Not everything is a business model

I'm a regular reader of George Ure's site, Urban Survival. Mostly, I like the site, but one thing really bothers me. George's motto is: everything is a business model. He has a point. Many things make more sense if you look at them as a business model. Journalists are (were?) trained to “follow the money.” Looking at who benefits financially is usually enlightening.


I wouldn't go so far as to say “everything.” The possibility that such a thing could be true sickens me. Fortunately, I don't believe it.

Money and profit are huge motivators, so having a business model paradigm makes sense. However, not everyone is motivated by material gain. How about those in search of love, friendship, honor, spiritual enlightenment? George could hammer those into the “business model” framework, but not without a lot of damage to everything involved.

As for myself, the universe is energy. Interactions between people and other things are energy transfers. Money is just one way, (a fairly abstract one too) that energy gets transferred. Money represents a certain amount of labor, either physical or mental. Rather than barter that energy directly, we use a convenient substitute called money to facilitate the exchange.

Relationships are energy transfers. Caring and attention flows from on person to another, and usually around and back again. Love is energy. Hate is energy.

Not only does energy flow from person to person, it flows from and through the natural environment. It might take the form of oxygen and carbon dioxide as exchanges take place between animals and plants. It could be the critters themselves as food.

George's world is a business model. Mine is an energetic universe. Of course, both our models are only approximations on how things really work. Probably says more about how George and I think rather than anything else.

How do you see the world?

So that's one thing that bugs me about a site I generally enjoy. Well, that and the darn charts. The guy's chart crazy.

-Sixbears