CONTENTS

Author’s Preface ix

THE NATURAL ORDER OF MONEY

I
What makes cooperation possible and sustainable
between people and the natural world?—We must turn
to the natural order—Modern economic theory deals
with analysis in a mathematical vacuum, removed
from its wider ecological environment—This work is an
exercise in natural philosophy that is occupied with the
synthesis of the living, breathing economy. 1

II
Time is the fundamental, superseding law of nature—
Time moves forward and is irreversible—Human
action is beholden to the requirements of the present—
Contemporary economics tends to ignore the condition
of our temporality—The essential features of nature
emerge within the omnipresent theatre of time. 5

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 III
Nature is a thermodynamic system governed by the
forces of energy and entropy—Metabolization is the
process of conserving and expending energy—Energy
sources which propel this thermodynamic system are
foods, fuels, and elemental substances. 9

IV
The human cooperative system is also thermodynamic—
There is a chain of temporal energy dependency, in which
the first cause of an economy is those who work with
nature to source foods, fuels, and elemental substances—
The real economy generates energy embodiments; the
service economy only consumes them—The perfect cycle
of the farmer’s activity—The real economy is beholden to
a natural standard of measure and reward. 15

V
Ecological accountability is a fact of nature and of all
human cooperative systems—Only the service economy
is able to artificially and temporarily ignore ecological
accountability—When ecological accountability is
manipulated or forgotten, the relationship between the
real and service economies becomes parasitic—The
natural standard must be reified and extended to all
members ensuring that ecological accountability remains
at the heart of cooperation. 25

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 VI
Ecological accountability is not an ideal or promise,
but a lived reality—Money extends the natural
standard, promoting cooperation while reflecting
ecological accountability—Money itself must be an energy
embodiment—Money is more than its incidental features—
This understanding of money differs from standard accounts
in modern economic and anthropological theory. 31

VII
A superior money will be resistant to entropy and rare or
difficult to extract from nature—True money will neither
be food nor fuel, but rather an elemental substance—
Elements are naturally scarce, meaning that each
element exhibits certain unchanging qualities—Gold is
the apex element within the natural order of money. 39

VIII
When money is gold, cooperation between people and
nature is sustainable—Gold money remains a stable
measure and reward in both generative and degenerative
cycles—We live in an age of contrived moneys and
parasitic economies—A solution must be given by nature
and not the service economy—Gold is the perfect mirror
of ecological accountability. 49

Appendix I 57
Appendix II 63
Notes 77
Index 85
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