The future of manufacturing looks a lot like the past: Tiny.
Back in the old days, goods weren't made in large batches somewhere far away. They were custom-made and designed just for you. If you wanted a new pair of shoes, you would go right down to the local cobbler, he would take your measurements and create them on the spot. Everything fit just right, because they weren't created for a "Size 8". They were created for a Sarah.
For a while, it seemed like Mass Production was the better alternative to slow, old-fashioned "craft" production. Sure, it wasted millions of tons of oil and gas, polluted Earth's precious atmosphere and left behind barrels of toxic waste, but it was "cheaper". What you saved in price, you lost in value- thanks to mass production, the quality of goods usually went in one direction: down. Consumers also lost that close connection with those who produced the things they relied on. No longer do we get to see goods produced or who makes them. That's not to say there weren't a few benefits- products were consistent everywhere you went, the same size and made of the same materials. You just paid the price of individuality. Eventually mass-production spread into our culture too, with the same fast food restaurants following you everywhere you went and music studios stamping out teen pop idols on an assembly line.
In a resource-based economy, localized, closed-loop manufacturing is the "secret sauce" that brings everything together. While every city and town won't have their own factory, manufacturing will be far more distributed than it is today, with each region, or "metropolitan area" having one. All products are designed with recyclability in mind, completing the "loop" of raw materials.
So what are microfactories? True to their name, they are small factories. Small factories are cheaper to build and easier to maintain since they require less inputs. Microfactories are key because without them, transitioning would be nearly impossible due to the large expense of building or buying full-sized plants. What makes microfactories unique is that they aren't just small, they're completely automated, modular and mobile. A microfactory will be designed to neatly fit into a few shipping containers, be easily assembled and disassembled. Because they can be moved so easily, microfactories can be produced in one location and taken wherever they're needed. Microfactories will be able to produce nearly everything current factories do, including high-tech electronics. It would be impossible for one microfactory to produce every possible product, so a diverse array of specialized microfactories would be available in every region.
For example, one microfactory may produce high-quality steel while another makes custom computer chips. Yet another may refine biofuels and produce plastic, or gas. When an industrial process is too complex for one factory to do on it's own, an ecosystem of factories will work together to create a finished product.
The first microfactories will be designed around our basic needs: Food, Clothing and Housing. Food processing and preservation is a must, along with clothes. A simple brick press can be thought of as a crude "housing" microfactory, but later versions will build entire house sections, with electrical wiring and plumbing included. Chemical processes such as steel and glassmaking can also be easily miniaturized, but it's most likely materials such as steel and glass will be pelletized and shipped instead, to be melted down and made into products on-site.
When you think about it, microfactories make manufacturing easier. Finished products, which take up a lot of space and require special shipping conditions will no longer be traded between cities. Instead, raw materials will. Since raw materials are easy to load and ship, it's possible that products could be created faster. Large silos of raw materials would be located right next to the manufacturing complex so transportation time could be minimized.
Saturday, February 21, 2015
What's a Venus Society?
Venus societies are groups of people committed to advancing the goals of TVP and a resource-based economy in the best way possible: Making it happen in real life. In every city, Venus Societies will live the dream by taking a "waste not, want not" approach to life. Read this article for more.
What does that mean?
While still working in a monetary economy, Venus Societies will constantly aim to be as self-sufficient as possible. They will grow their own food with automated gardening, 3-D print a diverse array of products and lobby for the construction of makerspaces. They'll take what other businesses might consider "trash" and discover innovative ways to reuse it. Societies also seek donations of land and money from local philanthropists. If you got 1000 people to each donate $100, you would have enough to purchase almost all the necessary machinery.
Venus Societies will partner with local farmer's markets, stores and businesses to inform and educate them about a resource-based economy, and look for their input on planning the next stages of transition. They may even promote the use of alternative community currencies. They won't work alone- instead joining forces with other local sustainability movements and academics. Together they will build and manage the Direct-Democracy infrastructure that will allow citizens to take back control of their city.
Venus Societies aren't so much activist groups as they are ways of life. They serve to test out Resource-Based Economies on a local scale, with each member receiving an equal share of local production. Venus Societies run the members-only "warehouse stores" where they get products for "free". Put simply, it's the society that does the real on-the-ground work of preparing cities for transition.
What does that mean?
While still working in a monetary economy, Venus Societies will constantly aim to be as self-sufficient as possible. They will grow their own food with automated gardening, 3-D print a diverse array of products and lobby for the construction of makerspaces. They'll take what other businesses might consider "trash" and discover innovative ways to reuse it. Societies also seek donations of land and money from local philanthropists. If you got 1000 people to each donate $100, you would have enough to purchase almost all the necessary machinery.
Venus Societies will partner with local farmer's markets, stores and businesses to inform and educate them about a resource-based economy, and look for their input on planning the next stages of transition. They may even promote the use of alternative community currencies. They won't work alone- instead joining forces with other local sustainability movements and academics. Together they will build and manage the Direct-Democracy infrastructure that will allow citizens to take back control of their city.
Venus Societies aren't so much activist groups as they are ways of life. They serve to test out Resource-Based Economies on a local scale, with each member receiving an equal share of local production. Venus Societies run the members-only "warehouse stores" where they get products for "free". Put simply, it's the society that does the real on-the-ground work of preparing cities for transition.
Thursday, February 19, 2015
How to reward people for supporting a Resource Based Economy: The beginnings of Global Governance
You've already read about why the rich and powerful won't stand in the way, but what about governments? Won't they be unwilling to let go of their power? It's possible, but unlikely. Call me naive, but I believe that government, like any other human institution is made up of normal people who can be reasoned with. Once it's made clear how much better this would make life not just for us, but for them, they would likely back away. They are only doing what they feel needs to be done and despite the rumors, a lot of them actually do it because they believe they are serving the people.
We don't need government to actively support this, or any other project. All we need is for them to let events take their course. We need them to be Gorbachev instead of Stalin.
But speaking of governments, how exactly would the ones in Sociocapitalism function, especially without a steady source of tax revenue?
There will be a lot less to govern, for one. Some people think that the idea of government melting away is nonsense, and they're right. Decisions will always need to be made, and people will always be needed to make those decisions. But when you step back, it's true that there really won't be much need for large governments anymore. Think about it. When everyone's basic needs are met, most crime goes away. Somewhere around 90% of crime is drug or money-related, right? And most people turn to drugs as an escape because of a lack of economic opportunity, correct? When most of the stresses from life are removed, it's very easy to see the crime rate drop at least 95%.
Will there still be murders? Sure. There will always be a few scattered "crimes of passion" here and there, but they will be so rare they would almost be considered freak accidents. With a powerful mental health apparatus and law enforcement that focuses not just on punishment, but rewarding good behavior, it's likely that these too will drop. Robot companions will also take the edge off of loneliness.
It isn't just personal crime that will go down: On a larger level, the great crime of war will end too. When all the people in a country are well-cared for, there isn't a reason to go to war to steal others' resources. The global assembly also ensures that cities get along by providing alternate ways of conflict resolution, and as a last resort talking decisive military action against any city that dares invade another. Because of this, the need for large, centralized nation-states will go away and power will return to the city-state.
It's not utopia. It will never be utopia, because there will always be more work to do. There will always be ways to make society even better. But it's still 99% cooler than what we have now, and it's a future we should fight for.
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Government will look a lot different in a resource-based economy. It's participatory, meaning that everyone has the chance to take part in helping their city function. It's direct, meaning that you can vote directly on things that matter to you, while delegating less important votes to others. Most importantly, it's transparent- you will always know what's going on and where the money's gone.
The greatest lie that we've been told is that the general population is too stupid to think for themselves. "The best argument against democracy.. is a conversation with your average voter", Said Winston Churchill. Do you ever stop to think why that is? Why they would purposely keep us dumbed-down, watching reality T.V? What people seem to forget is that in a resource-based economy, people would have far more time to educate themselves on the issues that matter to them. Without a job to weigh them down, citizens would take a lot more pride in their government and actually care about what it does. Many would volunteer to help out, seeing it as a great honor. There really isn't any need for taxes because nobody needs to get paid. The police do it because they want to keep their community safe, and so do the firemen. The only time taxes would be needed is if the city wants to complete a large project, and even then most funds are provided by the Global Assembly or a Confederation of Convenience.
The small amount of revenue that cities need will be provided by tribes and service/property/transaction fees. Every tribe has to give 25% of whatever revenue it earns from it's members with the cities they live in. This compares favorably with current corporate tax rates around the world, and is fair considering that cities can't charge income taxes. This tax is calculated on a per-capita basis and causes tribes to form symbiotic relationships with cities even though they are nominally separate. In return for this, cities agree to enforce tribal contracts (such as arresting and imprisoning those who break tribal law)
Service fees are charges for things such as physical stores, permits, electricity, water and sewage/garbage. These are mostly "dirty jobs" that humans will still need to do for a while, so they must be paid for. Transaction fees are assessed whenever members of two different tribes exchange money. For those that still choose to own property in an RBE, they will be taxed as usual. Home ownership won't be necessary or practical when housing is free, but the freedom to exclusively own a space will always be offered. Altogether, these represent a sizable chunk of revenue to do projects with.
All newly-built RBE cities will run on delegative democracy, a system that allows you to delegate your vote to a representative of your choice. Key word, delegate. Unlike representative democracy, you are allowed to take your vote back at any time and give it to someone else. The voting power of any one individual is based on how many other people have delegated their vote to them. This gives elected officials a powerful incentive to act in the best interests of the people at all times, or else the only vote they will have is their own. Someone who's been delegated votes can then delegate those votes to someone else, and so on. They can even split them into smaller groups and give them to different people. All of this means that democracy is far more liquid and responsive to the needs of the people. Instead of being locked in with a bad candidate for four years, you would just pick someone else. No mess, no fuss.
Because democracy is built-in, you don't just have the right to vote directly on issues at the local level. With the tools of referendum and initiative, the people always have the last word on any law created at any level of government. Gather enough signatures, and the proposed law must automatically go to referendum (or the passed law must be halted and sent back to the citizens for approval.) This is akin to Switzerland's referendum system, which has received high marks. Not only does it increase citizen engagement, it acts as yet another leash on government overreach. Previously-existing cities can keep their current system if they wish.
Sociocapitalism draws a lot from parpolity's nested council structure, which is one of the best ways to organize society in order to transmit the will of the people higher up through the levels of government while preventing tyranny. Nested councils are exactly what you'd think they are: Delegated stacks of nested councils, with each council sending a member to a higher one. What makes parpolity special is that no higher council can override the laws made by a lower one, as long as those laws only effect that particular council. In cases where proposed laws effect more than one council, the next-higher one has the authority to make decisions. When jurisdiction isn't clear, a citizen's court will be used to decide.
Because higher-level councils can't override lower ones, local sovereignty and subsidiarity is protected. Compare this to today's large, centralized nations where "one-size-fits-all" solutions are often shoved down local governments' throats. Most times, father doesn't know best. Each city and town is unique: It doesn't make sense to outsource decision-making to a group of people who
a) most likely have never visited and b) are hundreds or thousands of miles away. Democratic choices should be made at the level closest to the people, and when it comes to daily governance that level is the city. You always want to see countries breaking apart- separatist movements. Catalonia, Scotland, Flanders. It's a sign that one-size-fits all planning simply doesn't work. We already know centrally- planned economies fail, so it should be no surprise that centrally-planned governments fail too.
To defend against the tyranny of the majority, a law can be challenged in the courts to determine it's constitutionality. Each city, assembly and town has it's own constitution specifying how this would be done, and how many appeals a person may have. A few very specific types of cases can be tried in the Global Assembly's courts if one's fundamental rights have been violated.
How Nested Councils Nest
The goal of nested councils is to create small, personal lawmaking chambers where debates can be held and everyone knows' everyone else's name. For this reason the number of representatives in any single chamber is always less than the Dunbar Limit- the maximum amount of people you can form close, personal relationships with. Beyond around 150 people, it's impossible to truly "care" or see others as human beings. This article explains a lot.
Starting at the local level, every city or group of cities with at least 10,000 people will choose four delegates: two male, and two female. Tribes will do the same. Cities and Tribes are both given free reign when it comes to deciding how to pick these delegates and organize politically. Some cities may hold elections, others may appoint, and still others might hold a lottery. It's up to them.
Each male and female pairing goes to a different assembly: One goes to the "lower house", where the amount of votes each city has is based off of its' population and the other goes to the "upper house" where each city has two votes, no matter the size. Any proposal must pass both assemblies to become law.
A grand total of 100 representatives from 50 different cities will form the first level of nested councils.
From here, the council selects another boy/girl pairing to go to the next-higher council. They do not have to both be from the same city or tribe. These delegations are retractable at any time, but the delegates aren't bound to vote as their sending council might wish. Otherwise there wouldn't be a point to the system in the first place, and everyone may as well just vote on everything. All delegates are required to regularly keep in contact with their sending councils and update them on current events.
This process repeats itself until it gets to the highest-level council, the Global Assembly. Things are a little different at this level. For one, the tribe's and the city's nested-council structures both merge into one, symbolizing the unity and bond both share. At lower levels, they are separate entities. Because the Global Assembly makes choices that effect the entire world, both tribes and cities must work together in order to implement them and ensure they are the right ones.
Make no mistake: The Global Assembly is NOT a world government. It does not tell cities or tribes what to do. We're trying to get away from "one size fits all" policy, remember? It's functions are very limited, mostly acting as a watchdog and steward of global resources. They are the ones who maintain the automated systems that underpin society, and ensure that everyone has equal access to them. The Global Assembly is legally barred from discrimination, meaning anyone and everyone must have access to it's services at no cost. They are less interested in what cities teach in schools, and more interested in making sure everyone has food to eat and a roof over their head. After all, no matter what you believe in you still need basic necessities to survive. There are only a few crimes that the Global Assembly will drop the hammer on a city for, and one of them is denying citizens access to their basic resources. For the most part, citizens won't need to think about the GA that much. They don't intervene in local politics. It'll just be there, quietly making sure everything is operational and running smoothly. The Global Assembly also has a few other important roles which are described later in this section.
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Thanks to the magic of exponents, you only need four levels of nested councils to represent the entire world!
Assuming that each pair of representatives represents 10,000 people and there are 7 billion people in the world (in reality it will be much larger because most cities will contain far more than 10,000 people..)
Assume all councils except the highest have 100 members. As there are two councils at each level, the total number of councils is twice what the raw population data would suggest.
The first, local level of councils will each represent 500,000 people. There will be (140,000 x 2) = 280,000.
The next level of councils will each represent 2.5 million people. There will only be (2800 x 2) = 5600.
The third level's councils each represent 125 million people. There will only be (56 x 2) = 128! of them.
The fourth level is the global assembly, representing all 7 billion of us. There is only one, but both assemblies have a larger number of members + a randomly selected contingent to ensure everyone has a fair chance of entering. The tribe/city selected gets to automatically send a delegate directly to the global assembly for a period of two years.
Structure of the Tribal Assembles
The tribe's nested councils are organized in almost exactly the same way, melding with cities' at the top. Because people are members of both a city and a tribe, individuals are represented "twice".
Cities and tribes each represent separate and distinct interests: Cities are physical and political while tribes are ethereal, economic entities. Consider tribes the successor to today's multinational corporations: Again, just like stock one can invest in multiple tribes, trade their votes or even sell them. Within tribes, decision-making relies on liquid democracy, with each shareholder receiving an amount of votes equal to all the wealth they've contributed to the transition.
The factors that determine votes in tribal nested councils are different too: In the "lower house", the amount of voting power a tribe has is determined by the total number of people who are a part of it. In the "upper house", total voting power is determined by the combined wealth of all citizens.
Other than this, the councils nest in exactly the same way. You can find out more about tribes here.
Function of the Global Assembly
Think of the Global Assembly as a giant referee. Their main purpose is to protect and defend local sovereignty, peacefully resolve disputes between tribes and cities, enforce fundamental rights and freedoms, and, most importantly build, own and operate the automated systems and infrastructure that will form the backbone of society.
The global assembly creates a blank slate that allows cities and people to freely experiment, innovate and find the place that's right for them. They don't do much "governing". Of course, only the global assembly has the right to declare war, admit new countries or cities, and sanction tribes and cities.
Fundamental Rights and Freedoms
The global assembly exists to defend these rights which belong to all human beings at birth. The global assembly has the right to use military force if necessary in order to protect them. You will not find many western values here, because this is a global assembly which intends to unite the entire world. In order to do this, we must recognize that different cultures have different concepts of "rights" that might not always mesh well with western ones. Some ideas, such as democracy will not work everywhere. Because of this, local governments, under the principle of "Local Sovereignty" have the right and privilege to determine which type of government and how many rights they will provide. Instead of attempting to force existing cities to adopt our values, all future cities that the global assembly builds will guarantee the rights we know and love in a special charter.
Right to leave: This is the most important right of all. At any time and for any reason, a person has the inalienable right to leave a community. No community may require residents to ask for permission before exiting. Forcibly restraining someone who wants to leave is against international law. This even extends to those convicted of a crime or undergoing criminal trial, with one caveat: They have to find one city willing to accept them, and show proof that they've been accepted. If no other town will accept them, then the individual will have to submit to whatever punishment the community chooses, or be banished to the wilds*. In general, the worst punishment a community will be able to offer is banishment. If someone returns to a community they have been banished from, they consent to being executed or at the very least waive the rest of their fundamental rights. The right to leave does not imply that you can take anything with you; you may be reasonably required to turn in all physical possessions that you do not own.
*"The wilds" is a fenced-off natural area without any modern amenities. In the wilds, the lawless state of nature reigns supreme and there is no way to call for help. It functions as an open-air international prison for the worst offenders. Keep in mind that banishment to the wilds will only be for the most grievous offenses. It's highly unlikely no town will be willing to accept you if you just skipped paying a parking ticket.
The time you will be allowed to search for an asylum community may be legally limited to no less than 2 weeks.
Right to Resources: Besides acting as an intermediary between tribes and cities, one of the Global Assembly's most important duties is making sure that everyone has the basic resources they need to survive. As you read earlier, the Global Assembly manages the means of production to ensure all people have access to it and that no one country abuses it to it's advantage. In practice, this means that they use technology to grow crops, provide healthcare, build housing, infrastructure and schools (even entire cities), all using little to no human labor. It also provides a basic income to every man, woman, and child each month deposited directly into their accounts. All of this is freely provided to everyone in the world. One of the biggest no-nos for any city is to deny citizens access to their basic resources without cause. The Global Assembly will not tolerate it under any circumstances, and any regime that does so will be labeled an enemy of the people and swiftly removed.
Right to enter and travel: Free movement of people is a fundamental requirement for any new global civilization. Everyone has the right to move anywhere else and live, as long as they have not been convicted of a crime, or anything else that is illegal in that jurisdiction. (In those cases it's up to the receiving city whether or not to accept them.) No passports or travel documents will be required: All necessary information will be found on your wrist, as part of your payband. You will also have a "digital passport" on your smartphone that lists all the places you've been. At the station, all you will need to do is wave your wrist to pass. The right to travel and stay doesn't mean you'll be granted residency rights at your destination: That's the responsibility of local authorities.
Residency means that you will pay less for city services and gain the right to vote in that cities' elections. Whether or not you will be allowed to hold multiple citizenships is up to the city.
Currently, the main motivation for movement restrictions is economic: People are afraid that immigrants will rush in and steal all the jobs! In a resource-based economy where work is optional and everyone is well-provided for, this is a moot point and there's no reason to limit freedom of movement.
Right to be informed: Because every city is an independent entity, there will undoubtedly be a wide variety of unique laws and cultures. It is the responsibility of the city to compile a list of "things you should know" before you come to immigrate or visit, and make this information publicly available.
Miscellaneous other duties of the Global Assembly
Tribetaker- Tribes are entities that run off of the Global Assembly's platform. Because tribes are digital, it's a good idea to think of them as smaller communities that are part of a larger whole. If a tribe has been ruled against in court and ordered to pay fines, only the Global Assembly can enforce the verdict. It rarely has to do so because most tribes voluntarily cooperate.
Fiduciary Intermediary- The 25% income tax on Tribes is first paid to the Global Assembly, then distributed to cities monthly as a lump sum. This is more convenient for cities because they usually contain citizens who are members of many tribes. It would be too time-consuming to negotiate payment schedules individually with each of them. The Global Assembly does not keep any part of this tax.
Generousity- Recognizing that when people are happy, the world is a better and safer place, The G.A. operates a "positive policing" force that rewards people for doing good deeds. These rewards may take the form of increased income, random gifts or vacations. Generousity in particular (the intelligence agency that handles this type of thing), is always watching and rewarding those who help their community.
As part of the state security and mental health apparatus, Generousity takes care of the "social" side of society. After all, even if all of someone's material needs are met, if their social and emotional needs are ignored they may still turn to violence. The greatest threat to a new, peaceful and stable world order isn't terrorism, it's mental health. Generousity will use international intelligence to predict and remediate threats before they have a chance to become hazardous. People are encouraged to report suspicious behavior to them in exchange for a reward, and they operate an anonymous chat/mail exchange for people who want to get things off of their chest. Generousity's mission is a world where everyone feels loved and cared for. Although it sounds altruistic, it has everything to do with security and preventing, as much as possible, "random" acts of violence.
Global Defense Force and International Rescue Service- Each ensure the security of cities and people, respectively. The GDF acts as the military wing (all-volunteer, by the way), and the IRS rescues people who are in dangerous situations.
Court of Last Resort- The Global Assembly operates a network of courts for parties who have not found suitable settlements elsewhere. These are the courts someone would go to sue a tribe for breaching their contract.
Structure of the Global Assembly
The centerpiece is a bicameral parliament that's fittingly enough, called the "Global Assembly". Consisting of two houses, it's main purpose is to function as a nominating body to select administrators and managers for local production units. Legislating is a secondary function of the body. It can pass a resolution on anything, but in order to be binding it has to be an issue that a) effects the entire world and b) was already tried at lower levels of government but found to be lacking or c) is explicitly defined in it's (very narrow) constitutional limits.
The upper house, the House of Regent, doubles as the highest assembly for tribes. Votes in it are distributed based on wealth.
The lower house, the House of Representatives, doubles as the highest assembly for cities. Votes there are distributed based on population.
Any measure or proposed candidate nomination should pass both houses with a simple majority in order to become law. If either house vetoes a bill the other house has already passed, that veto can be overridden with a 2/3 majority. The size of each of these houses is fixed by law, but as a rule the upper house must be smaller and all of the lower councils must be guaranteed seats. An equal amount of extra seats must be provided for randomly-selected cities and tribes to join.
Any single delegated member to the assembly has a maximum term length of 5 years before needing to be replaced or rotated.
How does my vote count?
While you don't get to directly elect the representatives, you still have an incredible amount of control over the political process via initiative, referendum and recall.
Via initiative, citizens can directly propose new laws at any level of government once they gather enough signatures. If the legislature does not act on the proposal within the timeframe specified in the referendum or votes it down, it automatically goes to the citizens for approval. Even constitutional amendments may be suggested via initiative, although they require twice the number of signatures.*
With referendum, citizens have the authority to challenge any law passed as long as it effects them and they gather enough signatures from other people effected by the law. Referendum doesn't just extend to laws, it also applies to any act of government, including judicial rulings.*
With recall, you can remove any public official from office by forcing a special election once you get enough people to sign a petition. This does not apply to the first level of nested councils.*
The number of signatures required for these tools are all the same at each level.
Level 1: Local Councils representing 500K or more: (does not apply)
Level 2: Regional Councils representing 2.5M or more: 250,000 signatures
Level 3: "National" Councils representing 125M or more: 500,000 signatures
Level 4: Global Assembly representing 7 billion or more: 2.5 million signatures
*All of these tools only apply to cities' nested councils, and none of them apply to the first level of nested councils. Tribal councils are exempt from this, except for the House of Regent.
How is the Global Assembly Funded?
The global assembly does not directly tax anyone, but does have the ability to tax tribes. Instead, they withhold from the basic income that they distribute. Each time a basic income is given, the global assembly credits itself with an equal amount of basic income to use for projects around the world. They can change the amount that they credit themselves with, thus changing the amount of basic income.
We don't need government to actively support this, or any other project. All we need is for them to let events take their course. We need them to be Gorbachev instead of Stalin.
But speaking of governments, how exactly would the ones in Sociocapitalism function, especially without a steady source of tax revenue?
There will be a lot less to govern, for one. Some people think that the idea of government melting away is nonsense, and they're right. Decisions will always need to be made, and people will always be needed to make those decisions. But when you step back, it's true that there really won't be much need for large governments anymore. Think about it. When everyone's basic needs are met, most crime goes away. Somewhere around 90% of crime is drug or money-related, right? And most people turn to drugs as an escape because of a lack of economic opportunity, correct? When most of the stresses from life are removed, it's very easy to see the crime rate drop at least 95%.
Will there still be murders? Sure. There will always be a few scattered "crimes of passion" here and there, but they will be so rare they would almost be considered freak accidents. With a powerful mental health apparatus and law enforcement that focuses not just on punishment, but rewarding good behavior, it's likely that these too will drop. Robot companions will also take the edge off of loneliness.
It isn't just personal crime that will go down: On a larger level, the great crime of war will end too. When all the people in a country are well-cared for, there isn't a reason to go to war to steal others' resources. The global assembly also ensures that cities get along by providing alternate ways of conflict resolution, and as a last resort talking decisive military action against any city that dares invade another. Because of this, the need for large, centralized nation-states will go away and power will return to the city-state.
It's not utopia. It will never be utopia, because there will always be more work to do. There will always be ways to make society even better. But it's still 99% cooler than what we have now, and it's a future we should fight for.
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Government will look a lot different in a resource-based economy. It's participatory, meaning that everyone has the chance to take part in helping their city function. It's direct, meaning that you can vote directly on things that matter to you, while delegating less important votes to others. Most importantly, it's transparent- you will always know what's going on and where the money's gone.
The greatest lie that we've been told is that the general population is too stupid to think for themselves. "The best argument against democracy.. is a conversation with your average voter", Said Winston Churchill. Do you ever stop to think why that is? Why they would purposely keep us dumbed-down, watching reality T.V? What people seem to forget is that in a resource-based economy, people would have far more time to educate themselves on the issues that matter to them. Without a job to weigh them down, citizens would take a lot more pride in their government and actually care about what it does. Many would volunteer to help out, seeing it as a great honor. There really isn't any need for taxes because nobody needs to get paid. The police do it because they want to keep their community safe, and so do the firemen. The only time taxes would be needed is if the city wants to complete a large project, and even then most funds are provided by the Global Assembly or a Confederation of Convenience.
The small amount of revenue that cities need will be provided by tribes and service/property/transaction fees. Every tribe has to give 25% of whatever revenue it earns from it's members with the cities they live in. This compares favorably with current corporate tax rates around the world, and is fair considering that cities can't charge income taxes. This tax is calculated on a per-capita basis and causes tribes to form symbiotic relationships with cities even though they are nominally separate. In return for this, cities agree to enforce tribal contracts (such as arresting and imprisoning those who break tribal law)
Service fees are charges for things such as physical stores, permits, electricity, water and sewage/garbage. These are mostly "dirty jobs" that humans will still need to do for a while, so they must be paid for. Transaction fees are assessed whenever members of two different tribes exchange money. For those that still choose to own property in an RBE, they will be taxed as usual. Home ownership won't be necessary or practical when housing is free, but the freedom to exclusively own a space will always be offered. Altogether, these represent a sizable chunk of revenue to do projects with.
All newly-built RBE cities will run on delegative democracy, a system that allows you to delegate your vote to a representative of your choice. Key word, delegate. Unlike representative democracy, you are allowed to take your vote back at any time and give it to someone else. The voting power of any one individual is based on how many other people have delegated their vote to them. This gives elected officials a powerful incentive to act in the best interests of the people at all times, or else the only vote they will have is their own. Someone who's been delegated votes can then delegate those votes to someone else, and so on. They can even split them into smaller groups and give them to different people. All of this means that democracy is far more liquid and responsive to the needs of the people. Instead of being locked in with a bad candidate for four years, you would just pick someone else. No mess, no fuss.
Because democracy is built-in, you don't just have the right to vote directly on issues at the local level. With the tools of referendum and initiative, the people always have the last word on any law created at any level of government. Gather enough signatures, and the proposed law must automatically go to referendum (or the passed law must be halted and sent back to the citizens for approval.) This is akin to Switzerland's referendum system, which has received high marks. Not only does it increase citizen engagement, it acts as yet another leash on government overreach. Previously-existing cities can keep their current system if they wish.
Sociocapitalism draws a lot from parpolity's nested council structure, which is one of the best ways to organize society in order to transmit the will of the people higher up through the levels of government while preventing tyranny. Nested councils are exactly what you'd think they are: Delegated stacks of nested councils, with each council sending a member to a higher one. What makes parpolity special is that no higher council can override the laws made by a lower one, as long as those laws only effect that particular council. In cases where proposed laws effect more than one council, the next-higher one has the authority to make decisions. When jurisdiction isn't clear, a citizen's court will be used to decide.
Because higher-level councils can't override lower ones, local sovereignty and subsidiarity is protected. Compare this to today's large, centralized nations where "one-size-fits-all" solutions are often shoved down local governments' throats. Most times, father doesn't know best. Each city and town is unique: It doesn't make sense to outsource decision-making to a group of people who
a) most likely have never visited and b) are hundreds or thousands of miles away. Democratic choices should be made at the level closest to the people, and when it comes to daily governance that level is the city. You always want to see countries breaking apart- separatist movements. Catalonia, Scotland, Flanders. It's a sign that one-size-fits all planning simply doesn't work. We already know centrally- planned economies fail, so it should be no surprise that centrally-planned governments fail too.
To defend against the tyranny of the majority, a law can be challenged in the courts to determine it's constitutionality. Each city, assembly and town has it's own constitution specifying how this would be done, and how many appeals a person may have. A few very specific types of cases can be tried in the Global Assembly's courts if one's fundamental rights have been violated.
How Nested Councils Nest
The goal of nested councils is to create small, personal lawmaking chambers where debates can be held and everyone knows' everyone else's name. For this reason the number of representatives in any single chamber is always less than the Dunbar Limit- the maximum amount of people you can form close, personal relationships with. Beyond around 150 people, it's impossible to truly "care" or see others as human beings. This article explains a lot.
Starting at the local level, every city or group of cities with at least 10,000 people will choose four delegates: two male, and two female. Tribes will do the same. Cities and Tribes are both given free reign when it comes to deciding how to pick these delegates and organize politically. Some cities may hold elections, others may appoint, and still others might hold a lottery. It's up to them.
Each male and female pairing goes to a different assembly: One goes to the "lower house", where the amount of votes each city has is based off of its' population and the other goes to the "upper house" where each city has two votes, no matter the size. Any proposal must pass both assemblies to become law.
A grand total of 100 representatives from 50 different cities will form the first level of nested councils.
From here, the council selects another boy/girl pairing to go to the next-higher council. They do not have to both be from the same city or tribe. These delegations are retractable at any time, but the delegates aren't bound to vote as their sending council might wish. Otherwise there wouldn't be a point to the system in the first place, and everyone may as well just vote on everything. All delegates are required to regularly keep in contact with their sending councils and update them on current events.
This process repeats itself until it gets to the highest-level council, the Global Assembly. Things are a little different at this level. For one, the tribe's and the city's nested-council structures both merge into one, symbolizing the unity and bond both share. At lower levels, they are separate entities. Because the Global Assembly makes choices that effect the entire world, both tribes and cities must work together in order to implement them and ensure they are the right ones.
Make no mistake: The Global Assembly is NOT a world government. It does not tell cities or tribes what to do. We're trying to get away from "one size fits all" policy, remember? It's functions are very limited, mostly acting as a watchdog and steward of global resources. They are the ones who maintain the automated systems that underpin society, and ensure that everyone has equal access to them. The Global Assembly is legally barred from discrimination, meaning anyone and everyone must have access to it's services at no cost. They are less interested in what cities teach in schools, and more interested in making sure everyone has food to eat and a roof over their head. After all, no matter what you believe in you still need basic necessities to survive. There are only a few crimes that the Global Assembly will drop the hammer on a city for, and one of them is denying citizens access to their basic resources. For the most part, citizens won't need to think about the GA that much. They don't intervene in local politics. It'll just be there, quietly making sure everything is operational and running smoothly. The Global Assembly also has a few other important roles which are described later in this section.
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Thanks to the magic of exponents, you only need four levels of nested councils to represent the entire world!
Assuming that each pair of representatives represents 10,000 people and there are 7 billion people in the world (in reality it will be much larger because most cities will contain far more than 10,000 people..)
Assume all councils except the highest have 100 members. As there are two councils at each level, the total number of councils is twice what the raw population data would suggest.
The first, local level of councils will each represent 500,000 people. There will be (140,000 x 2) = 280,000.
The next level of councils will each represent 2.5 million people. There will only be (2800 x 2) = 5600.
The third level's councils each represent 125 million people. There will only be (56 x 2) = 128! of them.
The fourth level is the global assembly, representing all 7 billion of us. There is only one, but both assemblies have a larger number of members + a randomly selected contingent to ensure everyone has a fair chance of entering. The tribe/city selected gets to automatically send a delegate directly to the global assembly for a period of two years.
Structure of the Tribal Assembles
The tribe's nested councils are organized in almost exactly the same way, melding with cities' at the top. Because people are members of both a city and a tribe, individuals are represented "twice".
Cities and tribes each represent separate and distinct interests: Cities are physical and political while tribes are ethereal, economic entities. Consider tribes the successor to today's multinational corporations: Again, just like stock one can invest in multiple tribes, trade their votes or even sell them. Within tribes, decision-making relies on liquid democracy, with each shareholder receiving an amount of votes equal to all the wealth they've contributed to the transition.
The factors that determine votes in tribal nested councils are different too: In the "lower house", the amount of voting power a tribe has is determined by the total number of people who are a part of it. In the "upper house", total voting power is determined by the combined wealth of all citizens.
Other than this, the councils nest in exactly the same way. You can find out more about tribes here.
Function of the Global Assembly
Think of the Global Assembly as a giant referee. Their main purpose is to protect and defend local sovereignty, peacefully resolve disputes between tribes and cities, enforce fundamental rights and freedoms, and, most importantly build, own and operate the automated systems and infrastructure that will form the backbone of society.
The global assembly creates a blank slate that allows cities and people to freely experiment, innovate and find the place that's right for them. They don't do much "governing". Of course, only the global assembly has the right to declare war, admit new countries or cities, and sanction tribes and cities.
Fundamental Rights and Freedoms
The global assembly exists to defend these rights which belong to all human beings at birth. The global assembly has the right to use military force if necessary in order to protect them. You will not find many western values here, because this is a global assembly which intends to unite the entire world. In order to do this, we must recognize that different cultures have different concepts of "rights" that might not always mesh well with western ones. Some ideas, such as democracy will not work everywhere. Because of this, local governments, under the principle of "Local Sovereignty" have the right and privilege to determine which type of government and how many rights they will provide. Instead of attempting to force existing cities to adopt our values, all future cities that the global assembly builds will guarantee the rights we know and love in a special charter.
Right to leave: This is the most important right of all. At any time and for any reason, a person has the inalienable right to leave a community. No community may require residents to ask for permission before exiting. Forcibly restraining someone who wants to leave is against international law. This even extends to those convicted of a crime or undergoing criminal trial, with one caveat: They have to find one city willing to accept them, and show proof that they've been accepted. If no other town will accept them, then the individual will have to submit to whatever punishment the community chooses, or be banished to the wilds*. In general, the worst punishment a community will be able to offer is banishment. If someone returns to a community they have been banished from, they consent to being executed or at the very least waive the rest of their fundamental rights. The right to leave does not imply that you can take anything with you; you may be reasonably required to turn in all physical possessions that you do not own.
*"The wilds" is a fenced-off natural area without any modern amenities. In the wilds, the lawless state of nature reigns supreme and there is no way to call for help. It functions as an open-air international prison for the worst offenders. Keep in mind that banishment to the wilds will only be for the most grievous offenses. It's highly unlikely no town will be willing to accept you if you just skipped paying a parking ticket.
The time you will be allowed to search for an asylum community may be legally limited to no less than 2 weeks.
Right to Resources: Besides acting as an intermediary between tribes and cities, one of the Global Assembly's most important duties is making sure that everyone has the basic resources they need to survive. As you read earlier, the Global Assembly manages the means of production to ensure all people have access to it and that no one country abuses it to it's advantage. In practice, this means that they use technology to grow crops, provide healthcare, build housing, infrastructure and schools (even entire cities), all using little to no human labor. It also provides a basic income to every man, woman, and child each month deposited directly into their accounts. All of this is freely provided to everyone in the world. One of the biggest no-nos for any city is to deny citizens access to their basic resources without cause. The Global Assembly will not tolerate it under any circumstances, and any regime that does so will be labeled an enemy of the people and swiftly removed.
Right to enter and travel: Free movement of people is a fundamental requirement for any new global civilization. Everyone has the right to move anywhere else and live, as long as they have not been convicted of a crime, or anything else that is illegal in that jurisdiction. (In those cases it's up to the receiving city whether or not to accept them.) No passports or travel documents will be required: All necessary information will be found on your wrist, as part of your payband. You will also have a "digital passport" on your smartphone that lists all the places you've been. At the station, all you will need to do is wave your wrist to pass. The right to travel and stay doesn't mean you'll be granted residency rights at your destination: That's the responsibility of local authorities.
Residency means that you will pay less for city services and gain the right to vote in that cities' elections. Whether or not you will be allowed to hold multiple citizenships is up to the city.
Currently, the main motivation for movement restrictions is economic: People are afraid that immigrants will rush in and steal all the jobs! In a resource-based economy where work is optional and everyone is well-provided for, this is a moot point and there's no reason to limit freedom of movement.
Right to be informed: Because every city is an independent entity, there will undoubtedly be a wide variety of unique laws and cultures. It is the responsibility of the city to compile a list of "things you should know" before you come to immigrate or visit, and make this information publicly available.
Miscellaneous other duties of the Global Assembly
Tribetaker- Tribes are entities that run off of the Global Assembly's platform. Because tribes are digital, it's a good idea to think of them as smaller communities that are part of a larger whole. If a tribe has been ruled against in court and ordered to pay fines, only the Global Assembly can enforce the verdict. It rarely has to do so because most tribes voluntarily cooperate.
Fiduciary Intermediary- The 25% income tax on Tribes is first paid to the Global Assembly, then distributed to cities monthly as a lump sum. This is more convenient for cities because they usually contain citizens who are members of many tribes. It would be too time-consuming to negotiate payment schedules individually with each of them. The Global Assembly does not keep any part of this tax.
Generousity- Recognizing that when people are happy, the world is a better and safer place, The G.A. operates a "positive policing" force that rewards people for doing good deeds. These rewards may take the form of increased income, random gifts or vacations. Generousity in particular (the intelligence agency that handles this type of thing), is always watching and rewarding those who help their community.
As part of the state security and mental health apparatus, Generousity takes care of the "social" side of society. After all, even if all of someone's material needs are met, if their social and emotional needs are ignored they may still turn to violence. The greatest threat to a new, peaceful and stable world order isn't terrorism, it's mental health. Generousity will use international intelligence to predict and remediate threats before they have a chance to become hazardous. People are encouraged to report suspicious behavior to them in exchange for a reward, and they operate an anonymous chat/mail exchange for people who want to get things off of their chest. Generousity's mission is a world where everyone feels loved and cared for. Although it sounds altruistic, it has everything to do with security and preventing, as much as possible, "random" acts of violence.
Global Defense Force and International Rescue Service- Each ensure the security of cities and people, respectively. The GDF acts as the military wing (all-volunteer, by the way), and the IRS rescues people who are in dangerous situations.
Court of Last Resort- The Global Assembly operates a network of courts for parties who have not found suitable settlements elsewhere. These are the courts someone would go to sue a tribe for breaching their contract.
Structure of the Global Assembly
The centerpiece is a bicameral parliament that's fittingly enough, called the "Global Assembly". Consisting of two houses, it's main purpose is to function as a nominating body to select administrators and managers for local production units. Legislating is a secondary function of the body. It can pass a resolution on anything, but in order to be binding it has to be an issue that a) effects the entire world and b) was already tried at lower levels of government but found to be lacking or c) is explicitly defined in it's (very narrow) constitutional limits.
The upper house, the House of Regent, doubles as the highest assembly for tribes. Votes in it are distributed based on wealth.
The lower house, the House of Representatives, doubles as the highest assembly for cities. Votes there are distributed based on population.
Any measure or proposed candidate nomination should pass both houses with a simple majority in order to become law. If either house vetoes a bill the other house has already passed, that veto can be overridden with a 2/3 majority. The size of each of these houses is fixed by law, but as a rule the upper house must be smaller and all of the lower councils must be guaranteed seats. An equal amount of extra seats must be provided for randomly-selected cities and tribes to join.
Any single delegated member to the assembly has a maximum term length of 5 years before needing to be replaced or rotated.
How does my vote count?
While you don't get to directly elect the representatives, you still have an incredible amount of control over the political process via initiative, referendum and recall.
Via initiative, citizens can directly propose new laws at any level of government once they gather enough signatures. If the legislature does not act on the proposal within the timeframe specified in the referendum or votes it down, it automatically goes to the citizens for approval. Even constitutional amendments may be suggested via initiative, although they require twice the number of signatures.*
With referendum, citizens have the authority to challenge any law passed as long as it effects them and they gather enough signatures from other people effected by the law. Referendum doesn't just extend to laws, it also applies to any act of government, including judicial rulings.*
With recall, you can remove any public official from office by forcing a special election once you get enough people to sign a petition. This does not apply to the first level of nested councils.*
The number of signatures required for these tools are all the same at each level.
Level 1: Local Councils representing 500K or more: (does not apply)
Level 2: Regional Councils representing 2.5M or more: 250,000 signatures
Level 3: "National" Councils representing 125M or more: 500,000 signatures
Level 4: Global Assembly representing 7 billion or more: 2.5 million signatures
*All of these tools only apply to cities' nested councils, and none of them apply to the first level of nested councils. Tribal councils are exempt from this, except for the House of Regent.
How is the Global Assembly Funded?
The global assembly does not directly tax anyone, but does have the ability to tax tribes. Instead, they withhold from the basic income that they distribute. Each time a basic income is given, the global assembly credits itself with an equal amount of basic income to use for projects around the world. They can change the amount that they credit themselves with, thus changing the amount of basic income.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Confederations of Convenience
What are they? Simply put, confederations are groups of cities and towns that band together to complete projects too big to do on their own. Things such as new railways, airports, dams, or collective defense installations are too complicated and effect too many people for just one town to control. For these, confederations will be formed that allow cities to freely work together for the common good.
These confederations will provide most services we currently think of countries or states providing now, and as always cities will be free to leave at any time.
While confederations have a considerable degree of power, ultimately they are less powerful than tribes because only tribes have access to the global society (a supersized version of the UN), and completely control the economic sphere of life. Both tribes and confederations help plan and manage The Venus Project.
The resource-based-economy is planned for on the basis of self-organizing confederations, which will tend to come together in the most efficient way.
Because confederations are self-forming, the cities within them will tend to get along better than today's often grumpy neighbors. Nothing says that cities in a confederation have to be coterminous, although common sense would prevent a city joining a confederation 1000 miles away.
It's that "of convenience" part that matters the most though: These confederations could be created to design and build a single project, then disappear when they're finished. Flexibility is key to maintaining freedom.
These confederations will provide most services we currently think of countries or states providing now, and as always cities will be free to leave at any time.
While confederations have a considerable degree of power, ultimately they are less powerful than tribes because only tribes have access to the global society (a supersized version of the UN), and completely control the economic sphere of life. Both tribes and confederations help plan and manage The Venus Project.
The resource-based-economy is planned for on the basis of self-organizing confederations, which will tend to come together in the most efficient way.
Because confederations are self-forming, the cities within them will tend to get along better than today's often grumpy neighbors. Nothing says that cities in a confederation have to be coterminous, although common sense would prevent a city joining a confederation 1000 miles away.
It's that "of convenience" part that matters the most though: These confederations could be created to design and build a single project, then disappear when they're finished. Flexibility is key to maintaining freedom.
Let's bring democracy back: How to change the world, one city at a time.
It's a Catch-22. If you want to change the world, then you need to get into politics. But people won't vote for you unless you're supported by the establishment. And as we all know, the establishment would hate to see things change.
Everyone knows that our electoral system is broken- yet we still vote, because we don't really have a choice. If we vote, at least we get a short burst of "pride", but that pride is quickly tempered by the fact that, aside from a few local races our vote almost never counts. And even when our candidate gets elected, there's no way to keep them accountable throughout their term! If they make a bad choice but also make good choices, it becomes hard to decide whether or not you will vote for them again.
Everyone knows that our electoral system is broken- yet we still vote, because we don't really have a choice. If we vote, at least we get a short burst of "pride", but that pride is quickly tempered by the fact that, aside from a few local races our vote almost never counts. And even when our candidate gets elected, there's no way to keep them accountable throughout their term! If they make a bad choice but also make good choices, it becomes hard to decide whether or not you will vote for them again.
Maybe in the 1800s we needed a system of representative government, but today we obviously don't. The first hurdle to any sort of political change is getting into power- and this is where a lot of young movements go wrong- or right, depending on your level of realism. What's been missing all this time is a widely-accepted and safe way for the people to express their will on public policy issues. I'm not talking about corruptible small-sample -size surveys, or easily hacked internet tallies and opinion polls.
I'm talking about a real direct-democracy voting system that is always on, all the time. A place where citizens can go to vote 7 days a week,
One of the biggest hurdles to e-democracy has been the fact that many home computers and smartphones are riddled with malware and viruses. Not only could these viruses spy on the user and steal highly sensitive personal info, they could alter the vote in ways that would be impossible to detect. This is why we go to such great lengths to produce application-specific voting machines that are harder to tamper with, and even then we only bring them out once every four years. We also hold elections in well-trafficked, public places to ensure people are not coerced into choosing a specific candidate. This poses a great many limitations for any home-internet voting system, which are more or less impossible to solve today.
Even with these challenges, nothing changes the fact that our current political system is broken beyond repair- with the levers of power kept far away from the general public. This is a problem that must be solved if we want to move forward with any type of proposal. There must be a direct link between the citizens and their government.
The secret then, is to continue holding elections in public areas, but instead of holding them once a year, hold them all year long. Citizens will be able to walk into any partnered business or school, swipe an identity card and make their voices heard when it comes to public policy issues.
The voting itself will happen on locked-down hardware: Laptops or smartphones that are not only chained to the desk, they will require a special code to change or alter the software. This is not unlike the filters that exist on school or work computers. This password will not be known by any one person- it will be split up, and placed in the hands of several trustees. The code may be well over 100 characters long, and in order for any changes in software to occur, all the trustees (or people who know the code) would need to be present. It would be best if a random group of citizens were chosen for this purpose, as they are less likely to become corrupted. When it comes time to access the central computer and unlock the results, people will be brought in one at a time, never meeting the other trustees.
These laptops would be available in any private business that wants them, and an app would show the locations of them in your city. All software and hardware would be open-source for transparency. The genius of this proposal is that it allows everyone to vote any time they wish, not on people, but on policies.
In order to authenticate voters, citizens would only need to swipe an identification card into an e-reader, not unlike the current system in Estonia: http://www.economist.com/news/international/21605923-national-identity-scheme-goes-global-estonia-takes-plunge
These new computers would not have any internet access beyond a very limited set of websites- all directly dealing with the democratic process. Here, citizens could view proposals, communicate and edit them. Note that each time a person attempted to visit an unauthorized website this attempt would be logged and published.
Businesses that have a voting terminal within them would see increased traffic and purchases, likely gaining a boost of goodwill too. The hardware exists and can be bought cheaply, with many computers available for under $200.
The software for liquid delegative democracy is also freely available and open source. There are many options, but helios and liquidfeedback are two of the best.
In order to implement the policies the citizenry chooses, (first at a local level, then state, then national), a new political party will need to be formed- but this one will be unique. It will have no platform, and only do what the citizens tell it to through the voting terminals. Beyond this, it will act as a major "disruptor"- shouting down politicians who don't follow the will of the people, demanding resignations, and making it political suicide not to listen to the demos. It will be incredibly hard for politicians to justify going directly against their constituents, unless they prefer an early retirement.
Of course, this party's ultimate goal will be transition of the world to a global liquid democracy- and this is a giant step in that direction. Eventually after this party gathers enough power it would simply abolish itself, and pass a law stating that from here on out, the word of the demos *is* law.
With democracy re-established, it will finally become possible for us to move towards a resource-based economy, and this political party will pave the way for sister organizations such as TZM and Copiosis to operate in each town. These organizations (remember tribes?) will take over many of the current roles of government, and said party would constantly cut taxes, take payment in alternative currencies and promote sustainable development, ensuring re-election.
Ideally, we want to make it impossible for any candidate to get elected unless they agree to vote the way the people do- and after a few years, representative government will be completely superfluous.
This is how we win: City by City, Street by Street.
Step one: Canvass local businesses to see if they would allow a voting terminal to be placed in their store. They have the freedom to set polling hours and days, and the app would recognize this when you search for open voting booths.
Step Two: Lay the groundwork and "register" voters. In comes the on-the-ground political organizing. We will give everyone a smartcard they can use to sign in and vote. Come next election we will win in a landslide, based on a platform of lower taxes, deregulation and direct democracy.
Step Three: Pave the way for the next level- Set up and invite sister organizations who can lay the groundwork for winning the next-higher level of government, whether this means protesting undemocratic political candidates (who go against their own constituents) or supporting policies conducive to an RBE (such as open borders, basic income etc). By this time, thanks to the sister organizations, many of the homeless will be housed and fed through great advancements in technology like automated farming and earthbag construction. Citizens of the cities will begin to see changes as well, as free food and other products are beginning to flow in. Investment will begin in building the new, efficient cities and the fever will spread.
Step Four: Create Local Confederations Of Convenience: Using the internet, groups of political leadership in certain cities and towns will connect together and form regional policy, laying the groundwork for a resource-based-economy. In the future, with each city being independent, confederations will provide services such as defense and policy co-ordination that can't efficiently be provided by one city on their own. These confederations will replace all current nations. Most will be rather small, but bigger confederations may be possible. Ultimately it's up to the voters of a city to decide if they want to join.
Step Five: Global domination: Not really. At this point, the citizens will have all the power, so the party's work will be done. With the direct-democracy system fully built-out, the party will disband itself and declare power officially devolved to the people. Not only will the party be dissolved, but borders and countries will be too. The world will finally be an open place.
While this change is occurring, new apps can be created to connect people who want to help their city. A good idea would be a "Cityvolunteer" application which would allow a group of people to crowdfund local improvement projects.
Businesses that have a voting terminal within them would see increased traffic and purchases, likely gaining a boost of goodwill too. The hardware exists and can be bought cheaply, with many computers available for under $200.
The software for liquid delegative democracy is also freely available and open source. There are many options, but helios and liquidfeedback are two of the best.
In order to implement the policies the citizenry chooses, (first at a local level, then state, then national), a new political party will need to be formed- but this one will be unique. It will have no platform, and only do what the citizens tell it to through the voting terminals. Beyond this, it will act as a major "disruptor"- shouting down politicians who don't follow the will of the people, demanding resignations, and making it political suicide not to listen to the demos. It will be incredibly hard for politicians to justify going directly against their constituents, unless they prefer an early retirement.
Of course, this party's ultimate goal will be transition of the world to a global liquid democracy- and this is a giant step in that direction. Eventually after this party gathers enough power it would simply abolish itself, and pass a law stating that from here on out, the word of the demos *is* law.
With democracy re-established, it will finally become possible for us to move towards a resource-based economy, and this political party will pave the way for sister organizations such as TZM and Copiosis to operate in each town. These organizations (remember tribes?) will take over many of the current roles of government, and said party would constantly cut taxes, take payment in alternative currencies and promote sustainable development, ensuring re-election.
Ideally, we want to make it impossible for any candidate to get elected unless they agree to vote the way the people do- and after a few years, representative government will be completely superfluous.
This is how we win: City by City, Street by Street.
Step one: Canvass local businesses to see if they would allow a voting terminal to be placed in their store. They have the freedom to set polling hours and days, and the app would recognize this when you search for open voting booths.
Step Two: Lay the groundwork and "register" voters. In comes the on-the-ground political organizing. We will give everyone a smartcard they can use to sign in and vote. Come next election we will win in a landslide, based on a platform of lower taxes, deregulation and direct democracy.
Step Three: Pave the way for the next level- Set up and invite sister organizations who can lay the groundwork for winning the next-higher level of government, whether this means protesting undemocratic political candidates (who go against their own constituents) or supporting policies conducive to an RBE (such as open borders, basic income etc). By this time, thanks to the sister organizations, many of the homeless will be housed and fed through great advancements in technology like automated farming and earthbag construction. Citizens of the cities will begin to see changes as well, as free food and other products are beginning to flow in. Investment will begin in building the new, efficient cities and the fever will spread.
Step Four: Create Local Confederations Of Convenience: Using the internet, groups of political leadership in certain cities and towns will connect together and form regional policy, laying the groundwork for a resource-based-economy. In the future, with each city being independent, confederations will provide services such as defense and policy co-ordination that can't efficiently be provided by one city on their own. These confederations will replace all current nations. Most will be rather small, but bigger confederations may be possible. Ultimately it's up to the voters of a city to decide if they want to join.
Step Five: Global domination: Not really. At this point, the citizens will have all the power, so the party's work will be done. With the direct-democracy system fully built-out, the party will disband itself and declare power officially devolved to the people. Not only will the party be dissolved, but borders and countries will be too. The world will finally be an open place.
While this change is occurring, new apps can be created to connect people who want to help their city. A good idea would be a "Cityvolunteer" application which would allow a group of people to crowdfund local improvement projects.
Localized Manufacturing and Automated Agriculture: What you need to make an RBE in your city.
When it comes to making a Resource-Based-Economy happen in real life, it's best to start small. Really small. Like your city. I propose a "food first" policy when it comes to automation, where we automate the production of the basic needs of life first, then work our way up to producing more complex goods. For our purposes, this means food be the top priority, then housing. This new approach isn't about building shiny new cities or breathtaking vistas: It's about producing real, tangible results for all the time that's been invested, and allowing members to work less. Everything mentioned here works together to give members a better quality of life at a lower cost.
Automated Agriculture
Steady, free food should be a right for all people. Everyone could grow food at home, but most don't because it's too much work. "Food First" means that we would use technology such as farmbot to take care of TVP members' gardens for them- and eventually produce an overabundance of food to freely give away. Some local ordinances will need to be changed to allow home gardening, which will require getting into politics. Alternately, we could seek farmland donations from people interested in assisting the project. While the current version of farmbot runs on a system of rails, an outdoor version would probably use wheels and raised beds. Each raised bed would contain an RFID chip that had information about it's position relative to the other raised beds, and farmbot would know what types of plants were inside. An interesting effect of knowing exactly where plants are is that you can plant "polycrops"- ecosystems of plants that work together in the way nature intended. With automation, Permaculture just got a whole lot easier. Every few days, a truck with several farmbots would pass by your house and take care of your gardens for you. Even the harvest could be done automatically. While in the beginning people would need to volunteer to drive the truck, self-driving vehicles could later make their daily rounds unattended.
When it comes to meat and dairy needs, automatic farming can shine too. Any farmer in the rural areas of town who wanted to join the project would be welcome to donate their time and resources. As technology improves, even this would become unnecessary. Chicken production is already largely automated, and automated dairy farms have already been tested out. In keeping with the "waste nothing" ethos of a RBE, even the lawn clippings from grass would be used to feed cows and goats. Of course, the lawnmowers would be electric so the grass wouldn't become tainted with gasoline. Localized food production will allow members to save money on groceries.
All Hail The Sharing Economy!
One of the core tenets of a RBE has always been "Access Abundance"- the idea that everyone really doesn't need one of everything. We see sharing services such as Taskrabbit and Lyft exploding in popularity. Tool lending libraries are starting to pop up in cities all over the globe. But what's been missing is a free and open source alternative that allows communities to easily set up trust networks. Like many of the things we need, it already exists.
Meat Joatu.
Short for "Jack of All Trades Universe", Joatu is an open-source community marketplace you can use to exchange nearly anything you can think of. With Joatu, you can keep track of your trades and build a reputation- all without using money. It's purpose is to build "vibrant communities", and with a little on-the-ground promotion, I think it can work.
Localized Manufacturing and Closed-Loop Recycling
This is the big one. Obviously, the goal of a RBE is "zero waste"- getting the most out of every product from cradle to grave. The Venus Society in each city would live by this principle: "Waste Nothing, Want Nothing". In practice, this means that everything would be "kept in the system", recycled, and used to make new products. You can call it "Trash to Treasure" if you want.
Every member's home would have a special trash can with several holes in it. In reality, this is a recycling bin. One hole is for paper waste, another is for metals, yet another is for plastic and the last is for "Organic" Waste. I don't see glass being used that often, but if it is it could have it's own hole too.
When the "trashman" comes, the entire trashcan is taken and a new, clean one provided. At the processing facility, waste is seperated for reuse:
Paper, Wood and organic waste is used for biofuel.
Plastic is melted and formed into filaments for 3-D printing new products
Metals are separated and go into induction furnaces for reprocessing. Open Source Ecology already has most of this stuff covered, including the machine tools you'd need to build functioning products.
When you look at everything cities throw away, it becomes clear that if all that waste was constantly reused, cities would always have enough resources to support themselves.
In the beginning, you won't be able to make everything. Advanced components like computer chips and other technology is still too expensive to produce locally- if done the old fashioned way. However, using direct-write electron beam lithography, it's possible to create computer chips in your average university research lab. In advanced stages of RBE development, it'd make sense to crowdfund the purchase of an electron microscope and use it for semiconductor production.
Even with the limited variety of products you can make, there's still plenty you can do. You can manufacture clothing, chairs, cups, bears- just take a look at Thingverse and let your imagination run wild!
And as always, an equal share of goods will be distributed freely to all members at no charge. Read below for more info.
How will you distribute goods?
That's a very good question. In a resource based economy, everyone will be entitled to an equal share in the world's production. This is a birthright, and it isn't transferrable or up for sale. But what does that mean? You can't just give everyone a chair if you produce 7 billion chairs monthly- some people won't want a chair, they might want something else entirely, or nothing at all.
It's here that the ideas of "RBE" and "UBI" collide. An equal share in the world's production could more appropriately be called an equal share in the value of the world's production. How would we allocate this? You guessed it: "money". But in sociocapitalism, money has a vastly different purpose than it has today. For one, these credits can only be used to buy goods- and once the goods are bought, they are destroyed. (The market for services uses social capital.) There would be a finite amount of credits too- exactly enough to buy all the goods on the store shelves. No more inflation, period.
What's more interesting than the credits themselves is the price system. How, exactly do we determine how much a particular good should cost? While it would be easy to do this at the local level, it definitely would be harder at the global level. Some people argue that a "free market" is the only way to do this, but I disagree. The free market as it is today leaves out many of the bigger costs, like the incredible damage to the environment and public health. Higher crime, corruption and even terrorism isn't accounted for either. The most important thing of all, the cost in human lives is also given no value. Externalizing all of these costs can only harm society at large.
When we think of "cost", we usually think of money and the price system. Price is an important way to allocate scarce goods, no doubt- but deciding who lives and who dies based on who has the most pieces of paper with funny pictures on them isn't just stupid, it's inhumane. So can we separate "price" from "money"? Of course we can.
Let's start with the basics: A resource-based economy is an economy based on resources. Simple enough, right? So we want to always keep a running total of how many resources are available, and compare those amounts. We'll call this "Scarcity", and the higher the scarcity of something, the higher the price. Scarcity can be measured based on available supply of an item vs the demand.
Next, we need to calculate the "Labour" that goes into producing a product, and since labour is just Time x Energy, both of these values are directly measurable in seconds and joules, respectively. So for a computer, we will measure how much time it takes for us to gather the necessary raw materials, manufacture the final product, and most importantly, ship it to your destination. We'll also measure how much energy it took to extract the raw materials, run the machines and transport them to the store.* This gives a great incentives** towards designing methods of production that use less time and energy. There's no doubt that this final number will be large, maybe in the millions- so we'll want to divide it by 1000, or any number that makes the final price human-readable.
Price = Scarcity x Time x Energy
*An important note about energy: For "natural" products that grow on trees or inside animals, the energy only includes what it took to prepare and transport the finished product for sale. Direct solar energy is always free.
It would be a ridiculous idea to get rid of prices and money altogether, and by reworking them we can design a stable system with little to no inflation or externalized costs.
**Most of this really falls under "Economics", but the question of how you motivate people to innovate and improve society when everything is free is a good one. Although it's been proven that money is a bad motivator, saying that people will work just for the joy of it isn't satisfactory to most people. They have a good reason to be skeptical- communism failed because people were paid the same for doing terrible work.
In this case, things are very different. While everyone receives the same amount of good credits monthly, nothing is stopping them from earning social capital by doing things for other people. In this sense, social capital is a lot like today's money. If you invent a new industrial process that saves time and energy, you will receive all the saved good credits for a year.
So why this, and why now?
By growing food and manufacturing products locally, you are bringing a small-scale version of an RBE to life. You won't be able to produce everything you need at first, and that's okay. It's about taking real steps towards sustainability. There is absolutely no need to go out and buy large tracts of land to produce communes- besides being remote, most new "intentional communities" don't survive because taking care of them is too much work, or they lack a steady income stream. It would only be wise to establish new cities once we have the proper technology to care for them. This is why getting people who can help develop the technology is so important, and why we will eventually need to find investors.
Automated Agriculture
Steady, free food should be a right for all people. Everyone could grow food at home, but most don't because it's too much work. "Food First" means that we would use technology such as farmbot to take care of TVP members' gardens for them- and eventually produce an overabundance of food to freely give away. Some local ordinances will need to be changed to allow home gardening, which will require getting into politics. Alternately, we could seek farmland donations from people interested in assisting the project. While the current version of farmbot runs on a system of rails, an outdoor version would probably use wheels and raised beds. Each raised bed would contain an RFID chip that had information about it's position relative to the other raised beds, and farmbot would know what types of plants were inside. An interesting effect of knowing exactly where plants are is that you can plant "polycrops"- ecosystems of plants that work together in the way nature intended. With automation, Permaculture just got a whole lot easier. Every few days, a truck with several farmbots would pass by your house and take care of your gardens for you. Even the harvest could be done automatically. While in the beginning people would need to volunteer to drive the truck, self-driving vehicles could later make their daily rounds unattended.
When it comes to meat and dairy needs, automatic farming can shine too. Any farmer in the rural areas of town who wanted to join the project would be welcome to donate their time and resources. As technology improves, even this would become unnecessary. Chicken production is already largely automated, and automated dairy farms have already been tested out. In keeping with the "waste nothing" ethos of a RBE, even the lawn clippings from grass would be used to feed cows and goats. Of course, the lawnmowers would be electric so the grass wouldn't become tainted with gasoline. Localized food production will allow members to save money on groceries.
All Hail The Sharing Economy!
One of the core tenets of a RBE has always been "Access Abundance"- the idea that everyone really doesn't need one of everything. We see sharing services such as Taskrabbit and Lyft exploding in popularity. Tool lending libraries are starting to pop up in cities all over the globe. But what's been missing is a free and open source alternative that allows communities to easily set up trust networks. Like many of the things we need, it already exists.
Meat Joatu.
Short for "Jack of All Trades Universe", Joatu is an open-source community marketplace you can use to exchange nearly anything you can think of. With Joatu, you can keep track of your trades and build a reputation- all without using money. It's purpose is to build "vibrant communities", and with a little on-the-ground promotion, I think it can work.
Localized Manufacturing and Closed-Loop Recycling
This is the big one. Obviously, the goal of a RBE is "zero waste"- getting the most out of every product from cradle to grave. The Venus Society in each city would live by this principle: "Waste Nothing, Want Nothing". In practice, this means that everything would be "kept in the system", recycled, and used to make new products. You can call it "Trash to Treasure" if you want.
Every member's home would have a special trash can with several holes in it. In reality, this is a recycling bin. One hole is for paper waste, another is for metals, yet another is for plastic and the last is for "Organic" Waste. I don't see glass being used that often, but if it is it could have it's own hole too.
When the "trashman" comes, the entire trashcan is taken and a new, clean one provided. At the processing facility, waste is seperated for reuse:
Paper, Wood and organic waste is used for biofuel.
Plastic is melted and formed into filaments for 3-D printing new products
Metals are separated and go into induction furnaces for reprocessing. Open Source Ecology already has most of this stuff covered, including the machine tools you'd need to build functioning products.
When you look at everything cities throw away, it becomes clear that if all that waste was constantly reused, cities would always have enough resources to support themselves.
In the beginning, you won't be able to make everything. Advanced components like computer chips and other technology is still too expensive to produce locally- if done the old fashioned way. However, using direct-write electron beam lithography, it's possible to create computer chips in your average university research lab. In advanced stages of RBE development, it'd make sense to crowdfund the purchase of an electron microscope and use it for semiconductor production.
Even with the limited variety of products you can make, there's still plenty you can do. You can manufacture clothing, chairs, cups, bears- just take a look at Thingverse and let your imagination run wild!
And as always, an equal share of goods will be distributed freely to all members at no charge. Read below for more info.
How will you distribute goods?
That's a very good question. In a resource based economy, everyone will be entitled to an equal share in the world's production. This is a birthright, and it isn't transferrable or up for sale. But what does that mean? You can't just give everyone a chair if you produce 7 billion chairs monthly- some people won't want a chair, they might want something else entirely, or nothing at all.
It's here that the ideas of "RBE" and "UBI" collide. An equal share in the world's production could more appropriately be called an equal share in the value of the world's production. How would we allocate this? You guessed it: "money". But in sociocapitalism, money has a vastly different purpose than it has today. For one, these credits can only be used to buy goods- and once the goods are bought, they are destroyed. (The market for services uses social capital.) There would be a finite amount of credits too- exactly enough to buy all the goods on the store shelves. No more inflation, period.
What's more interesting than the credits themselves is the price system. How, exactly do we determine how much a particular good should cost? While it would be easy to do this at the local level, it definitely would be harder at the global level. Some people argue that a "free market" is the only way to do this, but I disagree. The free market as it is today leaves out many of the bigger costs, like the incredible damage to the environment and public health. Higher crime, corruption and even terrorism isn't accounted for either. The most important thing of all, the cost in human lives is also given no value. Externalizing all of these costs can only harm society at large.
When we think of "cost", we usually think of money and the price system. Price is an important way to allocate scarce goods, no doubt- but deciding who lives and who dies based on who has the most pieces of paper with funny pictures on them isn't just stupid, it's inhumane. So can we separate "price" from "money"? Of course we can.
Let's start with the basics: A resource-based economy is an economy based on resources. Simple enough, right? So we want to always keep a running total of how many resources are available, and compare those amounts. We'll call this "Scarcity", and the higher the scarcity of something, the higher the price. Scarcity can be measured based on available supply of an item vs the demand.
Next, we need to calculate the "Labour" that goes into producing a product, and since labour is just Time x Energy, both of these values are directly measurable in seconds and joules, respectively. So for a computer, we will measure how much time it takes for us to gather the necessary raw materials, manufacture the final product, and most importantly, ship it to your destination. We'll also measure how much energy it took to extract the raw materials, run the machines and transport them to the store.* This gives a great incentives** towards designing methods of production that use less time and energy. There's no doubt that this final number will be large, maybe in the millions- so we'll want to divide it by 1000, or any number that makes the final price human-readable.
Price = Scarcity x Time x Energy
*An important note about energy: For "natural" products that grow on trees or inside animals, the energy only includes what it took to prepare and transport the finished product for sale. Direct solar energy is always free.
It would be a ridiculous idea to get rid of prices and money altogether, and by reworking them we can design a stable system with little to no inflation or externalized costs.
**Most of this really falls under "Economics", but the question of how you motivate people to innovate and improve society when everything is free is a good one. Although it's been proven that money is a bad motivator, saying that people will work just for the joy of it isn't satisfactory to most people. They have a good reason to be skeptical- communism failed because people were paid the same for doing terrible work.
In this case, things are very different. While everyone receives the same amount of good credits monthly, nothing is stopping them from earning social capital by doing things for other people. In this sense, social capital is a lot like today's money. If you invent a new industrial process that saves time and energy, you will receive all the saved good credits for a year.
So why this, and why now?
By growing food and manufacturing products locally, you are bringing a small-scale version of an RBE to life. You won't be able to produce everything you need at first, and that's okay. It's about taking real steps towards sustainability. There is absolutely no need to go out and buy large tracts of land to produce communes- besides being remote, most new "intentional communities" don't survive because taking care of them is too much work, or they lack a steady income stream. It would only be wise to establish new cities once we have the proper technology to care for them. This is why getting people who can help develop the technology is so important, and why we will eventually need to find investors.
Monday, February 16, 2015
New Technology: Payband
January 1, 2028 - Just outside of Chicago, Illinois
It's a cold day outside, and winter is in full swing. The party ended a few hours ago and it was finally time to go home. Thanks to automated vehicles, you didn't have to worry about being safe to drive- but your smartphone was broken so you couldn't hail one. Shivering, you walk down the street and come to a bus stop. You look down, disappointed. You still have 5 more miles to go, and you can barely walk as it is. The forecast says it's going to get even colder within the hour. Luckily, the city's transit system is always on time. Within a few minutes, a large white vehicle smoothly glides to a stop in front of you. To your surprise, it has no wheels! It's a hovercraft, and it floats on air instead. You want to ride, but you don't have any money in your pocket. Ten years ago, you'd be in big trouble.
Luckily, you don't need money anymore. You wave your wrist in front of the payment terminal and grab a seat- your bracelet takes care of the rest. It fits snugly, and is completely customized. From the color to the style, everything was made just for you. The band may be small, but inside lies amazing technology that lets you pay for things with the flick of a wrist. No more fumbling around for loose change and dropping dollar bills, no more worrying about money being lost or stolen. The best thing about your paybracelet is that it only works for you. Besides remembering your unique biological signature, your bracelet is linked with your handprint- something that's unique to every individual and nearly impossible to fake. Using palm-vein scanning technology, whenever you go to the store to buy something, all you'll have to do is wave your hand over the palm reader. No PIN numbers, no secret codes. There's nothing to remember or write down so there's nothing to steal. You also don't need to touch anything, which will help prevent the spread of germs.
Palm-Vein Scanning
Biological Signature with Nymi
That's not all. It may be called a "payband", but this bracelet can do much, much more than just pay for your drink. In a resource based economy, your payband is your lifeline and best friend. It's not just for young people or old people- it's for everyone. Using your wristband, you will be able to sign in to websites, unlock doors, cars and even your home. Lost keys, just like money will become a thing of the past. You'll be able to meet up with other members of your tribe and form groups just by tapping your bands together. Your bracelet will constantly monitor your health and wellbeing, along with providing location data to your tribe's emergency center. Thanks to the two-way nature of privacy, you will always be able to see who is accessing your data and where they are. Unlike government, if a tribe is not respecting your privacy you can fire them and choose another one! The pressure of competition will naturally lead tribes to find new ways to protect privacy. Still, in case something goes wrong, you will be able to get help at the push of a button- and the police or ambulance will know exactly where you are, wherever you are. Speak into the bracelet's microphone and let them know what's wrong. Fire, heart attack, sudden fall, or downed power lines; Every second counts in an emergency, and this bracelet will undoubtedly save countless lives.
The bracelet can measure your blood pressure, heart rate, nerve function and galvanic skin response. If you place it on your chest (like a stethoscope) it can also measure your breathing rate. While the bracelet itself won't have any screens, you will be able to wirelessly connect it to your smartphone to view data and send money. Did I mention it's completely waterproof?
What about the batteries? None needed. No charging time required. Thanks to the magic of piezoelectricity, simply walking around or shaking the bracelet will be enough to power it. To supplement the piezoelectric generator, flexible solar panels will wrap all the way around the edges of the bracelet in order to power it.
http://www.gizmag.com/wearable-thermoelectric-generator/31617/
http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/solarhug-bracelet-solar-powered-external-backup-battery-19-12-2014/
Payments
These bracelets use harmless NFC and RFID tags to communicate to payment readers. Like today's smart cards, they also contain a low-power microchip. If you tap your bracelet with any phone, a digital ID will pop up, giving you easy identity verification.
"Lollapalooza goes cashless"
http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/lollapalooza-goes-cashless-digital-wristbands-158661
"Bpay contactless payment system"
http://www.barclaycard.com/news/bpay-band-launches.html
http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20150220000004&cid=1204
Fitness and Health Band
http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/27/the-mood-ring-gets-its-quantified-self-update-with-the-wme-wristband/
https://jawbone.com/blog/up3-wearable-heart-rate-monitor/
As you can see, while the idea may sound farfetched, bracelets like this already exist! We only need to bring the separate functions together.
It's a cold day outside, and winter is in full swing. The party ended a few hours ago and it was finally time to go home. Thanks to automated vehicles, you didn't have to worry about being safe to drive- but your smartphone was broken so you couldn't hail one. Shivering, you walk down the street and come to a bus stop. You look down, disappointed. You still have 5 more miles to go, and you can barely walk as it is. The forecast says it's going to get even colder within the hour. Luckily, the city's transit system is always on time. Within a few minutes, a large white vehicle smoothly glides to a stop in front of you. To your surprise, it has no wheels! It's a hovercraft, and it floats on air instead. You want to ride, but you don't have any money in your pocket. Ten years ago, you'd be in big trouble.
Luckily, you don't need money anymore. You wave your wrist in front of the payment terminal and grab a seat- your bracelet takes care of the rest. It fits snugly, and is completely customized. From the color to the style, everything was made just for you. The band may be small, but inside lies amazing technology that lets you pay for things with the flick of a wrist. No more fumbling around for loose change and dropping dollar bills, no more worrying about money being lost or stolen. The best thing about your paybracelet is that it only works for you. Besides remembering your unique biological signature, your bracelet is linked with your handprint- something that's unique to every individual and nearly impossible to fake. Using palm-vein scanning technology, whenever you go to the store to buy something, all you'll have to do is wave your hand over the palm reader. No PIN numbers, no secret codes. There's nothing to remember or write down so there's nothing to steal. You also don't need to touch anything, which will help prevent the spread of germs.
Palm-Vein Scanning
Vein scanning is much more secure than using fingerprints or facial recognition, because the veins are *inside* your body. Unlike your fingerprint, which can be lifted from any flat surface, it's nearly impossible to counterfeit your hand-vein pattern.
That's not all. It may be called a "payband", but this bracelet can do much, much more than just pay for your drink. In a resource based economy, your payband is your lifeline and best friend. It's not just for young people or old people- it's for everyone. Using your wristband, you will be able to sign in to websites, unlock doors, cars and even your home. Lost keys, just like money will become a thing of the past. You'll be able to meet up with other members of your tribe and form groups just by tapping your bands together. Your bracelet will constantly monitor your health and wellbeing, along with providing location data to your tribe's emergency center. Thanks to the two-way nature of privacy, you will always be able to see who is accessing your data and where they are. Unlike government, if a tribe is not respecting your privacy you can fire them and choose another one! The pressure of competition will naturally lead tribes to find new ways to protect privacy. Still, in case something goes wrong, you will be able to get help at the push of a button- and the police or ambulance will know exactly where you are, wherever you are. Speak into the bracelet's microphone and let them know what's wrong. Fire, heart attack, sudden fall, or downed power lines; Every second counts in an emergency, and this bracelet will undoubtedly save countless lives.
The bracelet can measure your blood pressure, heart rate, nerve function and galvanic skin response. If you place it on your chest (like a stethoscope) it can also measure your breathing rate. While the bracelet itself won't have any screens, you will be able to wirelessly connect it to your smartphone to view data and send money. Did I mention it's completely waterproof?
What about the batteries? None needed. No charging time required. Thanks to the magic of piezoelectricity, simply walking around or shaking the bracelet will be enough to power it. To supplement the piezoelectric generator, flexible solar panels will wrap all the way around the edges of the bracelet in order to power it.
http://www.gizmag.com/wearable-thermoelectric-generator/31617/
http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/solarhug-bracelet-solar-powered-external-backup-battery-19-12-2014/
Payments
These bracelets use harmless NFC and RFID tags to communicate to payment readers. Like today's smart cards, they also contain a low-power microchip. If you tap your bracelet with any phone, a digital ID will pop up, giving you easy identity verification.
"Lollapalooza goes cashless"
http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/lollapalooza-goes-cashless-digital-wristbands-158661
"Bpay contactless payment system"
http://www.barclaycard.com/news/bpay-band-launches.html
http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20150220000004&cid=1204
Fitness and Health Band
http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/27/the-mood-ring-gets-its-quantified-self-update-with-the-wme-wristband/
https://jawbone.com/blog/up3-wearable-heart-rate-monitor/
As you can see, while the idea may sound farfetched, bracelets like this already exist! We only need to bring the separate functions together.
Measuring Social Capital
From here: http://fueledbyfriendship.blogspot.com/2015/02/what-is-sociocapitalism.html
We're living in a digital world. This generation spends more time online than ever before, and parents often think of it as a waste. But instead, what if spending time online connecting with your friends was a way to earn money? Think about it. You post videos to Youtube, say funny things on Twitter and upload amazing pictures to Instagram. All these are examples of things that add value to society- yet we don't get paid a penny for them. I'm sure you're laughing right now. "Me retweeting that funny cat video isn't worth anything" you think. But it does. Facebook and Twitter make millions because of the community we built, but an artist who spends hours painting pictures on Deviantart doesn't make a dime.
Why? Doesn't creativity count? Tsu is on the right track by giving their users a portion of the advertising revenue they bring in, but why not take it further? In today's world, views and likes are a new form of social currency. They're a status symbol and a harbinger of digital wealth, a quick snapshot of what the world thinks of you. No longer do we look to see if you have fancy watches or cars, we check how many subscribers you have on Youtube, or how much karma you have on Reddit. What if we could take this snapshot with us, wherever we go?
This is social capital- the inherent value found in what you do and who you know. Until today, there was no direct way of measuring it. Thanks to the internet, that's changed. We have the ability to harness massive amounts of data and gain insights into a person's trustworthiness, responsiveness and more. It's a near future where your reputation is gold- giving you access to free goods and services from others. Your social capital will allow other people to trust you, and it'll let you trust other people. We already are starting to see baby steps towards reputation-ranking services such as reputation.com and trustcloud, but we're still waiting on something that will bring all your data together. Today, your Ebay seller score, your Airbnb trust ranking and Uber score are each separated into walled gardens. Tomorrow that won't be the case- your reputation and social ranking will be easily accessible on a single page, and constantly grow each time you "buy" a good or service from someone else. Of course you won't actually need to buy anything, because thanks to automation everything is free in a resource-based-economy.
In order to directly calculate how much social capital someone has, it's necessary to use an algorithm. This formula will evaluate the depth and strength of a person's human relationships, along with how widely their influence reaches. While using social media to determine the amount of social capital someone has can never capture everything they do, currently it's the only way to directly measure how much society values someone without resorting to intrusive surveys or subjective value judgments.
Keeping in mind what social capital is (the collective value of a human's social networks), we can separate this value into two broad categories:
"Depth"- The strength and intensity of someone's relationships.
"Breadth"- How many relationships someone has or how far their influence reaches.
A great example of this difference would be comparing someone who has a few, very close friends to an internet celebrity who has millions of casually engaged followers she rarely speaks to. In order for a relationship to be "deep", it needs to be reciprocal- I have to return your favors. Measuring depth is much harder than measuring breadth, because while you can easily count the followers or unique views a person has to see how widely their influence reaches, it's a lot harder to measure how intense a relationship is. Both are equally important when it comes to evaluating social capital.
The four types of online relationships.
Deep + Narrow: Someone with a small circle of friends who are deeply engaged with each other, or highly interested in a single topic/range of topics.
Shallow + Narrow: All new website users start here- with a shallow or nonexistent circle of friends, and a microscopic influence.
Deep + Broad: Comparatively rare, this is a person with a large following who regularly interacts with their fanbase.
Shallow + Broad: The initial example of an internet celebrity who rarely "Gets into the comments" and talks to fans.
These can apply to communities as much as they can apply to people.
Social capital is earned whenever someone likes, views, shares or otherwise positively interacts with content you produce on the web. It's also produced when you form deep friendships with other people. It's lost when these friendships are broken. This isn't limited to social networks as we know them today, but specialty websites such as art portfolios, design catalogs and even video games can all count towards your earnings. In order to distinguish actual views from fake activity, only activity that's done while a user is "signed in" with a specific account will be counted. Needless to say, a person can only have one "money" account per website that's connected to their true identity.
When we want to actually add up the amount of views and likes a person receives, immediately there's a problem: How much are they worth? Obviously likes aren't worth as much as subscribers, but exactly how much more they are worth varies. For our purposes we will use this scale.
1 point- a like or a view.
2 points- an add (to a collection) or favorite.
5 points- a share or a comment.
10 points- a new subscriber/friend/use of a product or service.*
Each time something you create is used in a new invention or product created by someone else you will earn 10 points. For physical inventions this reward continues each time the product is bought, for virtual products it only occurs once. So if you create a new kind of component used in a smartphone, and 10 million of those phones are bought, you then earn 100 million points. If you create a song and it's used in 10 million other videos (unlikely, but it happens), that counts for 10 million points.
Some notes:
The total value of all social capital is limited to twice the value of the basic income provided to everyone each month. The percentage of social capital each person earns monthly determines how many BI credits or T-Notes it's worth.
*Partial Social Capital will never be given, the amount will be rounded up or down.
One somewhat important aspect of social capital is that it accumulates- but not over time. If you get people with a lot of Social Capital to talk to you, it will increase your social capital too. In general this means that if a person with a lot of followers follows you your social capital will grow as if their followers followed you as well. If someone with a lot of favorites favorites your tweet, the effect will be the same. This will not show up publicly on your profile, and you will not be able to transfer this effect to others. Still, this will be a big help to smaller accounts just getting off the ground.
While that's fine for measuring the breadth of someones' social reach, it's not enough for deriving the depth.
To do this, we must consider what makes a good friendship. Time is definitely one thing- You generally get to know people better the longer you know them. Frequency is also nice to have- You'd like a friend to contact you often so you can talk to each other and have real conversations. Reciprocity is the third and arguably most important- if you do something for a friend, you would like if they did something for you at some point in the future.
Keeping this in mind, we can devise a simple scale based on reciprocity and the average amount of it found on a specific network. "0" will be the average amount of reciprocity, while "100" will be complete reciprocity (every time someone watches you, retweets you, you watch and retweet back). If your levels of reciprocity are less than the average, your score will be negative and it can actually take away from your social capital. No "friendship" will begin until those involved have mutually followed each other on any platform.
Here's how we will handle each of these three quantities.
Time- How long have you been mutual friends with someone? This one is very straightforward. We would just measure the amount of time it's been since you followed someone, and use it to compute the next value. Time is not measured on it's own 0-100 scale.
Frequency: How often do you speak to your friend? How much time do you spend communicating with them? This includes the time spent typing messages and voice chat. Compare this to the average on the 0-100 scale.
Reciprocity: How often do you return the behavior of others? This is in general, not just for friends. If someone leaves a comment on your post, do you comment on theirs? If someone watches you, do you watch back? How much time do you spend on your friend's profile compared to how much time they spend on yours? There are many more possible questions, and reciprocity could be applied to any social behavior.
Zero is average reciprocity, and 100 is total reciprocity. Most people will fall somewhere in between.
Engagement: What percentage of your audience regularly interacts with you? If that interaction is reciprocal, it's value is doubled. 0%-100%
What do we do with these values?
Simple. "Depth" acts as a multiplying factor that levels the playing field between those with a lot of social capital, and those with little. It screens out people with a ton of followers who do nothing, while rewarding those who have active and devoted followings of any size. It can have a value anywhere between -100% and +100%, and this percentage is multiplied with your "breadth" score in order to increase or decrease it. For example, if you start off with a breadth score of 23000 and have a "depth" score of -17%, your final score will be 23000 -(.17 x 23000) = 19090. Only negative depth scores lower your total, zero or positive percentages will have no effect or increase it, respectively.
Depth is calculated by adding your Frequency, Reciprocity and Engagement values together, then dividing them by three.
Distributing and Tallying Social Capital
Social capital is measured and distributed on a monthly basis. In order to prevent rampant inflation, unused social capital from a previous month cannot be used next month. There's a simple reason for that: Likes and views aren't scarce. Me liking your tweet doesn't mean there are less likes in the world. If these likes accumulated, existing social capital would rapidly decrease in value. It's the change in social capital that truly counts, and while the total amount of social capital you've accumulated throughout time would be visible on your reputation profile, you would only be allowed to access the amount you earned in the past month.
There is one way to cash in your excess social capital though, and that's turning it into T-notes issued by tribes. Unlike SC, Tribes can be saved over time by using them to buy tangible objects. If you want to buy more stuff, you can simply offer your social capital for sale, and someone will give you other things in return. Remember, everyone receives an equal amount of good credits monthly but the amount of social capital you can earn is unlimited.
Calculating the amount of social capital someone has earned is easy, and will be done automatically: Just add the total views, watches and shares they received across all platforms they use, plug in their relative market values and multiply this by the "depth" score. Tribes are in control of this process and run the markets.
The total value of all social capital does not change in a month, rather it exists as a "pool". This pool of wealth is always equal to the value of all basic income and tokens added together. This pool is then split up according to who earned how many points that month.
If the pool of wealth to be distributed sat at "100" credits/month, and there were only two people in the economy with one earning 50 points and the other 200 points, the first would take home 20 credits and the second 80.
Today's social networks are inadequate for this purpose, so new ones would need to be created. They preferably would follow this charter:
We're living in a digital world. This generation spends more time online than ever before, and parents often think of it as a waste. But instead, what if spending time online connecting with your friends was a way to earn money? Think about it. You post videos to Youtube, say funny things on Twitter and upload amazing pictures to Instagram. All these are examples of things that add value to society- yet we don't get paid a penny for them. I'm sure you're laughing right now. "Me retweeting that funny cat video isn't worth anything" you think. But it does. Facebook and Twitter make millions because of the community we built, but an artist who spends hours painting pictures on Deviantart doesn't make a dime.
Why? Doesn't creativity count? Tsu is on the right track by giving their users a portion of the advertising revenue they bring in, but why not take it further? In today's world, views and likes are a new form of social currency. They're a status symbol and a harbinger of digital wealth, a quick snapshot of what the world thinks of you. No longer do we look to see if you have fancy watches or cars, we check how many subscribers you have on Youtube, or how much karma you have on Reddit. What if we could take this snapshot with us, wherever we go?
This is social capital- the inherent value found in what you do and who you know. Until today, there was no direct way of measuring it. Thanks to the internet, that's changed. We have the ability to harness massive amounts of data and gain insights into a person's trustworthiness, responsiveness and more. It's a near future where your reputation is gold- giving you access to free goods and services from others. Your social capital will allow other people to trust you, and it'll let you trust other people. We already are starting to see baby steps towards reputation-ranking services such as reputation.com and trustcloud, but we're still waiting on something that will bring all your data together. Today, your Ebay seller score, your Airbnb trust ranking and Uber score are each separated into walled gardens. Tomorrow that won't be the case- your reputation and social ranking will be easily accessible on a single page, and constantly grow each time you "buy" a good or service from someone else. Of course you won't actually need to buy anything, because thanks to automation everything is free in a resource-based-economy.
In order to directly calculate how much social capital someone has, it's necessary to use an algorithm. This formula will evaluate the depth and strength of a person's human relationships, along with how widely their influence reaches. While using social media to determine the amount of social capital someone has can never capture everything they do, currently it's the only way to directly measure how much society values someone without resorting to intrusive surveys or subjective value judgments.
Keeping in mind what social capital is (the collective value of a human's social networks), we can separate this value into two broad categories:
"Depth"- The strength and intensity of someone's relationships.
"Breadth"- How many relationships someone has or how far their influence reaches.
A great example of this difference would be comparing someone who has a few, very close friends to an internet celebrity who has millions of casually engaged followers she rarely speaks to. In order for a relationship to be "deep", it needs to be reciprocal- I have to return your favors. Measuring depth is much harder than measuring breadth, because while you can easily count the followers or unique views a person has to see how widely their influence reaches, it's a lot harder to measure how intense a relationship is. Both are equally important when it comes to evaluating social capital.
The four types of online relationships.
Deep + Narrow: Someone with a small circle of friends who are deeply engaged with each other, or highly interested in a single topic/range of topics.
Shallow + Narrow: All new website users start here- with a shallow or nonexistent circle of friends, and a microscopic influence.
Deep + Broad: Comparatively rare, this is a person with a large following who regularly interacts with their fanbase.
Shallow + Broad: The initial example of an internet celebrity who rarely "Gets into the comments" and talks to fans.
These can apply to communities as much as they can apply to people.
Social capital is earned whenever someone likes, views, shares or otherwise positively interacts with content you produce on the web. It's also produced when you form deep friendships with other people. It's lost when these friendships are broken. This isn't limited to social networks as we know them today, but specialty websites such as art portfolios, design catalogs and even video games can all count towards your earnings. In order to distinguish actual views from fake activity, only activity that's done while a user is "signed in" with a specific account will be counted. Needless to say, a person can only have one "money" account per website that's connected to their true identity.
1 point- a like or a view.
2 points- an add (to a collection) or favorite.
5 points- a share or a comment.
10 points- a new subscriber/friend/use of a product or service.*
Each time something you create is used in a new invention or product created by someone else you will earn 10 points. For physical inventions this reward continues each time the product is bought, for virtual products it only occurs once. So if you create a new kind of component used in a smartphone, and 10 million of those phones are bought, you then earn 100 million points. If you create a song and it's used in 10 million other videos (unlikely, but it happens), that counts for 10 million points.
Some notes:
The total value of all social capital is limited to twice the value of the basic income provided to everyone each month. The percentage of social capital each person earns monthly determines how many BI credits or T-Notes it's worth.
*Partial Social Capital will never be given, the amount will be rounded up or down.
One somewhat important aspect of social capital is that it accumulates- but not over time. If you get people with a lot of Social Capital to talk to you, it will increase your social capital too. In general this means that if a person with a lot of followers follows you your social capital will grow as if their followers followed you as well. If someone with a lot of favorites favorites your tweet, the effect will be the same. This will not show up publicly on your profile, and you will not be able to transfer this effect to others. Still, this will be a big help to smaller accounts just getting off the ground.
While that's fine for measuring the breadth of someones' social reach, it's not enough for deriving the depth.
To do this, we must consider what makes a good friendship. Time is definitely one thing- You generally get to know people better the longer you know them. Frequency is also nice to have- You'd like a friend to contact you often so you can talk to each other and have real conversations. Reciprocity is the third and arguably most important- if you do something for a friend, you would like if they did something for you at some point in the future.
Keeping this in mind, we can devise a simple scale based on reciprocity and the average amount of it found on a specific network. "0" will be the average amount of reciprocity, while "100" will be complete reciprocity (every time someone watches you, retweets you, you watch and retweet back). If your levels of reciprocity are less than the average, your score will be negative and it can actually take away from your social capital. No "friendship" will begin until those involved have mutually followed each other on any platform.
Here's how we will handle each of these three quantities.
Time- How long have you been mutual friends with someone? This one is very straightforward. We would just measure the amount of time it's been since you followed someone, and use it to compute the next value. Time is not measured on it's own 0-100 scale.
Frequency: How often do you speak to your friend? How much time do you spend communicating with them? This includes the time spent typing messages and voice chat. Compare this to the average on the 0-100 scale.
Reciprocity: How often do you return the behavior of others? This is in general, not just for friends. If someone leaves a comment on your post, do you comment on theirs? If someone watches you, do you watch back? How much time do you spend on your friend's profile compared to how much time they spend on yours? There are many more possible questions, and reciprocity could be applied to any social behavior.
Zero is average reciprocity, and 100 is total reciprocity. Most people will fall somewhere in between.
Engagement: What percentage of your audience regularly interacts with you? If that interaction is reciprocal, it's value is doubled. 0%-100%
What do we do with these values?
Simple. "Depth" acts as a multiplying factor that levels the playing field between those with a lot of social capital, and those with little. It screens out people with a ton of followers who do nothing, while rewarding those who have active and devoted followings of any size. It can have a value anywhere between -100% and +100%, and this percentage is multiplied with your "breadth" score in order to increase or decrease it. For example, if you start off with a breadth score of 23000 and have a "depth" score of -17%, your final score will be 23000 -(.17 x 23000) = 19090. Only negative depth scores lower your total, zero or positive percentages will have no effect or increase it, respectively.
Depth is calculated by adding your Frequency, Reciprocity and Engagement values together, then dividing them by three.
Distributing and Tallying Social Capital
Social capital is measured and distributed on a monthly basis. In order to prevent rampant inflation, unused social capital from a previous month cannot be used next month. There's a simple reason for that: Likes and views aren't scarce. Me liking your tweet doesn't mean there are less likes in the world. If these likes accumulated, existing social capital would rapidly decrease in value. It's the change in social capital that truly counts, and while the total amount of social capital you've accumulated throughout time would be visible on your reputation profile, you would only be allowed to access the amount you earned in the past month.
There is one way to cash in your excess social capital though, and that's turning it into T-notes issued by tribes. Unlike SC, Tribes can be saved over time by using them to buy tangible objects. If you want to buy more stuff, you can simply offer your social capital for sale, and someone will give you other things in return. Remember, everyone receives an equal amount of good credits monthly but the amount of social capital you can earn is unlimited.
Calculating the amount of social capital someone has earned is easy, and will be done automatically: Just add the total views, watches and shares they received across all platforms they use, plug in their relative market values and multiply this by the "depth" score. Tribes are in control of this process and run the markets.
The total value of all social capital does not change in a month, rather it exists as a "pool". This pool of wealth is always equal to the value of all basic income and tokens added together. This pool is then split up according to who earned how many points that month.
If the pool of wealth to be distributed sat at "100" credits/month, and there were only two people in the economy with one earning 50 points and the other 200 points, the first would take home 20 credits and the second 80.
Today's social networks are inadequate for this purpose, so new ones would need to be created. They preferably would follow this charter:
Sunday, February 15, 2015
But What About the Rich and Powerful?
One of the biggest objections that comes up anytime a plan to improve the lives of the 99% is proposed is that "the rich and powerful will never let it happen".
Here's a secret: The rich and powerful are just like you and me. Ultimately they want a safe world, they want to be loved, to protect their family.. They don't see themselves as selfish, they see themselves as merely guarding their rightfully-earned wealth. If you were in their position, i'm sure you would do the exact same thing. It's hard to let go of something that's defined you for so long- and if any plan like this is to move forward, activists must come to grips with the fact that the rich will not let go of their assets without receiving something in return.
The issue then, is compensation. How will the wealthy be compensated for allowing their riches and resources to be used for the common good in a moneyless society? The answer is very simple: Power. Money isn't the only type of wealth there is- there's social capital, knowledge and even political. Wealth will never be taken or redistributed- merely transformed. This voluntary approach is what sets sociocapitalism apart from all previous attempts and makes it far easier to get more people on board. .
Those who decide to donate their resources to the project will be fully compensated with a proportional say over how those resources are used. This means that depending on how much you give, you will get more votes, and these votes are transferable to any TVS tribe on earth. Not only will real assets like land and machines be valued, but cash-in-bank, bonds and stock will count too. Nobody will lose a dime by supporting the transition. In the case of corporations, governments and large organizations, their wealth will be split up and handed to shareholders or citizens. Keep in mind that since money is digital, we will not have to "raise enough money" to do this. We will just create it- possibly in the form of a cryptocurrency. Our money will not be backed by faith, it will be backed by the resources of those who believe in this project.
The more you give to support the transition, the more power and control you get in return, and better yet these votes can be handed down through generations or split up, unlike delegative votes. They can be sold and traded like corporate stock. Even better, tribes pay dividends to their citizens.
But wait a minute! Doesn't this sound a lot like one dollar, one vote!? That's not very democratic!
Calm down, it's okay. Remember U.S. History and the great compromise? Sociocapitalism respects the one person, one vote principle in exactly the same way. While tribes are purely economic entities, cities follow the one person, one vote principle. They share two separate but overlapping domains as one is always a part of both a city and a tribe at the same time. You can read a lot more about the way government is structured here.
After their resources have been donated, they will be placed under the control of the global assembly via local production districts- (ones they have a large stake in). This foundation will work tirelessly to research and develop new technologies while advancing the aims of the project. Over time, less people would need to work and could quit their jobs with all their needs provided for. Once the project has been completed, everyone will receive an equal share of the world's production. See "economy" for more details.
In the meantime, most people would be allowed to continue living as usual. Farmers would keep farming, factories would keep producing- all "donating" really means is that you're ready to automate and produce goods for the RBE when the time comes and the technology is ready, which shouldn't take too long.
Many of today's rich are self-made people like you and I- and most have a philanthropic heart. Even if they don't want to part with all their wealth, by guaranteeing them a permanent stake in the future of society and the ability to sway events worldwide, the large majority of them would jump at the chance. Far from being a mere donation, it would be an investment in the future. Instead of fearing this change, the wealthy would welcome it.
Here's a secret: The rich and powerful are just like you and me. Ultimately they want a safe world, they want to be loved, to protect their family.. They don't see themselves as selfish, they see themselves as merely guarding their rightfully-earned wealth. If you were in their position, i'm sure you would do the exact same thing. It's hard to let go of something that's defined you for so long- and if any plan like this is to move forward, activists must come to grips with the fact that the rich will not let go of their assets without receiving something in return.
The issue then, is compensation. How will the wealthy be compensated for allowing their riches and resources to be used for the common good in a moneyless society? The answer is very simple: Power. Money isn't the only type of wealth there is- there's social capital, knowledge and even political. Wealth will never be taken or redistributed- merely transformed. This voluntary approach is what sets sociocapitalism apart from all previous attempts and makes it far easier to get more people on board. .
Those who decide to donate their resources to the project will be fully compensated with a proportional say over how those resources are used. This means that depending on how much you give, you will get more votes, and these votes are transferable to any TVS tribe on earth. Not only will real assets like land and machines be valued, but cash-in-bank, bonds and stock will count too. Nobody will lose a dime by supporting the transition. In the case of corporations, governments and large organizations, their wealth will be split up and handed to shareholders or citizens. Keep in mind that since money is digital, we will not have to "raise enough money" to do this. We will just create it- possibly in the form of a cryptocurrency. Our money will not be backed by faith, it will be backed by the resources of those who believe in this project.
The more you give to support the transition, the more power and control you get in return, and better yet these votes can be handed down through generations or split up, unlike delegative votes. They can be sold and traded like corporate stock. Even better, tribes pay dividends to their citizens.
But wait a minute! Doesn't this sound a lot like one dollar, one vote!? That's not very democratic!
Calm down, it's okay. Remember U.S. History and the great compromise? Sociocapitalism respects the one person, one vote principle in exactly the same way. While tribes are purely economic entities, cities follow the one person, one vote principle. They share two separate but overlapping domains as one is always a part of both a city and a tribe at the same time. You can read a lot more about the way government is structured here.
After their resources have been donated, they will be placed under the control of the global assembly via local production districts- (ones they have a large stake in). This foundation will work tirelessly to research and develop new technologies while advancing the aims of the project. Over time, less people would need to work and could quit their jobs with all their needs provided for. Once the project has been completed, everyone will receive an equal share of the world's production. See "economy" for more details.
In the meantime, most people would be allowed to continue living as usual. Farmers would keep farming, factories would keep producing- all "donating" really means is that you're ready to automate and produce goods for the RBE when the time comes and the technology is ready, which shouldn't take too long.
Many of today's rich are self-made people like you and I- and most have a philanthropic heart. Even if they don't want to part with all their wealth, by guaranteeing them a permanent stake in the future of society and the ability to sway events worldwide, the large majority of them would jump at the chance. Far from being a mere donation, it would be an investment in the future. Instead of fearing this change, the wealthy would welcome it.
Resource Based Economy
A resource-based economy is a new kind of economy where the world's resources are used for the betterment of mankind, instead the profit of a few. Originally a Jacque Fresco proposal as part of The Venus Project, his work has greatly inspired Sociocapitalism.
RBE is a brilliant and intuitive solution to the world's problems. It states the obvious: We don't need money, we need the things that money can buy. Of course, the problem with money is that a lot of people don't have enough, so they starve. Or get sick and can't afford medical treatment when there are empty hospitals right next door. This is brilliantly illustrated by the homeless population of the world: We have more vacant houses than homeless people! If a group of people stranded on a desert island had all the money in the world, but no water, food or shelter, they would not survive. Unfortunately, it's often in life-or-death situations that people learn you can't eat money. When someone is given 6 months to live or loses a family member, suddenly the things that truly matter in life hit them like a freight train.
Money- doesn't exist. Banks and governments create it out of thin air. No matter what you believe, gay or straight, atheist or muslim- you need the basics of human life in order to survive, and because you live on this planet you are entitled to them. This is something everyone should agree with.
However, there is a fatal flaw in his suggestion: The idea that we should get rid of all forms of money. "Money" is only a tool, and it can be used in many different ways. One of the more cogent proposals i've seen has come from Perry Gruber of Copiosis, in which "money" would only be used to reward good behaviors. I've incorporated this into Sociocapitalism as well.
The gist of the RBE idea is that, with increasing automation of labor, goods and services can be made for free. While this is true, money is still needed to keep track of goods and prevent cost/price overruns. If everything were free, it is highly likely that someone would take too much, not leaving enough for others- and producing enough to cover these losses would only lead to even more amounts of waste than we have today. I've invented a new price system that will allow for goods to be provided at no long-term-cost to consumers, which is discussed further here.
In a resource-based economy, goods are provided for free and the earth's resources are managed by a coalition of global societies called tribes. A enormous network of supercomputers exists to keep track of these resources and provide bio-feedback from the environment. Today, we have the computing power and all necessary technology to make this happen. We just don't have the "money". A resource-based economy will base decisions not on who can make the most money, but the most wealth- defining wealth as improving the common health of all mankind.
Imagine everything we could do if money was no object. We could build cities in the sea, sail the stars, and wipe out world hunger- permanently. We could even find ways to cure currently fatal diseases like ALS. Everyone could be provided with a lifestyle only the wealthy live today, at no cost. This isn't the dream of a mad scientist, it's legitimately possible and has been researched for over 75 years.
Still, decisions will need to be made by humans, which are fallible. The good news is that this isn't a soviet command economy. Production is dynamically matched to demand. All this means is that if you order a pair of shoes, your account will be deducted and your shoes will be created for you, on demand. Production is as localized as possible, with factories being dispersed in every region. The goal is to have noone live more than an hour away from a regional production and distribution centre.
So, is this a "moneyless society"? No. We just change the rules of money so that money works for everyone instead of a few.
RBE is a brilliant and intuitive solution to the world's problems. It states the obvious: We don't need money, we need the things that money can buy. Of course, the problem with money is that a lot of people don't have enough, so they starve. Or get sick and can't afford medical treatment when there are empty hospitals right next door. This is brilliantly illustrated by the homeless population of the world: We have more vacant houses than homeless people! If a group of people stranded on a desert island had all the money in the world, but no water, food or shelter, they would not survive. Unfortunately, it's often in life-or-death situations that people learn you can't eat money. When someone is given 6 months to live or loses a family member, suddenly the things that truly matter in life hit them like a freight train.
Money- doesn't exist. Banks and governments create it out of thin air. No matter what you believe, gay or straight, atheist or muslim- you need the basics of human life in order to survive, and because you live on this planet you are entitled to them. This is something everyone should agree with.
However, there is a fatal flaw in his suggestion: The idea that we should get rid of all forms of money. "Money" is only a tool, and it can be used in many different ways. One of the more cogent proposals i've seen has come from Perry Gruber of Copiosis, in which "money" would only be used to reward good behaviors. I've incorporated this into Sociocapitalism as well.
The gist of the RBE idea is that, with increasing automation of labor, goods and services can be made for free. While this is true, money is still needed to keep track of goods and prevent cost/price overruns. If everything were free, it is highly likely that someone would take too much, not leaving enough for others- and producing enough to cover these losses would only lead to even more amounts of waste than we have today. I've invented a new price system that will allow for goods to be provided at no long-term-cost to consumers, which is discussed further here.
In a resource-based economy, goods are provided for free and the earth's resources are managed by a coalition of global societies called tribes. A enormous network of supercomputers exists to keep track of these resources and provide bio-feedback from the environment. Today, we have the computing power and all necessary technology to make this happen. We just don't have the "money". A resource-based economy will base decisions not on who can make the most money, but the most wealth- defining wealth as improving the common health of all mankind.
Imagine everything we could do if money was no object. We could build cities in the sea, sail the stars, and wipe out world hunger- permanently. We could even find ways to cure currently fatal diseases like ALS. Everyone could be provided with a lifestyle only the wealthy live today, at no cost. This isn't the dream of a mad scientist, it's legitimately possible and has been researched for over 75 years.
Still, decisions will need to be made by humans, which are fallible. The good news is that this isn't a soviet command economy. Production is dynamically matched to demand. All this means is that if you order a pair of shoes, your account will be deducted and your shoes will be created for you, on demand. Production is as localized as possible, with factories being dispersed in every region. The goal is to have noone live more than an hour away from a regional production and distribution centre.
So, is this a "moneyless society"? No. We just change the rules of money so that money works for everyone instead of a few.
Tribes: An Introduction
Tribes are very complicated creatures- and despite the name they look nothing like the primitive ones of yesteryear. They're a lot more like global societies that people voluntarily join. While some tribes may grow to include millions of people, many will remain local so they can offer a deeper level of kinship between members. They provide many of the things government does today and they are extremely important in the context of a resource-based economy.
One of the most important differences between tribes and governments is that unlike government you can create your own tribe at any time. Imagine seriously trying that in your own country! If they didn't kill you they would lock you away for years. You can also join or leave a tribe whenever you want. While government can often be murky, tribes are completely transparent: You know exactly what you are getting when you sign up, and if you don't like it you can sue the tribe. When governments fail they resort to civil war, causing mass misery and death. When tribes fail, they just cease to exist. Governments are limited in size and scope: Once we leave the borders of our country and go somewhere else, our government can't protect us anymore. The protection of a tribe follows you no matter where you go. If someone hurts one member of a tribe, then they hurt the entire tribe. The unwise attacker could open themselves up to potentially lethal retaliation.
This is all possible because tribes are completely digital. That's right- there's no need for tribes to physically have "headquarters" to attack. It's possible for a group of friends to run their own tribe right from home, and although it'd be considered unprofessional, they could probably get people to join if they had an innovative concept. If two tribes went to war, it would be completely invisible: because it would have to be an economic one. But wars won't happen that often because people generally don't like them. All of this has profound implications: The fact that you can choose to quit means that a bad tribe will literally go out of business if enough people leave. If a tribe dips below 10,000 members, it automatically self-destructs. Conversely, you need to sign up at least 10,000 people before you can create one. The same thing happens if it's balance reaches "0"- but by then most people will have already left a long time ago. Everyone can see a tribe's real-time financial data anytime they want. Itemized revenues, reserves, balances, debts- it's all there. And the books can't be cooked.
If you're familiar with Neil Stephenson, then you've probably read The Diamond Age. In it, "Phyles" are a pretty close approximation of what Tribes may look like- the detachment of governance from territory. In the 20th century, governments constantly fought over land and resources. Two world wars and countless miniature ones. In a resource-based economy, none of that will be necessary because resources will be freely shared with everyone- so territorial government will get smaller. A lot smaller. Think around the size of a city or two. However, even with the arrival of globalization and the internet the world is still a big place. Tribes act to fill the void between government at the local and international level.
Tribes provide culture, community and a sense of belonging to their members- not unlike many games or online communities today. It's about building a rich world for your citizens to inhabit and enjoy. The only difference is that the influence of tribes extend deep into the real world. They can create real, binding laws that members must follow, and they have the right to enforce them. At the international level, tribes have the responsibility to ensure the free flow of goods, services and people between cities, along with enforcing sanctions. You may have heard about social capital, but how exactly is it earned, managed and created?
Tribes.
More than anything, tribes are economic entities, and this is what gives them their great power and importance. They are the backbone of the entire global financial system.
Tribes also provide a social safety net for their members, act as a place to safely store social capital for long periods of time (like a bank), security and protection, insurance, dispute settlement, identity verification and general fun like cruise trips or vacations. Without tribes, people would be very vulnerable to risk and sudden emergencies. When people band together to create a tribe, they are creating something incredible: A brand-new country, run just the way they like.
Take a look at each of these subsections for more information:
Creating a tribe- radiuses, info, Sometimes we all wish we could make a new country.
Joining a tribe
Buying and Selling a tribe- just like corporations, tribes can merge, be sold our bought, trading etc
Creating Culture- passed down through generations
Tribes and Cities - how tribes fund cities
How tribes generate social capital
Managing Money (include taxes and stuff)
Revenue and Taxation
Dispute resolution and Enforcement
Payment Processing
Community Management
International Level
Politics and Independence
One of the most important differences between tribes and governments is that unlike government you can create your own tribe at any time. Imagine seriously trying that in your own country! If they didn't kill you they would lock you away for years. You can also join or leave a tribe whenever you want. While government can often be murky, tribes are completely transparent: You know exactly what you are getting when you sign up, and if you don't like it you can sue the tribe. When governments fail they resort to civil war, causing mass misery and death. When tribes fail, they just cease to exist. Governments are limited in size and scope: Once we leave the borders of our country and go somewhere else, our government can't protect us anymore. The protection of a tribe follows you no matter where you go. If someone hurts one member of a tribe, then they hurt the entire tribe. The unwise attacker could open themselves up to potentially lethal retaliation.
This is all possible because tribes are completely digital. That's right- there's no need for tribes to physically have "headquarters" to attack. It's possible for a group of friends to run their own tribe right from home, and although it'd be considered unprofessional, they could probably get people to join if they had an innovative concept. If two tribes went to war, it would be completely invisible: because it would have to be an economic one. But wars won't happen that often because people generally don't like them. All of this has profound implications: The fact that you can choose to quit means that a bad tribe will literally go out of business if enough people leave. If a tribe dips below 10,000 members, it automatically self-destructs. Conversely, you need to sign up at least 10,000 people before you can create one. The same thing happens if it's balance reaches "0"- but by then most people will have already left a long time ago. Everyone can see a tribe's real-time financial data anytime they want. Itemized revenues, reserves, balances, debts- it's all there. And the books can't be cooked.
If you're familiar with Neil Stephenson, then you've probably read The Diamond Age. In it, "Phyles" are a pretty close approximation of what Tribes may look like- the detachment of governance from territory. In the 20th century, governments constantly fought over land and resources. Two world wars and countless miniature ones. In a resource-based economy, none of that will be necessary because resources will be freely shared with everyone- so territorial government will get smaller. A lot smaller. Think around the size of a city or two. However, even with the arrival of globalization and the internet the world is still a big place. Tribes act to fill the void between government at the local and international level.
Tribes provide culture, community and a sense of belonging to their members- not unlike many games or online communities today. It's about building a rich world for your citizens to inhabit and enjoy. The only difference is that the influence of tribes extend deep into the real world. They can create real, binding laws that members must follow, and they have the right to enforce them. At the international level, tribes have the responsibility to ensure the free flow of goods, services and people between cities, along with enforcing sanctions. You may have heard about social capital, but how exactly is it earned, managed and created?
Tribes.
More than anything, tribes are economic entities, and this is what gives them their great power and importance. They are the backbone of the entire global financial system.
Tribes also provide a social safety net for their members, act as a place to safely store social capital for long periods of time (like a bank), security and protection, insurance, dispute settlement, identity verification and general fun like cruise trips or vacations. Without tribes, people would be very vulnerable to risk and sudden emergencies. When people band together to create a tribe, they are creating something incredible: A brand-new country, run just the way they like.
Take a look at each of these subsections for more information:
Creating a tribe- radiuses, info, Sometimes we all wish we could make a new country.
Joining a tribe
Buying and Selling a tribe- just like corporations, tribes can merge, be sold our bought, trading etc
Creating Culture- passed down through generations
Tribes and Cities - how tribes fund cities
How tribes generate social capital
Managing Money (include taxes and stuff)
Revenue and Taxation
Dispute resolution and Enforcement
Payment Processing
Community Management
International Level
Politics and Independence
Government 2.0
Imagine a government immediately responsive to your needs. Your needs in particular. Imagine a government that took care of you and provided you the services you need no matter where you went. No more worrying about being kidnapped and held hostage by rogue states. Imagine a government that you were in control over- no, really. Imagine a government so transparent that you could see who was proposing and editing laws, in real time. Even better, imagine if you were able to switch governments at the click of a button. Then imagine all of this, fitting inside your back pocket.
This is Government 2.0- and it's government for the 21st century. One that uses technology to give power back to the people- and one that gives citizens a choice to "leave" anytime they want, without needing to move anywhere.
Government 2.0 is the radical idea that governments should serve their people- not the other way around.
The best way to accomplish this is by keeping them on a short leash. Regular democracy, the idea that you can "vote them out" just doesn't work. Not only do you need the support of vested interests to win elections, elected representatives make hundreds of decisions each term- and you're bound to agree with some of them while disagreeing with others. Why are we voting for people instead of policies?
Until now, there was no way to vote directly for laws- but technology has fixed this for us. "Delegative Democracy" is an innovative concept that lets people "donate" their vote to anyone they think represents their interests. It's like saying "I don't know much about this issue, but my friend does". What's so great about delegative democracy is that your vote is immediately and individually recallable: If you think you want to vote directly on a law, or if your delegate has messed up, you can simply withdraw your vote.
When politicians know that their citizens can withdraw their vote at any time (and are paid based on how many votes they can muster), there is a powerful incentive to follow the will of the people.
Here are some informative links:
http://bford.github.io/2014/11/16/deleg.html
http://www.shareable.net/blog/liquid-democracy-the-app-that-turns-everyone-into-a-politician
https://makeyourlaws.org/introduction
Of course, today's governments will never allow an innovation like this to see the light of day. It's up to the people to create their own democracies and stop voting for the old ones.
Even if delegative democracy isn't chosen, getting new voting machines into everyone's hands will fundamentally change the balance of power in society. It would be simple to hold elections at any time, and the top delegates could become a parliament of sorts. It doesn't have to be politics, the same ability could be used for other organizations like churches and colleges- and be completely automated. A system would measure the amount of people who are registered to vote, measure the signed-up candidates, races, and automatically assign the proper amount of votes to everyone.
Government 2.0 isn't just about some fancy new voting system- it's about fundamentally changing the relationship between citizens and governments.
As you read with the tribe system, people are completely free to "move" between tribes. What you might not know is that due to competition and the low difficulty to start your own government, only the best tribes will remain, the ones that treat their citizens with dignity and respect. Currently, if you're dissatisfied with your government you have no choice but to leave your home or "vote" them out. In reality, your vote means nothing when there are millions of others to take your place.
This is why small-scale democracy is so important, and why cities must remain independent. At a small scale, it's easier to get people to talk. Mayoral elections in the USA are mostly nonpartisan, and for good reason: More gets done that way. When governors and the governed are close together, the relationship shifts. It's ridiculous to think that people should be forced to follow random edicts from 3,000 miles away- what do they know about local issues!?
With personalized politics, you choose your leaders- and you get to see what they're doing behind the scenes. Something like the NSA surveillance fiasco couldn't happen, because you would be able to see when anyone was accessing your data- and if it was done inappropriately you could get them fired. Estonia already has a similar system in place, and they are a "leader in e-government".
We can go one step further: Estonia is still a country that people are born into, and countries are often hard to get out of (you have to buy a passport). What if, instead of getting a specific person fired you could drop the entire organization and get your government services elsewhere, without moving? That's the sink-or-swim motive that will drive tribes to innovate and create new ways of ensuring data safety. Currently, governments don't have a competition motive. Like any other business, this causes quality to drop over time and service providers to become lazy since their customers are locked in. You wouldn't accept this in any other field, so why government? It would be like all car dealerships saying you had to buy Toyotas, and they had to be pickup trucks- even though you might want an SUV. All this because you lived in a town who's name started with a "T". You can't control where you were born, so this is a completely arbitrary decision to base someone's entire life off of- and it's inherently unfair. The exact same person, one born in England and the other in Ethiopia will have wildly different chances of survival. Wouldn't it be better to allow people to choose the government that represents their interests best? Over time, with each generation of societies, government would improve and get better for everyone.
Overall, Government 2.0 exercises stewardship over people and not land. Land wars are so 20th century- With the wristband, much crime can be virtually eliminated, and help will always be a button away. People will live longer and healthier lives- and be free to go wherever they want. Government shouldn't be an enemy of the people- it should be a helpful friend who takes care of them. The problem isn't that government exists, it's that we don't have enough control over it.
It's time for a new social contract.
This is Government 2.0- and it's government for the 21st century. One that uses technology to give power back to the people- and one that gives citizens a choice to "leave" anytime they want, without needing to move anywhere.
Government 2.0 is the radical idea that governments should serve their people- not the other way around.
The best way to accomplish this is by keeping them on a short leash. Regular democracy, the idea that you can "vote them out" just doesn't work. Not only do you need the support of vested interests to win elections, elected representatives make hundreds of decisions each term- and you're bound to agree with some of them while disagreeing with others. Why are we voting for people instead of policies?
Until now, there was no way to vote directly for laws- but technology has fixed this for us. "Delegative Democracy" is an innovative concept that lets people "donate" their vote to anyone they think represents their interests. It's like saying "I don't know much about this issue, but my friend does". What's so great about delegative democracy is that your vote is immediately and individually recallable: If you think you want to vote directly on a law, or if your delegate has messed up, you can simply withdraw your vote.
Here are some informative links:
http://bford.github.io/2014/11/16/deleg.html
http://www.shareable.net/blog/liquid-democracy-the-app-that-turns-everyone-into-a-politician
https://makeyourlaws.org/introduction
Of course, today's governments will never allow an innovation like this to see the light of day. It's up to the people to create their own democracies and stop voting for the old ones.
Even if delegative democracy isn't chosen, getting new voting machines into everyone's hands will fundamentally change the balance of power in society. It would be simple to hold elections at any time, and the top delegates could become a parliament of sorts. It doesn't have to be politics, the same ability could be used for other organizations like churches and colleges- and be completely automated. A system would measure the amount of people who are registered to vote, measure the signed-up candidates, races, and automatically assign the proper amount of votes to everyone.
Government 2.0 isn't just about some fancy new voting system- it's about fundamentally changing the relationship between citizens and governments.
As you read with the tribe system, people are completely free to "move" between tribes. What you might not know is that due to competition and the low difficulty to start your own government, only the best tribes will remain, the ones that treat their citizens with dignity and respect. Currently, if you're dissatisfied with your government you have no choice but to leave your home or "vote" them out. In reality, your vote means nothing when there are millions of others to take your place.
This is why small-scale democracy is so important, and why cities must remain independent. At a small scale, it's easier to get people to talk. Mayoral elections in the USA are mostly nonpartisan, and for good reason: More gets done that way. When governors and the governed are close together, the relationship shifts. It's ridiculous to think that people should be forced to follow random edicts from 3,000 miles away- what do they know about local issues!?
With personalized politics, you choose your leaders- and you get to see what they're doing behind the scenes. Something like the NSA surveillance fiasco couldn't happen, because you would be able to see when anyone was accessing your data- and if it was done inappropriately you could get them fired. Estonia already has a similar system in place, and they are a "leader in e-government".
We can go one step further: Estonia is still a country that people are born into, and countries are often hard to get out of (you have to buy a passport). What if, instead of getting a specific person fired you could drop the entire organization and get your government services elsewhere, without moving? That's the sink-or-swim motive that will drive tribes to innovate and create new ways of ensuring data safety. Currently, governments don't have a competition motive. Like any other business, this causes quality to drop over time and service providers to become lazy since their customers are locked in. You wouldn't accept this in any other field, so why government? It would be like all car dealerships saying you had to buy Toyotas, and they had to be pickup trucks- even though you might want an SUV. All this because you lived in a town who's name started with a "T". You can't control where you were born, so this is a completely arbitrary decision to base someone's entire life off of- and it's inherently unfair. The exact same person, one born in England and the other in Ethiopia will have wildly different chances of survival. Wouldn't it be better to allow people to choose the government that represents their interests best? Over time, with each generation of societies, government would improve and get better for everyone.
Overall, Government 2.0 exercises stewardship over people and not land. Land wars are so 20th century- With the wristband, much crime can be virtually eliminated, and help will always be a button away. People will live longer and healthier lives- and be free to go wherever they want. Government shouldn't be an enemy of the people- it should be a helpful friend who takes care of them. The problem isn't that government exists, it's that we don't have enough control over it.
It's time for a new social contract.
Saturday, February 14, 2015
What Is Sociocapitalism?
Sociocapitalism is a new socioeconomic system designed to do one thing: Give people as much freedom as humanly possible. Freedom from dull and repetitive work, freedom from hunger, freedom from war, crime and money. It may sound like a dream, but it's possible with the technology we have today- and slowly but surely, it's already happening. The secret is out: Our current system isn't working. Too many people are going hungry, broke, or turn to crime because they can't survive any other way. Big banks and debt-based money keep us enslaved doing jobs we don't want to do, living in places we don't want to live, and always wanting more. We waste our lives sitting in front of computer screens, powerless to do anything else as our dreams slowly wither away. It doesn't have to be this way. We could use technology to easily give every person on earth a life of abundance, and fulfill everyone's basic needs of food, clothing and shelter.
In a world like this, people will finally be free to follow their dreams without worrying if they "have enough money". If that's not true freedom, I don't know what is.
There are many kinds of freedom, but Sociocapitalism focuses on two types in particular- Political, and Economic. Most of us live in places with a decent amount of political freedom, but representative democracy has completely failed to accurately express the will of the people time and time again. We're missing an element of direct delegative democracy that allows every citizen to have their voices heard.
Sociocapitalism takes political freedom a step further through Local Sovereignty, which gives every city the freedom and independence to chart it's own path. You are free to move to any city you'd like in order to find the one that's right for you. With tribes, if you don't like your current government, you can create a new one. It may sound fantastic, but thanks to the internet it's as easy to govern someone from one mile away as it is 10,000. The borders of the world have disappeared, and it's time to act like it. They were never there in the first place- except in our head. For more information, see this.
Imagine, for a second, a world where everyone can work at the job of their dreams, and get paid for it. Artists can paint, engineers can design, and gardeners can garden. If you're like most people, you probably don't like your job- and if you do, congrats! You're one of the lucky ones. But for the rest of us, we only work where we do to "earn a living"- and if you hate your job, you really aren't living at all.
Today, the truth is we don't need everyone to work all the time. Technology has advanced to the point where most jobs can be fully automated, but aren't due to fears of unemployment. The Venus Project, the life work of Jacque Fresco speaks a lot more on this issue, and directly inspired the Resource-Based Economy featured in Sociocapitalism- with a few tweaks to make it a more realistic prospect. Sociocapitalism isn't a "moneyless society", but everything is free. Instead of getting rid of money (which would quickly lead to chaos), Sociocapitalism changes the way money works so that it works better for everyone. All goods will be provided free of charge- so you won't need to worry that you won't have enough anymore.
In an abundant society where people don't need to work to eat, the only remaining currency will be creativity and reputation- your social capital. Social Capital is so important that it's the name for the entire system.
There are really two economies at play in this new society- one for "goods" and one for "services". Goods are scarce and limited, but services are unlimited, (or limited only by the human imagination). While goods are free to everyone, people will still be paid for their services- just not with money. They will be paid with intangible values such as reputation, trust and kinship.
Social Capital is difficult to define, but you can think of it as the collective value held in all human relationships. It's the difference between you getting the promotion, and someone else the manager personally knows. Social Capital can be gained, spent and lost- and it can be earned whenever you create something people connect with. We live in the age of sharing, where views and likes have become a new form of social currency. Why not embrace it? Social Capital is what will allow us to move from a debt-based economy to a creativity-based one. Let's take the example of a comedian who gets millions of views on Youtube, yet still struggles to pay off his student loans. Why? These views prove that his work is valuable to society, and that people care. You'll find your answer in today's debt-based economic system, where monetary value is the only value that matters. The truth is that most value isn't monetary at all! In sociocapitalism, everything counts. Learn more here.
How about "neither"? Both have failed to fulfill their promises. Capitalism hasn't lifted everyone out of poverty and the invisible hand can't keep you warm at night. Communism just replaced one power elite with an even worse one. Sociocapitalism is not a combination of socialism and capitalism- it's something completely different. Using the power of creativity, it becomes possible to do things we never could do before. But first, we have to change the goal of society from "making the most money" to "making the most people better off". By changing the way money works so that it works better for everyone, Sociocapitalism will.
In a world like this, people will finally be free to follow their dreams without worrying if they "have enough money". If that's not true freedom, I don't know what is.
There are many kinds of freedom, but Sociocapitalism focuses on two types in particular- Political, and Economic. Most of us live in places with a decent amount of political freedom, but representative democracy has completely failed to accurately express the will of the people time and time again. We're missing an element of direct delegative democracy that allows every citizen to have their voices heard.
Political Freedom
Sociocapitalism takes political freedom a step further through Local Sovereignty, which gives every city the freedom and independence to chart it's own path. You are free to move to any city you'd like in order to find the one that's right for you. With tribes, if you don't like your current government, you can create a new one. It may sound fantastic, but thanks to the internet it's as easy to govern someone from one mile away as it is 10,000. The borders of the world have disappeared, and it's time to act like it. They were never there in the first place- except in our head. For more information, see this.
Economic Freedom
Imagine, for a second, a world where everyone can work at the job of their dreams, and get paid for it. Artists can paint, engineers can design, and gardeners can garden. If you're like most people, you probably don't like your job- and if you do, congrats! You're one of the lucky ones. But for the rest of us, we only work where we do to "earn a living"- and if you hate your job, you really aren't living at all.
Today, the truth is we don't need everyone to work all the time. Technology has advanced to the point where most jobs can be fully automated, but aren't due to fears of unemployment. The Venus Project, the life work of Jacque Fresco speaks a lot more on this issue, and directly inspired the Resource-Based Economy featured in Sociocapitalism- with a few tweaks to make it a more realistic prospect. Sociocapitalism isn't a "moneyless society", but everything is free. Instead of getting rid of money (which would quickly lead to chaos), Sociocapitalism changes the way money works so that it works better for everyone. All goods will be provided free of charge- so you won't need to worry that you won't have enough anymore.
In an abundant society where people don't need to work to eat, the only remaining currency will be creativity and reputation- your social capital. Social Capital is so important that it's the name for the entire system.
Social Capital
There are really two economies at play in this new society- one for "goods" and one for "services". Goods are scarce and limited, but services are unlimited, (or limited only by the human imagination). While goods are free to everyone, people will still be paid for their services- just not with money. They will be paid with intangible values such as reputation, trust and kinship.
Social Capital is difficult to define, but you can think of it as the collective value held in all human relationships. It's the difference between you getting the promotion, and someone else the manager personally knows. Social Capital can be gained, spent and lost- and it can be earned whenever you create something people connect with. We live in the age of sharing, where views and likes have become a new form of social currency. Why not embrace it? Social Capital is what will allow us to move from a debt-based economy to a creativity-based one. Let's take the example of a comedian who gets millions of views on Youtube, yet still struggles to pay off his student loans. Why? These views prove that his work is valuable to society, and that people care. You'll find your answer in today's debt-based economic system, where monetary value is the only value that matters. The truth is that most value isn't monetary at all! In sociocapitalism, everything counts. Learn more here.
Communism or Capitalism?
How about "neither"? Both have failed to fulfill their promises. Capitalism hasn't lifted everyone out of poverty and the invisible hand can't keep you warm at night. Communism just replaced one power elite with an even worse one. Sociocapitalism is not a combination of socialism and capitalism- it's something completely different. Using the power of creativity, it becomes possible to do things we never could do before. But first, we have to change the goal of society from "making the most money" to "making the most people better off". By changing the way money works so that it works better for everyone, Sociocapitalism will.
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