[p2p-research] An Economy for Human Beings, Not Insects

[marc fawzi]

Final version (for this sprint) below:
An Economy for Human Beings, Not Insects

Most insects are designed to be specialized.

Most humans are designed to be generalists.

But in today's economy, most humans are taught to behave exactly like
insects.

The economic and globalization theories in use today (which are based in
part on Adam Smith's antiquated treatise) encourage specialization.

They say let India be the IT provider and let the USA be the creative force.
This pattern of specialization is fractal in that it is reflected in each
part within such specialized economies, including the USA, where the
majority of organizations are highly matrixed containers (or bee hives) of
worker bees, with generalists almost absent from the hierarchy, even at the
top.

True generalists who are not "controlling" AND "manipulative" enough to hold
power over their own peers, find no place in the bee hive unless they
demonstrate the particular specialized skill that happens to be needed by
the hive, which basically turns them into specialists, and while they may
continue to think of themselves as generalists, they are rewarded according
to a specific set of goals, which continuously move them away from
generalization (i.e. specialization in many disciplines) into a confined
specialization (specialization in one discipline.)

There is an ideological movement today that promotes the idea of one being
their own queen bee by being a self sufficient entity with no critical
dependencies, i.e. a true generalist with expertise in all areas required
for survival. Yet, as argued in the previous section true autonomy can only
be achieved through increased inter-dependence between equally empowered
peers (see: Increased Autonomy Through Increased Inter-Dependence.)

Since every peer in the P2P Energy Economy is equally empowered as a
producer of energy, goods and service, and since the system promotes maximum
inter-dependence, everyone is guaranteed a level of security that is based
on their work energy, efficiency and creativity, so no one should need to
work _for_ someone else.

However, peers with energy surplus, goods or services needed for the
production of other goods or services by others may equitably exchange their
surplus energy, goods or services with peers who need them (to get the goods
and services they need for themselves and those they need for producing
their own goods and services,)

Since, when trading, peers are matched automatically and anonymously per the
buying peer's search criteria, selling peer's lender credits, and the
affinity in social, ecological and environmental values between the peers,
ad-hoc production hierarchies, with equally empowered members, are
constantly formed and dissolved.

Therefore, the P2P Energy Economy enables true autonomy for the individual
peer and for the whole economy by continuously breaking the hive structure
and by promoting increased inter-dependence between equally empowered peers,
where each peer is free to specialize (or vest themselves) in any number of
skills and the more skills a peer has the greater is their inter-dependency
network and the greater is their autonomy.

In other words, unlike today's economy, the P2P Energy Economy does not
'pigeon hole' individuals into slots (e.g., doctor, dentist, engineer,
scientist, teacher, farmer, poet, musician, etc.) from which they cannot
enable great transformations independently. It does the opposite by
encouraging each peer to have the widest range of specialization, and in
doing so it enables peers to reach their full human potential, as
generalists (or 'producers with specialization in many disciplines') who are
empowered to transform themselves and their environment as only true
generalists can.
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