I was 25 minutes late to the 30 minute Tutorials
Some key takeaways
- I’m free to take the story wherever I can, it doesn’t have to be perfect. If I cant stick to the no money and no jobs aspect, that is okay.
- My pandemic experience is a good starting seed because through that experience I can tell the story closer to my expression.
- The pandemic was a case of massive routine disruption. What if in a future world something artificial is expected to be reliable and it suddenly isn’t? (power grid, information system, internet etc.)
- My struggles are mostly based on financial difficulties, doesn’t a future world of no money and no jobs basically evaporate all relevant aspects of my story? -> Not directly: The different struggles birthed different values between different people, and these values could persist if a solved world is young.
To work out this last bullet point, I am reading a chapter from David Graeber’s book Debt – The First 50.000 Years.
In particular I want to figure out if currency is a naturally emergent system in a large society.
If yes, this means in The Solved World, communities would start enforcing a currency system despite the System not necessitating one.
If no, a population could be at the whim of a system which nourishes them, deeply impacted by its instabilities.
The Myth of Barter
- Although debt must have developed directly with money, it is hardly discussed. Most historic accounts from around the world only talk about the coinage and not the underlying credit arrangements. [p. 21]
- Economists generally speak of three roles of money: medium of exchange, unit of account and store of value. [p. 22]
- Case, Fair, Gärtner and Heather (1996): ‘A barter system requires a double coincidence of wants on both sides.’ ‘Money eliminates such logistical challenges.’ [p. 22-23]
- The case of barter as an example is merely a fantasy exercise of economists explaining money. There is no proof it happened this way. [p. 22-28]
- Yet the story of barter is perpetuated unanimously. It has become an essential myth without basis and propagated to people far and wide. [p. 28]
Troughout this chapter Graeber criticizes the narrative economist books regurgitate when they explain the origin of money, a form of supremacist narrative. He takes issue with all of the literature essentially imagining a money-less world by starting with a typical economy and “plucking” the money away from it.
For historical reconstruction purposes it is problematic since most people grow up with this information, saying that first was barter then came money. A conceptual precedent which interferes with archaeological research.
For imagining a near future world without money though, it is an interesting idea, since the people will be living in a world from which money was suddenly (or gradually) plucked away.
Not so relevant idea: A semi-financial life model
A semi-financial life model:
The thought of a population at the whim of a nourishing System pops up an interesting monetary system: intermittent abundance.
To those citizen living in the outskirts, the eternally abundant system is not available. They live with a finance system more similar to our financial system.
But when the state can spare material, this excess is dispersed into the outskirts.
The outskirters live with a system of intermittent money-less phases.
Storyboard – Plot 1
Characters
Protagonist:
- Hector/Hectavia – Hec
- Tweens age citizen.
- Underground Tinkerers community member for a few years.
- Works within state as small systems assembler, common occupation.
Delivery car:
- State-owned asset.
- Delivers every amenity to living complex of Hec’s location of residence.
The State:
- Barely seen or explained within the film?
- Surveillance-authoritarian?
- Relatively young system, enforces a radically different economy model.
The situation:
- Money is gone, but not forgotten.
- People share and barter for tools and resources.
- State outskirts are unfertile and uninhabited.
Story/Notes
‘One past’s trash, another future’s treasure.’
Hec lives a routine life as system assembler at the state’s productive zones (PZs). Tasks as system assembler include final assembly and quality assurance of small and medium scale robotics and electronics for the state.
It may sound like a ‘Job’ at first, but the occupation can be thought of as compulsory, like education. There is no financial reward. Instead, as a PZ member they benefit from amenities like hygiene, food and shelter.
What the machines are for is unknown.
A few years ago Hec came in contact with a few people while at a scrapyard outside who shared a mind: why discard the old machinery?
Hec remembers the age of global finance and the struggles they had in the family before the great solve, so they have an instinct for resourcefulness and keeping things around.
With a combination of the skills acquired as PZ member and freetime tinkering with found scraps, Hec is convinced a more resource friendly lifestyle is possible for the common people, if they just knew how to fix machines.
As it stands right now, a combination of complexity in consumer products and the inadequate education of the general population leads to a large amount of electronics being discarded into landfills.
Storyboard – Plot 2
Characters
Protagonist:
- Hector/Hectavia – Hec
- Tweens age citizen.
State:
- Recognizes hackspaces and education on electronics.
Situation:
- Tinkering is a common activity, thanks to initiatives and efforts.
Story/Notes:
A setting where common people know how to modify electronics and fix machines.
This is in contrast to today’s public’s stereotypes and misunderstanding of hacking. The kind of prejudice which outlaws educational devices like the Flipper Zero.
