In my science fiction novel "A Short History of a Long Future - A Guide for New-man", I wrote a scenario that applies to this discussion. Before Allan starts to let off his gas, the "I" is not "me" and it IS a science fiction. Below is the relevant excerpt from my novel.
"One unexpected day the centralized data banks were infected with computer viruses that erased their entire data banks. The multiple backups of the last 10 years were also suddenly discovered to have been compromised. Overnight electronic data of all money was irretrievably wiped out. Money in all of its form and all its trace disappeared. The banks and their services shut down immediately and all flow of money seized.
I developed a device that measured mental and physical exertion done for doing a series of tasks. I developed a financial system that did not include banks. It was a decentralized system where everyone was his own bank. It was based on my device. This measurement device allowed money to be based not on gold, oil, or promises, but on human exertion. The amount of this new money was to be based on the number of users. There was to be no central governing point and the only regulation were in the algorithms governing the issuance of money and in the initial registration. It was a just-in-time system that issued just enough money at just the right time and place to just the right person to ensure educational and health well being. The system was to be open and algorithms were to be proposed and written by users themselves.
I also developed a workable replacement for the once existing centralized banks. It was a peer to peer networked system that allowed everyone to be his own bank. It was free to join with only one requirement. - you had to have a chip inserted into the forehead under the skin. The chip came with an account containing 1 million dollars to last you a lifetime and pay for your basic living needs.
All countries adopted the implantation of the chip as a basic human right. My system provided all the requirements that make money workable. It could not be counterfeited and could not be stolen or lost. It was based on a unique code signed with each person's unique biometric signature. It could be saved and it was always redeemable anywhere anytime automatically.
Everyone who wanted to work and get paid had to use his system which was implanted into the forehead. Everyone who wanted to buy anything had to have this implant as well. It acted as a electronic money bank account. To fill it you had to work as usual. You could invest your capital by buying company stocks. You gambled your investment betting to profit by buying into a hopefully successful venture but risking to lose it should the ventures fail.
Your inheritance was limited to family heirlooms and houses. Your total accumulated wealth was also limited to a certain amount guaranteeing a very high standard of living. Anything over this was redistributed back to the people who you got it from. You were rewarded for this contribution in the form of highly valued merit awards that came with valued prestige.There was no income tax but you paid a sales tax on all items you bought. Food, clothing and other living necessities were exempt from tax. Sales tax paid for all public facilities and services like government, roads, hospitals, schools, fire department and police.
Within a few months of offering the accounts, everyone wanted an implant. It was free, came with a start-up capital of $1,000,000, and gave you the promise of a secure future, and the hopes of becoming wealthy. For the skeptical there was an opt out possibility. Their accounts would be locked and after a year they would be able to re join and continue where they left off. By replacing banks and eliminating money speculation, poverty was greatly reduced world wide. Everyone became their own bank. Everyone became an account.
Accounts below the start-up capital could spend only a maximum of $2,000 a month on products and services. But could still invest a part in stocks. Accounts over the start-up capital could form public companies and sell company stocks. Accounts over $10,000,000 automatically overflowed to the accounts with the least capital and were duly credited with distinguished awards of achievement and merit.
A few people refused to become accounts and to have the implants because of religious beliefs. They usually lived out in the country and tried to live off the dying land. They believed that the implants were prophesied in their bible as the sign of the devil. Greed took on a new meaning for many. It was no longer desirable to have as much as you can but to give as much as you must and thus get as many merit points as you can. New aims and goals surfaced. Competition changed to cooperation. Many rich ended up to be great philanthropists. Life became like a game of Monopoly."
On Wednesday, January 9, 2013 4:16:47 PM UTC+1, archytas wrote:
The human world is in a mess. It's hard to express what is going on.--
My guess is we are being ruled by a small, unelected, hidden politburo
we could call banksters. I take this as metaphor, much as I would the
notion the rulers are alien lizards. I also guess they have skewed
any dialogue we have to make it very difficult to identify the real
problem we face through argument. This is more or less a 'Dr Who'
predicament, though I suspect it is the real one we face.
Those of us who are democrats (small d) know the answer. We want a
human world at peace and our institutions based on real democracy with
government as unobtrusive as possible in the lives of reasonable
individuals. This, sadly, is the easy bit. Even something as easy as
this is potentially totalising and fascist.
Much, of course, has been written on this, and my conclusion is this
can't be helping much. My own country, Britain, has made some kind of
decision to give up empire, but we clearly cling to the coat-tails of
the USA through the dupes or war criminals we elect - or who know a
secret case not made to us that justifies war and other rotten
policies. If I was capable of listing all the literature I've read on
this matter I wouldn't finish until sometime after a week tomorrow and
I'm by no means a specialist. Even if the democratic parts of this
literature is right, it doesn't convince me of any course of action,
as almost none of it explains how we might lay down the arms of the US
umbrella without giving up to something worse or simply as bad run by
people less favourable to my ethnicity.
My belief is we must change what dialogue and argument are to address
a move to real, global democracy. We have new technology that would
allow this, but currently it is being subsumed into the skewed form
that has allowed domination through the ages. It could be that this
technology would tell us we need the American Empire. I rather hope
it would rather be a call to democratic arms and very substantial
changes in what we do and can be. Any suggestions as to what this
technology is or would be?
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