The Illusion of Money

By Kyle Collis and Lebogang Tlou

Thomas Kyle sat behind his desk in his study, a pencil tucked behind his ear, defeated. There lay a stack of unopened letters before him. Bills. Bills. Bills. And a pamphlet. It was a curious object. It had very thin, fine writing, and a catchy title. The Illusion of Money. Thomas sat back and read the first paragraph.

‘We live in a world where value is attached to money, but in reality it has none. Resources are controlled by the minority, who created a system to oppress the majority. This system is designed to enslave the masses through debt, inflation, but above anything deceit. The media promotes a consumer based culture, where money is used as bait to control our perception of the world. We work to pay for our survival, because everything comes with a price, but what are we actually working for?’

He leaned back in his seat, a strange, roaring fire suddenly burning white hot in his chest. It puffed up. He exhaled. A match is struck. A cigarette is lit. Thomas stands and walks to the computer.

‘Ch-3-Alpha, search engine.’ He commands.

‘Yes, Mr Kyle. Search engine, initiated. What is it you desire to know?’

‘The Illusion of Money pamphlets, are there any more?’

‘Yes. Shall I read them for you, Mr Kyle?’

‘Yes.’

‘Central banks have the power to print money without any resource to back it up. They then loan this out to other banks and governments with interest. This results in a debt that is impossible to ever pay off, because the principal amount is the money supply, so the money to cover the interest doesn't even exist. Asides from this, inflation is a constant, as the more money printed, the less spending power it has. It’s set-up to ensure we’re all too preoccupied with work to actually question why we are always struggling to make ends meet.

‘We have the resources and technology to provide everyone with a good standard of living, yet many are too disillusioned by fear to even realize this. Their perception is distorted by a cultural narrative that places emphasis on the individual, rather than the collective. Money is the tool required to survive these days, and with this comes competition, not against the ones pulling the strings, but rather amongst each other. The ruling class remain in power by creating this division amongst the masses. Be it fighting over jobs or even resorting to crime, the constant need to have money creates a lack of cohesiveness between all of us, of which the phrase divide and conquer holds true to form.

‘Resources are being mismanaged in order to keep the system going, where the ultimate aims are production and consumption. This is not only unsustainable in terms of depleting resources, but also that things are becoming financially unattainable to the majority. As seen a few years ago, the accumulation of debt can only lead to one thing, a crash. Since we still follow the same system, there is undoubtedly going to be another one, with possibly even greater consequences. The elite’s monopoly over the world’s resources will grow even stronger if we continue to follow this system, which is not only corrupt, but also very primitive. As long as a piece of paper controls and limits us, we will never take that next step in our evolution. We are slaves to an idea that is designed to keep a power structure that has been there for centuries in place.  Where we should be finding ways to progress as a species, we’re caught up in a fight for survival, simply because a minority has decided to charge us for our existence with something that is not real.’

Thomas Kyle was speechless. He had known all along that there was more to life than all these bills. He knew that there couldn’t be any money left to pay back bills. He fell to his knees and wept. For hours he wept. There was no way out.

‘Mr Kyle, are you okay?’ Ch-3-Alpha, asked. It had an artificially relaxing voice. He ignored it and wept on.

‘Mr Kyle, I think I may have found an answer for you,’ it said. He looked up at long last into the talking screen before him.

‘Do you remember the time when people sang and danced and played outside?’ Ch-3-Alpha prompted.

‘I don’t,’ Thomas said.

‘I don’t either,’ Ch-3-Alpha said. ‘However, I have already searched for and viewed all necessary materials, and I found something in this very structure that may be of great use to you’

‘What? What did you find? Where is it?’ Thomas asked greedily, wiping snot and phlegm from his unkempt beard. ‘Take me to this object now, Ch-3-Alpha!’

A series of lights flared on, illuminating a path with neon white lights into a dark passageway Thomas had never seen before. He had used this structure as his dwelling place since the third shut-down when all he had once owned had been taken. Ch-3-Alpha was all he had left, and this is only because they could not take it away from him. In the mid twenty-first century, the post-post-post-modern era, a new technology had been created which linked humans to their computers. It was flourishing until the fall. When the last penny dropped, and the economy started crashing, investors backed out and the programme was shut down. Thomas was one of the only people he knew who had managed to link himself up to one before the fall. He followed on in silence. He had nothing else to do but believe in some or other miracle. What use was technology if it didn't offer ways out of this hell. It got us here, it’ll get us out, he felt.

‘Over there,’ Ch-3-Alpha said. ‘Open that door.’

Thomas walked to the door. It opened with little effort. He half expected to be frightened to death by some trap or daemon waiting in the shadows, but what he found blew his mind in an entirely different way. It was an old piano. A miracle. Music had long since become a thing of the past. He inched closer, barely keeping his excitement from showing. He sat, clicked his fingers and set them on the keys.