Hello fellas. This is my first post at TRP, I am sorry if my english is not good enough, my native language is spanish. I want to thank you all my brothers for all we’re doing here and this is the only way I found, today I am going to talk about something controversial and complex but, in my opinion, pretty interesting, It is called “Equivalent exchange”, this is the first law of Alchemy.

Today I am going to describe this law, the point of this thread is not to make you believe on this law or either alchemy but to think, to make you to think. Despite alchemy being an old science, for me this topic is about philosophy, not science, that’s why here you won’t find the truth, the truth is not in this text but inside you and your thoughts.

How can I get something if I don’t give anything in exchange?

What do I have to give in exchange of happiness?

Everything in life got a price and humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. A man can’t get anything without giving anything in exchange first. To obtain, something of equal value must be given in return.

Alchemy is a dead science, due to It’s lack of practical uses or even reality (we all know turning metals into gold isn’t that easy :p) but the first law keeps being real. Not even our actual science is able to break it:

  • The law of conservation of mass or principle of mass conservation states that for any system closed to all transfers of matter and energy, the mass of the system must remain constant over time, as system mass cannot change quantity if it is not added or removed. Hence, the quantity of mass is "conserved" over time. The law implies that mass can neither be created nor destroyed, although it may be rearranged in space, or the entities associated with it may be changed in form, as for example when light or physical work is transformed into particles that contribute the same mass to the system as the light or work had contributed. Thus, during any chemical reaction, nuclear reaction, or radioactive decay in an isolated system, the total mass of the reactants or starting materials must be equal to the mass of the products.

  • Newton’s first law of motion: An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

  • Newton’s second law of motion: The acceleration of an object as produced by a net force is directly proportional to the magnitude of the net force, in the same direction as the net force, and inversely proportional to the mass of the object.

  • Newton’s third law of motion: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Now let’s see this applied to some stupid real life examples:

  • If I want to be rich I’ll work hard for many days and I will make a big effort for it. And at the end I will get something equal to my effort. (This is actually a principle of TRP philosophy)
  • If you decide to for example be a drug dealer to get that money fast and easy you are changing that money for your liberty, morals or even guilt feeling, probably something bad will happen to you eventually
  • Luck of winning lottery pot may equal all the times you tried to win it all of your life, but, who knows, you may win the first time you try and never find your true love. One thing
  • If I work hard to make that girl I like happy, she will treat me as well as I am doing, because I deserve it for my effort, right? Well we all know this will likely never happen, but we will see later why It keeps being inside the equivalent trade.

If the object I want is an education then I must expend my time in study, I must spend my time to earn money with which to buy books and pay tuition, I must expend my time to complete assignments and tasks associated with study, and so my time is the equivalent exchange. As I reflect upon all the objects I have acquired and those I still want, they all seem to tie into an exchange of my time here on earth. If I buy a new car, I pay for it with money I’ve earned with an expenditure of my time. The same with a house, a meal, a vacation... This may sound like a pretty fair concept right? But we all know that life is unfair, so, how does it works in this cases?

For example, for one guy to become the new president of USA, thousands of them has been working and studying hard for many years, but only one or a few will finally achieve it. If this concept was right, then, all of them would become the president, doesn’t It?

Why It does not work like this? Let’s see: In the case of bureaucrats, and the rich & powerful. Depending on their station, their level of contribution to the objects they acquire will vary. A low level bureaucrat will probably be required to contribute more of his time to the acquisition of an object than will a high level bureaucrat. The remainder of equivalent contribution will come from the working class slaves. Those who the bureaucratic and rich classes have conditioned to accept the burden of carrying those above.

** JUST TO CLARIFY AFTER SOME PEOPLE MISUNDERSTOOD MY WORDS (is my fault tho). THIS IS NOT ABOUT BELIEVING ON THIS WAY OF LIFE. LIFE IS UNFAIR AND EQUIVALENT EXCHANGE MAKES IT UNFAIR, THE EXAMPLES HERE ARE JUST TO SEE HOW WRONG THAT POINT OF VIEW ABOUT EQUIVALENT EXCHANGE IS. READ THE LAST PART OF THE POST **

If you like this post I will make more about my thoughts. I can even make it about this topic, for example, talking about the philosopher's stone from this POV of alchemy and equivalent trade.