<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Tomi Astikainen</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:tomi.astikainen@mindyourelephant.org">tomi.astikainen@mindyourelephant.org</a>></span><br>
Date: Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 9:53 PM<br>Subject: New economic system<br>To: Michel Bauwens <<a href="mailto:michelsub2004@gmail.com">michelsub2004@gmail.com</a>><br><br><br>Hi Michel,<div><br></div><div>Long time no talk. Hope everything is fine and dandy with you and your endeavors of openness?</div>
<div>Maybe you have noticed that I launched a new book: <a href="http://www.tomiastikainen.com" target="_blank">www.tomiastikainen.com</a></div>
<div><br></div><div>Today I was writing more extensive stuff for the FAQ about moneyless living and when writing about new (moneyless) economic system I thought of you.</div><div><br></div><br>Text:<br><br>
<meta http-equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<title></title>
<meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 3.2 (Linux)">
<style type="text/css">
<!--
@page { margin: 0.79in }
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in }
A:link { so-language: zxx }
-->
</style>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2"><b>How
would you re-design a more sustainable economic system?</b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="fi-FI" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2"><span lang="en-US">Short
answer: I would design it with others, </span><a href="http://p2pfoundation.net/Sharing"><font color="#0000ff"><span lang="en-US"><u>sharing</u></span></font></a><span lang="en-US">
resources and perspectives in </span><a href="http://p2pfoundation.net/Category:Open#Introduction"><font color="#0000ff"><span lang="en-US"><u>open
collaboration</u></span></font></a><span lang="en-US">, and leaving
room for constant evolution of the system. In fact, the very fact
that you are on this site proves that the re-design process has
started among the people of the Earth, in a very unique fashion: from
the ground up instead of top-down.</span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="fi-FI" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2"><span lang="en-US">Professor
</span><a href="http://www.earthscan.co.uk/ProsperityWithoutGrowth/tabid/102098/Default.aspx"><font color="#0000ff"><span lang="en-US"><u>Tim
Jackson</u></span></font></a><span lang="en-US"> says �Sustainability
is the art of living well within ecological limits� where �living
well� implies both ethical behavior and comfort. Thus, a more just
and sustainable system is found in the crossroads of efficiency,
environment, equity and ethics.</span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">The
basic requirements of a sustainable economic system are that it is
able to:</font></font></p>
<ol><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">meet
basic human needs of the whole global population, </font></font>
</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">take
the carrying capacity of the Earth into account,</font></font></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">allow
the diversity of life to flourish now and in the future, and</font></font></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">ensure
both human and societal development </font></font>
</p>
</li></ol>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">The
basic components of an economic system are:</font></font></p>
<ol><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">Need
clarification,</font></font></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">Resource
extraction,</font></font></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">Production,</font></font></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">Distribution,</font></font></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">Use
of the produce, and</font></font></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">Re-use
of resources</font></font></p>
</li></ol>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2"><b>Needs</b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">Market
equilibrium, i.e. balance between supply and demand, has not been
reached in top-down approaches. Capitalism is producer-driven
guesswork vulnerable to formation of monopolies and distorted by
profit-motive driven creation of artificial needs. On the other hand,
the central-planning of socialism and communism cannot answer to
rapid changes of people�s real needs and preferences.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">In
a moneyless society the basic needs for survival are quite easy to
fulfill because we all need nutritious food, warm clothes,
comfortable shelter, clean water, functioning sanitation and all
that. The human needs that guide the basic production are somewhat
unchanged and predictable.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">However,
there are more advanced needs that derive from individual
preferences, interpersonal relationships and from ideas for societal
development. An individual might want to create a piece of art that
requires equipment, two people in different geographic locations
might want to meet each other out of a whim and a research team might
realize that a bridge needs to be built to link two cities together.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">In
order to enable all this, people need to have an easy means to
express their changing needs so that required products and services
can be delivered. We do this already: we order stuff from Amazon, we
book trips over internet and we create wikis and documents together
with our peers and professional colleagues to plan larger projects.
All we need to do is to link the information systems we already have,
open them up to public scrutiny and make these massive amounts of
data accessible in a common database that can guide production
decisions.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">If
it seems that we cannot possibly fulfill everyone�s needs without
exceeding the carrying capacity of the Earth (not enough resources to
make everything happen at once), we can then assign numerical values
for resources, e.g. time and amount needed for a final product. And
then we can utilize various mobile and internet technologies to
design tools that allow people to �vote� on a daily basis to
inform production of their needs, i.e. use direct democracy to guide
the production decisions.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2"><b>Material
and energy extraction</b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">The
sporadic, short-sighted and predatory resource extraction of today
cannot continue much longer. The same goes for fossil-fuel based and
highly centralized energy production and distribution.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="fi-FI" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2"><span lang="en-US">In
a moneyless society all energy comes directly or indirectly from the
sun (including geothermal, wave, tidal, and wind energy). </span><a href="http://p2pfoundation.net/InterGrid"><font color="#0000ff"><span lang="en-US"><u>Jeremy
Rifkin</u></span></font></a><span lang="en-US"> talks about the
�Inter-grid� � the internet of energy � where all of us are
both consumers and producers of energy. It is possible to set up with
current day technology, today, if we want it to happen.</span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">For
the material extraction to be sustainable we need to understand
where, how much and what kind of resources we have. This applies both
to untapped sources and products that can be re-used.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2"><b>Manufacturing
process</b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">In
our current system there is a whole lot of overlap in production:
competing organizations create similar products and services with
lowest possible cost � often leading to poor quality products �
and they all try to sell their stuff to the consumers with whatever
the means, creating a lot of artificial needs and desires in the
process of doing so.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">In
a sane sustainable system we would produce exactly what is needed, as
locally as possible, to as many as possible, with as little waste as
possible.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">The
shifting needs �from bombs to food� would take us little by
little towards abundance. Automation would no longer be viewed as the
evil machines that take people�s jobs but as a means to set people
free from the drudgery of manual labor, bearing in mind that nothing
would stop you from growing your own carrots or knitting your woolen
socks.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2"><b>Distribution</b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">Nowadays
we ship stuff all over the world without much thinking of the
consequences. Raw materials are shipped to where it�s cheapest to
produce something out of them. Then this produce is shipped to be
processed where it�s cheapest to do. The cargo then moves through
various assembly points to the wholesaler, to the retail store and
finally consumers pick it up and ship it to their homes. They use it,
trash it and the junk is shipped to the other side of the world.
Rational? No. Cheap? Hell yeah!</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">Distribution
in a moneyless society should minimize the distance (i.e. energy use)
and maximize the ease and access of use. Most of the food would
probably be wisest to deliver to large restaurants or community
kitchens in large quantities. Consumer goods such as toiletries could
have filling stations where anyone could fill up their soap bottle
near where they live. Durable goods, such as furniture, could be
ordered directly to your home from the manufacturer. The latest
consumer electronics, appliances and tools could be borrowed from a
local �library�.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="fi-FI" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2"><span lang="en-US">If
it would seem that transferring some of the products to another side
of the world is not sustainable then distribution would also guide
production decisions, and alternatives would be found. We might come
into conclusions such as using </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippophae_rhamnoides"><font color="#0000ff"><span lang="en-US"><u>the
common sea-buckthorn</u></span></font></a><span lang="en-US"> for
pepping up people in the Northern hemisphere and leaving the luxury
of sipping coffee for those living in areas where it�s viable to
produce locally. Please note that hard-core coffee addicts would
always be welcome to relocate to South America if that is what they
value in life.</span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="fi-FI" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2"><span lang="en-US">We
would supplement, and over-time probably replace, the current marine,
air, train and road cargo services with new more efficient
technologies such as </span><a href="http://et3.com/ett.asp"><font color="#0000ff"><span lang="en-US"><u>Evacuated
Tube Transport</u></span></font></a><span lang="en-US">.</span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2"><b>Use</b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">Currently
many people buy stuff to feel happy. People want to own a sleek car
to show off their prosperity. This ego-driven material happiness
doesn�t last long, however. Little by little people are waking up
to feel the void within. To fill that void they need love and better
relationships, education, culture and arts, time for reflection and
experiences in nature. And yes, most people on this planet need to
eat.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="fi-FI" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2"><span lang="en-US">More
important than ownership is access to goods and services that fulfill
our real needs. In a moneyless society people would use the products
and services that they need to live a good life. You�d be surprised
how this might actually be much less � not more � than what an
average person owns nowadays. And through sharing durable goods many
more people could have access to what they need. The same goes for
services: it�s much wiser to use highly effective and comfortable
</span><a href="http://www.zeitnews.org/transportation/"><font color="#0000ff"><span lang="en-US"><u>public
transportation</u></span></font></a><span lang="en-US"> that always
takes you to your destination, rather than worry about fixing and
maintaining your car that sits on the parking lot for 95% of the
time. Hoarding junk just doesn�t make sense, especially if
everything is </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_good"><font color="#0000ff"><span lang="en-US"><u>freely
available</u></span></font></a><span lang="en-US">.</span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2"><b>Re-use</b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="fi-FI" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2"><span lang="en-US">Today
we live in </span><a href="http://www.kerismith.com/blog/the-culture-of-disposability-part-2/"><font color="#0000ff"><span lang="en-US"><u>the
culture of disposability</u></span></font></a><span lang="en-US"> and
most of the stuff we use ends up in landfills. Even fast moving
consumer goods such as oil and jelly is packed in plastic or glass
containers that are not going to decompose any time soon. As for the
durable goods, just by sharing efficiently what we already have we
could for instance have free clothes for the next 10 years.</span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="fi-FI" align="LEFT"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2"><span lang="en-US">Re-use
has to be designed into the whole process so that each product has
gone through a proper </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_cycle_assessment"><font color="#0000ff"><span lang="en-US"><u>cradle-to-crave
assessment</u></span></font></a><span lang="en-US">. If we take this
seriously we can soon imitate nature where everything that is
disposed of becomes quickly used again in another part of the process
we call life.</span></font></font></p>
<br>
</div>