Hello All,

One way to distill this critique further would be to suggest that conventional exchange systems (i.e. money) are measured in one-dimension (quantity) whereas value is a multi-dimensional concept.

At Access Space we work with (at least) three value dimensions: Exchange Value (which maps onto money value) Symbolic Value (how cool it is, or what it means in symbolic terms) and Utility Value (how useful it is). (Arguably, we also work with a fourth value metric: Time).

One value dimension can sometimes be traded for another, but not always at a constant rate. In some cases value exchange between systems is impossible.

You can see examples of business models which exploit these other value dimensions. For example, Harley Davidson produce and sell aftershave to exchange some of their symbolic value (Harleys are cool!) for Exchange Value. However, if they over exploit the exchange, they'll cease to be cool, because people will realise that they're an aftershave manufacturer, with a bike-orientated publicity strategy - which isn't cool at all.

In our media lab we exploit discontinuities between value systems - we recycle computers for use in the lab and the community. Three or four year old computers are not cool - they're in a trough of low value. Inefficient software gives the false impression that they have low utility value. Users are generally insufficiently skilled to optimise their functions, so they appear to have low utility value.

We refurbish the computers, optimising their utility value, and rebrand them as "green" and "anti-corporate" technology, which increases symbolic value in niche markets. (Although notice that "mainstream" symbolic and exchange value is still very low, as greenness is eclipsed by a marketing push to misinform users about utility value).

We also re-value participants themselves. Unemployed people may have low exchange capacity (i.e. no money) and low symbolic value (it ain't cool to be kicking your heels). But thye have high utility value - they have available time which can be exchanged for skill-acquisition and creative activity.

Notice the way that throughout history people who are disempowered by mainstream valuation systems have used the creative, symbolic value axis as a route to increased valuation. (Born in the ghetto? Got no cash, no useful skills? Maybe - but the way he walks has style!) Notice also how value along many axes is a slippery concept - keep something unfashionable long enough and it regains value (e.g. old computers lose utility but gain retro-chic).

Sometimes exchange rates across value axes are proportional, but in other cases they may be unrelated, or even inversely proportional.

As small elites becomes increasingly (and unjustifiably) super rich, they cannot help but become less free (lowered utility value) and less cool (lower symbolic value). If their symbolic value bottoms out, revolution happens and people end up hanging from lamp posts. (c.f. The Arab World, 2011.)

Let's hope that re-understanding of valuation occurs before negative-sum unpleasantness.

Best Regards,

James
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On 20/05/11 10:43, Jack Marxer wrote:

I think this is a very concise and valuable criticism of money as we know it.

Jack

On Fri, May 20, 2011 at 8:06 AM, Karl Robillard <krobillard@san.rr.com> wrote:

I don't see how the alternative currency experiments like Bitcoin do anything
to help us move to a more egalitarian, steady-state economy.

An economist will tell you that "price is information", but I'm not sure how
they justify that. An ounce of crack, a few hours of music lessons, a lawn
mower, or a couple hours of labor might all be $100. None of these can
remotely be considered the same, but yet the dollar value is identical. Any
mechanism which equates these is an absurd abstraction which eliminates a
great deal of useful information. This dearth of relational data is a
fundamental feature of money which turns the economy into a valuation game.
Over time, the wealth gap between those who game the system well and those
that don't becomes so great that a jubilee or a revolution is needed.

I see open source production and modern information technology as powerful
tools which allow us to more fully value things. They are important because
they help make money (just a primitive form of information technology, IMO)
obsolete. I just don't understand why people want to continue to treat the
economy as a game.

-Karl

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-- 
James Wallbank
CEO, Access Space Network Ltd.
Access Space, Unit 1, AVEC Building, 3-7 Sidney St, Sheffield S1 4RG
Access Space is UK Registered Charity: #1103837
Tel: +44 (0)114 2495522
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