From: Phil Osborn (philosborn@altavista.com)
Date: Tue Nov 27 2001 - 21:51:12 MST
Wei Dai's "solution" (http://www.eskimo.com/~weidai/bmoney.txt) looks like an application of the labor theory of value run amok, sad to say...
A more practical approach recognizes that value rests in meeting market demand. The chief engines of that productivity are of course, humans, today anyway, and likely transhumans in the near future.
A real medium of exchange that met the standards of divisibility, portability, and uniformity might consist of mutual fund stock in people. Let's assume that every kid that is born is credited with a virtual Massachusetts Trust. The share values in his personal trust reflect the current and expected return in the market and ultimately the productivity of the kid. He can reject the trust, ignore the trust, do whatever he chooses, but the trust shares will reflect that as well.
If his share values are high, then he can issue new shares and capitalize on the high value to finance an education or start a business. Keeping his share values high opens many doors to his personal progress, so the smarter, more productive kids will keep that in focus. Mutual funds owning shares in millions of personal trusts scattered worldwide would not go under short of a major asteroid strike. Microshares in those trusts would be about as stable a currency as one could possibly imagine.
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