[p2p-research] Resilience and scale invariance

[Stan Rhodes]

marc,

I'm not sure your realizations are similar, but your engineering
background is quite different from my psychology background.  Risk
aversion is well known, and it's very reasonable that people would not
want to abandon the existing system. I wouldn't say people's varied
conceptual models for money are any weirder or more disturbing than
their models for other aspects of life.  Beware of correspondence
bias.

Unfortunately, alternative / complementary currencies cannot--or at
least, currently do not--address the issue of inequity, particularly
of property, but also commons in general, so I think the money
movements are addressing more of a symptom than the disease.

Crisis often brings change, but it rarely ever brings good change.  In
crisis mode, people are less rational than usual, and make desperate
choices, whether behind the counter at McDonald's or behind the desk
in the Oval Office.

-- Stan

On Sun, Apr 19, 2009 at 12:11 PM, marc fawzi <marc.fawzi at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Stan
>
> I've gone through my own similar realization in the course of a peer
> production experiment I did, which I had written about to this list.
>
> Most people have a complex, weird and/or disturbing relationship with money
> which provides a psychological homeostasis which most people are NOT willing
> to abandon for a "psychologically positive" relationship with a kinder,
> gentler and more resilient type of currency.
>
> It will take a major shock to the system (much bigger than the economic
> shock, IMO) before people start to question their behavior, but we can see
> just a tiny bit of that now, in ourselves and others.
>
> It's a soul searching, self-revealing time for a lot of people, and that's
> why it's good to offer people positive alternatives, right now.
>
> Marc
>
>
>
> On Sat, Apr 18, 2009 at 11:49 PM, Stan Rhodes <stanleyrhodes at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> The alternative currency movement does not necessarily pay that much
>> attention to economics, and practically no one in any walk of life
>> pays attention to behavioral economics--its implications are very
>> counter-intuitive and often undermine established methods of doing
>> things.  I assume if you're a fan of Taleb then you're also familiar
>> with Daniel Kahneman, Richard Thaler, et al.  I've mentioned them
>> before in emails, but I don't think you were part of the list back
>> then.  I wish I had more time to write about it, but most of the
>> research is quite accessible.
>>
>> I would also strongly recommend reading some of his studies with N Mazar:
>>
>> http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/facbios/file/Mazar_Dishonesty_forthcomingJMR.pdf
>>
>> They not only test people in various scenarios, they then test
>> people's ability to predict the experimental subjects' performance.
>> Turns out, we don't do what we think we do.
>>
>> If you want to puzzle your mind yet more, consider the explorations here:
>> http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/thaler_sendhil08/class5.html
>>
>> Good luck,
>> -- Stan
>>
>> On Sat, Apr 18, 2009 at 12:44 PM, Ryan Lanham <rlanham1963 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > Interesting goal for sustainable ops...scale invariance...p2p should
>> > tend to
>> > optimize for this.
>> >
>> >
>> > http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2009/04/resilient-communities-and-scale-invariance.html
>> >
>> > Marc, in your flows concept, does scale matter?  I'm reading Hy Minsky
>> > now
>> > on John Maynard Keynes, and he spends a lot of time discussing scale in
>> > various ways.
>> >
>> > Also, Dan Ariely, in Predictably Irrrational discusses the fact that
>> > theft
>> > is a greater issue in tokens than in cash systmes (2nd to last chapter).
>> > Haven't seen that line developed re: alternative currencies / open
>> > money.
>> > He seems to suggest tokens aren't perceived as "real" and therefore are
>> > less
>> > likely to trigger moral barriers.
>> >
>> > Ryan Lanham
>> >
>> >
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>>
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>
>
> --
>
> Marc Fawzi
> Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Marc-Fawzi/605919256
> LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/marcfawzi
>