[p2p-research] [Open Manufacturing] Re: == Currency Based on CPU and Man Hours (for Digital Goods) ==

[marc fawzi]

Reply re: "Flexible universal currency" vs "specialized currency"

Abundance sustaining universal currency like the joule tokens can
exist (see P2P Energy Economy) but the Joule Token as a currency,
which is a universal currency for goods and services that meet the
conditions for sustainable abundance (i.e. universal in context of
abundance sustaining currencies) exist only as long as common everyday
goods and services meet the conditions of sustainable abundance, which
they don't at this time.

Today, the only "common everyday resources" that a meaningful economy
can be based on and that meet the conditions of sustainable abundance
is human energy (and more exactly creative energy is what we see an
abundance of) and machine-computational energy (which I believe
continue to double at the single node level every 18 months)

So then if nothing else meets the conditions of abundance why the
overhead of designing a universal abundance-sustaining currency? Why
not start from the special case and then generalize. If you want to
debate this last point, I suggest we debate mathematical induction.
So while mathematical induction as defined commonly (the weak case)
may be an over simplified analogy it is basically the same exactly
logical process.

Joule tokens, which is a case of trying to derive the
generalized/universal solution through direct axiomatic deduction was
leading down a path of increasing complexity. I figured the whole
approach to arriving at a universal abundance-sustaining currency
should be rethought and so I'm starting out now from the special case.

What "cpu hour" tokens and "man hour" tokens enable is the equitable
trading in human and machine work energy such that we can have a
sustainable abundance in digitally produced goods and services (like
open software, open CAD models, open Spice models, open Matlab models,
open music, etc, anything that is both open [since openness is part of
the conditions for sustaining abundance] and is produced by people on
a computer)

Today, most if not all popular open software is highly and critically
dependent on major corporate donors, which is not sustainable. Think
Firefox, Linux, KDE, Gnome, etc. All are funded by major corporations
directly or indirectly (e.g. by employing lead developers, funding
startup ventures involving those lead developers, or directly funding
them as Google has done with Firefox)  This is not "sustainable" since
if the economy melts down (as it has but to worse degree) and those
corporations cease to exist then who will fund those projects that
each have hundreds of millions of users? The users of course, but only
a tiny portion of users fund those projects today. So then we need an
abundance sustaining p2p economy that allows the equitable exchange of
man hours and cpu hours between equally empowered peer producers to
enable true sustainable abundance.


>
> If I have $6 then I can exchange it for anything I may end up needing
> at the time I need it that those monetary units will be accepted for.
> That is my point.  No "I spent CPU os I should be compensated in
> CPU".    Flexible, universally acceptable currency (trading units) are
> essential.