Great News for Investors

What would an investment co-op in these sorts of technologies look like?  As any of you have bitten hard into monetary policy know, a debt-based currency system causes destruction of Life and debasement of human freedom.  The alternative, and quite reasonable in my estimation, has been gold and silver.  There is, however, always the question of whether legitimate reserves are kept, etc., i.e. it is precisely the opportunity to emit more “dollars” than there is gold and/or silver to back them that has led to our current system.  I am of the opinion that private banking would solve this, i.e. detach any government oversight yet create independent rating agencies that would rate banks, much as the Organic Growers' Association, of which there were several different, independent institutions, oversaw organic agriculture and maintained exceptionally high standards until the FDA stepped in and created its own, federally-mandated, “organic” label which immediately allowed a number of chemical substances forbidden by the private institutions… but I digress.

One of the thoughts that I've been playing with is:  What about an energy-backed monetary system?  i.e. instead of currency being denominated in “euros,” “dollars,”” dirhams,” etc., it were simply denominated in joules?  Couldn't this be the next wave of exchange, and one that recognizes the true nature of exchange: energy for energy? 

With the potential of creating community and investor co-ops investing privately in energy-production plants, and with the potential for creating sizeable investor groups pooling resources to invest in wind turbines, etc., AND with the already evolving input/output crediting system to the grid, where the energy you put into the grid during hours of high production creates a credit, and energy you extract creates a debit - it seems that perhaps our energy grid might be pointing at a monetary system that is tied in with nature, constructive, AND unlimited - while, at the same time addressing real needs of real people, communities and ecosystems in real time, and also probably self-limiting once we begin to evolve communities where all energy needs have been satisfied and there is no need or desire for excess energy, since multi-year trips around our solar system and galaxies will also be implemented, and funded out of local energy production. 

Hmmm….  what do you think about this idea of a monetary system based on energy production?  The more I think of it, the more I think that is makes waaay more than cents!  ; )

In this scenario, money would be created as energy credits directly by those creating energy.  If you exchanged your labor, say, for 100 joules, that would be 100 joules which you could directly convert into electricity for 100 joules.  In this system a holder of 100 joules could not be defrauded nor could his currency be debased, and the whole economic system becomes incentivized to not only produce MORE joules, but to also find better ways to make the same amount of joules perform more work!  In other words, the very economic paradigm incentivizes not only increased production but greater efficiencies as well in ways that are directly meaningful and supportive to Life. 

We could literally evolve cultures where human beings, rather than “working for a living,” have such an abundance of access to energy, especially for meeting basic needs of food, water and shelter, that nobody has to work.  Individuals are free to spend their days as they please, as long as they are not disturbing others, and thus are entirely incentivized to spending their lives developing their greatest gifts.

It is worthy of reflecting upon how the design of our medium of exchange impacts the evolution of our cultures.

Hi Honey!  Brilliant link!  Thanks! 

I really enjoyed how they are interlinking local interests globally.  Very nice.  I think that there's much greater wealth potential in this proposal than carbon credits (which I find dubious, at best), but nevertheless the model is engaging and they're putting it into practice. 

Interesting contrast you bring up:  “in it for the money” vs. “righting imbalances.”

I think that this dichotomy arises in our culture because we are operating outside of a wealth paradigm, so whether we are in it “for the money” or in it “for righting imbalances,” much of the wealth remains inactivated because it's not perceived.  I want to provide language and distinctions for the emergence where such dichotomies will be laughable, a culture that is 100% “in it for the wealth” denominated in whatever terms enriches Life for those engaged in the exchange.  This is precisely what I call “the eroticism of the marketplace.”  It's two people exchanging pleasure and enhancing each other's vitality through exchange.   Individuals exchanging with individuals in recognition of individual-to-individual exchange as the basis of how Life feeds itself. 

To me, the possibility of “offsetting carbon emissions” is a pretty  “low-eros”  proposition and this is about how exciting most “development” projects are to me.  Please read Ivan Illich's Tools for Conviviality - I SO want to discuss it with you. Ivan Illich drives home the debasement inherent to the one-way welfare model of giver>recipient, and the inherent cultural debasement and conquest in many so-called “good works.” 

I see way more enriching potentials in this very fascinating exchange model.  First of all, there are two cultures.  What can poor people in India contribute to the people funding this project?   To reduce any human being to a mere recipient is to deprive that person of delivering their gift.  How can one invite communities of “recipients” to, in turn, enrich the communities of “givers?” - and not necessarily monetarily?  How does one increase the relevance and mutuality between individuals through this paradigm?

Bottom line: what is the wealth potential inherent in the community of “poor” or “disabled” people in India that can enrich the “rich” people contributing to the project and vice-versa?

These are the kinds of questions that emerge from the BOP Matrix paradigm that is working me.

I am totally looking forward to generating some new cultures and adventures with you!

O

Dear Carla,

Thanks for your input.  Interesting contrasts/combinations:
“fair market” and “free market”:  when the individual is respected in her absolute right to choose what's right for her, are these not one and the same?  Is there anyone better equipped and with more right to determine what's “fair” than the person who's “free” to choose, without compulsion, censure, or coercion?

In true capitalism, anything that has value is recognized, honored and invited to exchange in further loops of wealth-creation.  In the present debt-based monetary system, however, anything that has value has no medium of exchange which does not increase the indebtedness of either itself or others to the monetary interests. 

Sherri and I were talking y'day and she said that we should get rid of all the rules that constrain people.  I said that the only rule that we need is the right to remove ourselves from people and places where we are not feeling love and that we have the right to defend our person and property from those who would use force to subject us to their plans. 

I think that embracing your local economy, relationships, biosphere, etc. is where we begin to rediscover natural wealth, as you are doing.  That is true artistry.

Art!  Now there's an interesting question.  And in the West it's interesting how our vision of Art has been tremendously influenced by “artists” who have availed themselves of “public” funds extorted from individuals without their consent to fund “art” that a political power deems interesting, not the people funding it.  From that arises the whole discourse of art vs. crafts, and a certain disdain that I heard expressed in Bali, for example, by Westerners who thought the “art” was too formulaic, not innovative enough (though I saw AMAZING and adventurous work there), etc., as compared to artists in the West.  “Art” has become another political priesthood, in some realms.

 And yet when I watch your video of you making your pots I am profoundly moved and see immediate nurturance from your creation.  I feel immediate intimacy in the presence of something real, grounded, and revealing of profound human truths.  So, yes, let us find ways to enhance our well-being together, let us revive that artistry in our culture and celebrate it, whatever form it takes.