Love this message! Yassss!!!
This is partly the reason why I'm gravitating to the world of cryptocurrency is that this ledger system is by its very nature broadening the potential applications that currency can play in our lives, by taking the issuance of our currency out of the hands of bankers and putting into the hands of communities...
Obviously much of the monetary, "real-world" value of our cryptocurrencies is "derived" from the fiat dollar system but in reality it needn't be and most likely will not be...
Max Keiser pointed out the fact that the market cap of Bitcoin had the potential to be over a 100 trillion dollars, aka all of the fiat money in existence, and more, since eventually, dollars will become worthless toilet paper coveted by collectors and museums, while Bitcoin (or any alternative of humanity's choosing) will become the new de-facto currency...
I'm not saying I want or support cryptocurrency to "essentially replace" the fiat dollar system, and for humanity to essentially stay in the same paradigm, except everything is digital cryptocurrency rather than fiat cash/credit/debt; rather I believe that in this era we are redefining our most deeply-entrenched and well-established conventions on what constitutes currency and its potential usage and applications...
I don't see why, for example, and to stay in line with the spirit of this article, we couldn't have "carecoins"... Something that we each get 10 units of everyday, and which we can give to people for performing acts of kindness, generosity, largess, compassion, etc...
Somebody who had accumulated billions of "carecoins" being the equivalent of a Mother Theresa, or other kind of saintly figure...
It wouldn't be like a normal contractual transaction, but much more in line with the idea of gift economies...
Sure, some may think in our current paradigm that the idea of "monetizing" compassion to be a strange concept, but in a radically different form of human and global society, this could actually really help to realign interest and place focus on solving problems, rather than creating them out of "economic and fiscal necessity" and bottom-lineism.
I believe the future of our societies are radical transparency, openness, and eyes on everything...
In a sense, we could envision whole societies where the best, most generous, caring and giving individuals are those who are anointed with the most responsibility and leadership; as opposed to our current paradigm where the most rapacious, violent and sociopathic of us are promoted to positions of power.
Well, I'm just glad that we're all thinking about these things...
Really fascinating concept, the idea of redefining currency. Great thought-provoker of a piece wwf! A new follower you have just gained x
You've inspired me to expand on this concept with this article! You really gave me some great tasty food for thought!! Thank you @wwf! <3
Beautiful response. Welcome to my blog. For me, I look forward to the day where we don't need currency any more as we no longer need to keep score. Our wealth comes from how we feel when we help others as the spiritual rewards are felt. Life is all about relationships and keeping score never works in a relationship. When I did that in the past, I win and my wife lost. Not good for morale or marriage. So no more keeping score for us. It is hard helping other people as we automatically feel indebted. It will be tough to remove this brainwashing that the colonial education system taught us. But when we do then we would feel much better and enjoy the process of giving and receiving. Gratitude and appreciation become the new currency. Peace to you.
Hi @wwf! Thank you for your kind words, and let me clarify my thinking!
Don't get me wrong, I look forward to this day too! I am as much of an eternal idealist and optimist as you are. And I'm not at all saying it's a myth or a utopia or anything like that either... I've studied post-scarcity anarchy and I do believe that a natural spontaneous order could emerge when we had advanced not only materialistically, technologically, scientifically, etc... in order to create material abundance and plenty for all people all on Earth, but especially spiritually enough so that a radical redefining of the "ego" (using it this time not as the Freudian construct but rather as the "seat" of the conscious decision-maker in the mind; which is what neuroscience is revealing is the only thing with any relevance or import in our subjective "perceptions" of reality)
You're so correct in your thinking, but for many people (including myself if I can be honest!) this is an enormous mountain to climb, or a gigantic elephant to eat. So I like to imagine all of this happening in "steps". Now I know these steps don't really exist, they're more illusory than concrete; but nevertheless, I think it's helpful to conceive of a way of transitioning to this view of life, the world and society that you describe in pristine, pure empowering words, by taking what we already had, what we have now, and using it to create the new. (That famous Fibonacci Sequence!)
Of course I believe in our personal relationships, even in our immediate communities, this is always possible... My question is how do I relate with people on the other side of the planet from me...
I do believe in living locally, but also thinking globally. As such, I would love to spend my life fostering the systems that will make the transition easier... Not everyone wakes up to the nature of reality at the same time, but when enough people are doing it, and they are leaving breadcrumbs behind them, and creating good examples for others to follow, it makes the whole shift that much swifter and smoother!
Anyways, I won't take up more of your time on this post, but safe to say I am looking forward to the next! Thank you @wwf :)