(IJCH) I like the Cryptocurrency Abundance Model - CAM (my acronym) more than UBI (Universal Basic Income)
IJCH - Inside JaiChai's Head (Meaning: My Warped, Personal Opinions and Musings)
From the Author:
Salutations.
I am JaiChai.
And if I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you before, I'm delighted to make your acquaintance now.
I invite you to interact with everyone, learn, and have as much fun as possible!
For my returning online friends, "It's always great to see you again!"
The Cryptocurrency Abundance Model (CAM) - my acronym - vs. the Universal Basic Income (UBI)
I just read a great article from Medium called:
"Behavioral Cryptoeconomics: The Secret of Digital Currencies
(or The Additive-only Future: Release the Banana Hostages!)"
Article Link: https://hackernoon.com/behavioral-cryptoeconomics-the-secret-of-digital-currencies-ac6e9b04fcb6
The following are excerpts.
(My thoughts are in italics.)
Sometimes you see a homeless person but are unaffected. Then there are the times that the person on the street sinks into your heart, and you just never forget them. You randomly think back on them years later and wonder if they are okay. This was one of those times. I rushed back into Safeway to get this woman water and a healthy meal.
This makes me think of my previous post:
"(IJCH) It's YOUR Choice and no one else's! (or How Obligation can obscure YOUR Inner Vision)"
Hopefully when she wakes up it’ll help a little. I walk into this supermarket of air conditioning and abundance. The produce aisles are stacked high with mountains of delicious vitamins and minerals, ready to eat.
So why hasn’t this woman been able to get the nutrition she so desperately needs? She’s twenty yards away from abundance.
Because we are all trapped in the zero-sum game called the legacy "supply/demand" global economics paradigm.
I’ll tell you why. It’s because Safeway holds their bananas hostage! This is an odd place for humor, but let’s admit it. That’s what’s happening. And it’s a bit absurd.
Only half of the produce that hits the Safeway shelves will be consumed, but Safeway must keep these bananas hostage, until someone comes along and pays a ransom for them. Why? Because (apart from pro bono work) we’re all holding goods hostage, so that we can pay our own monthly house, car, and food ransoms.
Fortunately, some soon-to-be-rotten food goes to shelters and soup kitchens. But I suspect that is more for PR than honest benevolence.
Shit, I can still remember buying "day old bread" for half the price of fresh bread when I was a runaway! Where do you think THAT bread came from?!
What if this woman had been born in a post-digital additive-only currency world? Well, Safeway wouldn’t be holding bananas hostage. (As a side note — Safeway, please don’t sue me. I get it, you’re a victim of the economic paradigm circumstance as well!) Instead, the woman would walk into a Safeway, grab a banana, the digital ledger would add points to Safeway (and wouldn’t subtract any from the woman), she would be fed, and Safeway would have a track-record of providing wealth to the world.
I only wish I am alive if/when this "post-digital additive only" economy emerges. More importantly, I want my teenage daughter to see it!
But what stops the woman from clearing out the whole store? Some items might require that you prove you have “given” to others already, so luxury items might require you have a minimum of 100 points, while bananas might require a minimum of 0. If the woman takes all the bananas, too many for her to eat, she is incentivized to give them to other people to gain points (without taking points from others).
Once she has gained 100 points, she would have the minimum points for non-subsistence food items, like ice cream, fine cheeses, and so on. The point is that hoarding is not rewarded, but giving is.
Now that's what I'm talking about! Giving is rewarded, not hoarding!!
We’re already entering into a post-scarcity world, and it’s time that currencies start acting like it. We can do better than aligning blockchain miners’ incentives. We can align the interests of the marginalized and poor, with the incentives of corporate giants. Let’s incentivize the distribution of goods over the hoarding of goods.
Moreover, how can we disincentivize the corporate giants? With the mass adoption of egalitarian cryptocurrency and the collective "voting with our money"!
The secret of digital currencies is this: if we choose to, we can stop holding bananas, movies, and the poor as prisoners of our economic agendas. Moreover, we’ll be all the wealthier for it.
Again, Now that's what I'm freakin' talking about!!!
One more time, here's the Article Link for:
"Behavioral Cryptoeconomics: The Secret of Digital Currencies
(or The Additive-only Future: Release the Banana Hostages!)"
https://hackernoon.com/behavioral-cryptoeconomics-the-secret-of-digital-currencies-ac6e9b04fcb6
Parting Shots
By JaiChai
Mighty Kind of You for stopping by.
Truly hope to see you again!
About the Author
Believing that school was too boring, he dropped out of High School early; only to earn an AA, BS and MBA in less than 4 years much later in life – while working full-time as a Navy/Marine Corps Medic.
In spite of a fear of heights and deep water, he performed high altitude, free-fall parachute jumps and hazardous diving ops in deep, open ocean water.
After 24 years of active duty, he retired in Asia.
Since then, he's been a full-time, single papa and actively pursuing his varied passions (Writing, Disruptive Technology, Computer Science and Cryptocurrency - plus more hobbies too boring or bizarre for most folk).
He lives on an island paradise with his teenage daughter, longtime girlfriend and three dogs.
