Examines how treating resources as detached assets creates instability across environmental and economic systems
What’s happening
Natural resources are treated as indefinitely ownable assets. They are accumulated, traded, and controlled independent of their origin.
Where it breaks
Ownership does not match production.
- resources not created by individuals are privately controlled
- access is separated from system generation
- value is disconnected from origin
What’s actually going on
Ownership models were designed to:
- manage scarcity
- incentivize production
- stabilize access
This works for produced goods.
It does not map cleanly to natural systems.
What that leads to
- distortion between value and origin
- accumulation disconnected from production
- restricted access to shared system outputs
What changes
- distinguish between produced goods and natural systems
- align value with extraction and maintenance
- adjust control structures to reflect origin
What that looks like in practice
- pricing based on production cost
- access tied to use, not perpetual ownership
- systems reflect how resources actually exist
Why it matters
Alignment reduces distortion and improves system stability.
Where this goes next
This requires:
- redefining resource categories
- separating ownership from system output
- aligning economic models with physical reality
These changes can be implemented incrementally within current frameworks.
The saccade project 
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