Analog To Digital Converter For Knowledge Assets

Curiosumé is an analog to digital converter for knowledge assets.

The single most destructive  characteristic of the Market Capitalism is the dependence on resources  extracted from the Earth to fuel constant economic growth. Natural  resources are finite while constant growth model is infinite.  There are  several ways to manage this disparity; the first is to expire  Capitalism, the second is to base that dependence on an infinite  resource. Given the shortcomings of most viable alternatives to  Capitalism, the latter is likely more plausible than the former. 

Many perils to society that manifest  today have their beginnings in the thesis by Adam Smith called “The  Wealth of Nations”. In this document Mr. Smith outlines the conditions  of Capitalism where a merchant class would arise to efficiently allocate  land, labor, and capital in various combinations in order to produce  all of the useful things that society needs. The working class would  hold the system in balance; too much growth would result in a shortage  of labor that would constrain capital through higher wages (supply and  demand). Government would be hardly necessary in a self-balancing  system. Ironically, A great deal of innovation has arisen from the  prospect of eliminating labor, which allowed growth to continue beyond  the natural constraint. 

Karl Marx identified the inevitable  situation of constant struggle between the working class and the  merchant class. One group strived for greater wages while the other  strived to lower wages. From this struggle arose a spectrum of  adjustments ranging from labor unions and calculated government  regulations (Socialism) all the way to full State allocation of public  resources (Communism). Herein lies the dawn of geopolitics and competing  ideology. It is fairly easy to see from this short  history where hierarchy, competition, politics, exploitation,  environmental crisis, and monetary corruption are intimately related.  

Today, these elements are enshrined in our culture in B-schools, sports,  warfare, education, 2-party representation, etc. The result is that  people are forced to compete with each other for jobs, money, food,  water, air, education, civil liberties, etc. But it does not have to be this way. A  relatively simple modification to the existing paradigm can realign the  economic incentives, and therefore social priorities, from consumption  to preservation of our planet without necessarily triggering a collapse  and subsequent reboot. 

Consider the proverbial “basket of  goods” – an economic standard used in a variety of analyses including  Relative Price Index, Forex, Gross Domestic Product, etc.  The basket of  goods consists of unit quantities of tangibles such as food, housing,  energy, transportation, etc.  Now consider the human knowledge required  to produce that same basket of goods. One can easily imagine economic  standards articulated as either the tangible basket of goods or the  intangible basket of goods. Both have the same outcome. 

Yet, knowledge is an infinite resource  that can underwrite so many more dimensions of human existence than a  select basket of goods.  The problem is that there is no accounting  system for intangibles as there is for tangibles. There is a reason for  this – it is called control. Therefore, to create an accounting system  for knowledge assets is to take control of productivity and the currency  that represents it.  That is the evolution we ought to focus on. This is a much simpler challenge than  trying to solve every problem that our civilization faces individually.  This is a much easier problem to solve than trying to change the minds  of entrenched ideologies. This is a much easier problem than changing  all the laws and institutions that exist to make the old game as fair as  it can ever possibly be.  In fact, the solutions for our most complex  problems as a civilization are stunningly simple to create. 

Did I mention that Curiosumé is an analog to digital converter for knowledge assets?