hi, I don't think the ows provisioning is sustainable in the long run, but it's nevertheless a prefigurative example of citizens deciding on provisioning, which is what I wanted to highlight. competition is fine to me, and seems really a part of human nature, but I believe it should be embedded in a broader system of cooperation, and not the primary social logic. On Thu, Dec 8, 2011 at 5:04 AM, FC Fisher <[email protected]> wrote:

Michel, regarding your comment "my own take is that a peer to peer economy reverses the equilibrium between competition and cooperation."

I am not convinced that the ows method of provisioning is sustainable or extensible, but I want to address the idea of competition.

I do not think competition is the problem. I think competition along a single dimension (money) is. Goods and services should be able to compete along all dimensions of quality, put price must be removed from the equation to make this meaningful competition.

I think the equilibrium we should seek is between centralization and decentralization. A centralized economy, such as one that operates on a centrally controlled currency, has a bias toward centralizing, or the accumulation of wealth. A decentralized, or p2p economy would have a bias toward distribution of value (wealth).

I would define a p2p economy as the exchange of goods or services for goods or services or the verifiable promise of goods or services at subjective rates agreeable to all parties independent of a centralized currency or centralized authority.

Technical feasibility discussions aside, an exchange supporting a p2p economy would need to facilitate a multi-way exchange of subjective value without conversion to a central currency or any requirement of a central authority or central exchange. This multi-way exchange barter system would more closely resemble pre-currency economies, but could use technology to be even more efficient and reliable than centralized currency exchanges (e.g. retail stores, banks, and stock markets).

So in terms of competition in this p2p economy, every producer competes on all the dimensions that potential consumers value, and does not compete on cost. I think this is a potentially very sustainable and extensible model.

Coexisting centralized and distributed economies have a lot of very interesting possibilities.

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