Hey guys.
Not just since I got involved with BTC I have been thinking a lot about our monetary system worldwide and the system in general.
It seems like there are a lot of bright and kind-of-like-minded people around in this forum so I would like to share some thoughts to see what you think. I am gonna throw in my ideas about how stuff could be done in a better way that is more social and democratic. I don't have a degree in economics or anything, these are just ramblings. Any input is welcome. A lot of the good things to come will be achieved through technology that still has to be invented I think.
1) Financials
Our societies run on greed. Capitalism depends on greed because that's what drives everything forward. The situation at hand is deeply anti-social. Try explaining this to a little kid:
- We think wealth should be shared in a fair manner
BUT
- If you have money it automatically becomes more money without you doing anything
- If you have no money (debt) your balance will automatically become more negative leaving you with less money
How does this fit together?
--> The whole system of interest and debt needs to go. Also what about the 1%? There is no need for any person to own gazillions of Dollars, Euros, Rubbels, Yuan, whatever. Private property should be limited to some degree. Let's say nobody is allowed to own more than 5 million dollars. With all the money left over from the rich people who own more than that you could probably feed half of the world. With 5 million there would still be enough incentive to get busy and make something nice to earn money. I know that this is impossible to control right now so it's just an idea.
Bitcoin is a good start and it can do a lot of amazing things, like take power from the banks. But even if it gets widely adopted the underlying system still stays the same.
2) Democracy
The democratic systems are overly complicated and easy to cheat or influence. Technology will enable us to install a new form of democracy, the real stuff this time. The reason why there is no direct vote by the public for a lot of stuff is that the logistics for that used to be overwhelming. You have to send a letter to everybody and have people come to a place to drop their vote and so on. In Switzerland they actually do a lot of public votes on important questions and it works because it's a really small country. Now with the internet this should also be possible for large countries with a big population.
What's needed is a technology that is somehow locked to individuals but still anonymous. Let's say your DNA pattern was a public key and you would use that to cast your vote. I have no clue if something like this is possible but you need to make sure that everybody can only vote once without having to identify people. Maybe someone who knows a bit more about tech stuff has an idea...
3) Media
The media can't just throw shit at people and force them to consume it, as in traditional TV. It has to be streamed on demand and also produced on demand. It has already changed a lot, there is so much good stuff available on the internet.
One important idea I think is peer-funded content where you really support the stuff you like instead of paying a flat fee to some network. This also flattens the hierarchy and makes it harder for someone to own or influence the whole network. Just look at how many awesome documentaries were made possible through Kickstarter and the likes...
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I'll probably add to this later, maybe you have some ideas as well how to awesomize our little planet so that when someday the aliens land they won't laugh at us too hard but maybe give us a high-five.