine human value and status.
How? By sharing your first memory with a new member, Jesse Smith [0.0], for example, their [quant.hum] tag changes to [0.1] and yours to [1.0]. Memories are thus aggregated into a single tag for every human being.
Why? To challenge socio-economic status or physical beauty as the be-all and end-all of human worth. The two numbers in a tag would represent less conspicuous but essential qualities such as gratitude and contribution.
Lead a humanist revolution.
How? By using [quant.hum] and spreading its tags around the web.
Why? To reduce human inequality. When status is overwhelmingly tied to money, a resource created at will, it fosters materialism, greed, and exploitation. When tied to the number of days we have to share, we are all in the same order of magnitude. Sharing a memory with someone invites them exclusively to [quant.hum] and tags are available at https://www.quanthum.com/tag/human-name/humanId
Women bear the burden of civilization, so their choices must not be hindered or coerced in any way. One choice may be to use Quanthum and re-enchant the world with more meaning. Men would follow. To save us from ourselves, we all would. Another choice may be to not choose and not have children, rather than settle for lesser men and undermine the progress of humanity. This is an extraordinary sacrifice made for all of us, albeit unconscious. As only tragic heroines can, only women can save the world.