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1.1     ! snw         1: .TL
        !             2: The Geodigraph Economy
        !             3: .br
        !             4: \fI$Revision: 1.1 $ ($Date: 2019/07/24 02:39:30 $)\fP
        !             5: .AU
        !             6: John P. Willis
        !             7: .AI
        !             8: Co-Founder, Geodigraph
        !             9: .AB
        !            10: The traditional capitalist economic system operates on the assumption that large
        !            11: projects are only achievable by building large, permanent corporate entities, which
        !            12: raise capital by selling shares to wealthy investors, who then expect large returns
        !            13: on their investments, making profit--and not the greater good of society, their
        !            14: employees, and their customers--the primary motivator for such an entity's activities.
        !            15: 
        !            16: In most political and economic circles, the only widely-cited alternative to this
        !            17: system has been socialism or communism, which, in their own right, require the
        !            18: application of strong coercion, state-sanctioned force, and the erosion of individual
        !            19: and collective civil liberties and human rights.
        !            20: 
        !            21: Geodigraph, a series of computer software applications, proposes a third option, wherein
        !            22: the application of technology is used to allow natural resources, as well as the unique
        !            23: skills of individual free agents, to become the currency with which a conscientious,
        !            24: moral, human, and earth-centric economy may be conducted. Technology is used to connect
        !            25: skills to projects, and coordinate wide-scale collaboration, bringing all needed resources
        !            26: to bear on large projects without making arbitrary impositions on the natural order, or
        !            27: infringing on any individual's right to self-determination, while also encouraging
        !            28: a fairer and more equitable distribution of resources.
        !            29: .AE
        !            30: .NH
        !            31: The Foundation of Happiness: Security, Self-Determination, Achievement, and Connectedness
        !            32: .LP
        !            33: Human beings have need for precious little in order to attain happiness. These
        !            34: needs can be summed up in the following four categories: security, self-determination,
        !            35: achievement, and connectedness. Security is the first level, including food, water,
        !            36: shelter, clothing, and personal safety. Those who struggle to maintain this level will
        !            37: be perpetually stuck in fight-or-flight mode, and cannot effectively participate in
        !            38: self-determination, achievement, or connectedness. Socialism and communism, applying
        !            39: state-sanctioned force to the pursuit of providing this level to everyone, effectively
        !            40: erode the possibility of attaining self-determination or achievement.
        !            41: 
        !            42: Self-determination is the ability for human beings, as individuals, to pursue their own
        !            43: interests and forge their own destinies. Capitalism can succeed in this, for those whose
        !            44: security needs are met. However, those without strong, ego-centric self-interest will
        !            45: typically struggle to meet their basic security needs sufficiently to participate in any
        !            46: meaningful engagement with self-determination.
        !            47: 
        !            48: Achievement is our desire to be productive and competent in activities that are meaningful
        !            49: to us. In order to reach this level, we must be both secure and have self-determination.
        !            50: Again, capitalism can encourage this, but only if one's self-interest and ego-centrism
        !            51: is sufficient to give one a place at the table.
        !            52: 
        !            53: Connectedness is our desire, as social creatures, to experience love, intimacy, and
        !            54: a connection with our fellow beings. Neither socialism nor capitalism have any element
        !            55: to encourage this, and capitalism, through its ego-centric self-interest, actively
        !            56: discourages it, as it frames our fellow beings as competitors for resources, rather than
        !            57: as allies with whom we share kinship and a common experience.
        !            58: 
        !            59: .NH
        !            60: Capitalism: The Ego Economy
        !            61: .LP
        !            62: Software developers have essentially one job: hiding complexity behind useful
        !            63: abstractions. You'll often hear software developers (and especially video game
        !            64: developers) refer to the \fIcore mechanic\fP of an abstraction. In many card
        !            65: games, for instance, the \fIcore mechanic\fP might be matching suits (hearts,
        !            66: diamonds, spades, clubs) into groups, or forming sequences of numbers.
        !            67: 
        !            68: Every system of economics is, by the very nature of the pursuit, an abstraction
        !            69: having a core mechanic. In the capitalism of Adam Smith, the core mechanic is
        !            70: that, given a wide enough distribution of self-interested agents (essentially,
        !            71: greedy people having different goals), the net effect of two self-interested
        !            72: agents competing for resources with conflicting goals will cancel each other
        !            73: out, mitigating the effects of greed and bringing supply and demand into
        !            74: equilibrium. Adam Smith, the father of capitalism, referred to this mechanic
        !            75: as "the invisible hand of God", and believed it was a self-regulating system.
        !            76: 
        !            77: The basis of Smith's axiom is a series of assumptions:
        !            78: .IP \[bu] 2
        !            79: That all human beings are basically evil and self-serving
        !            80: .IP \[bu]
        !            81: That evil combined with opposing evil cancels out both evils
        !            82: .IP \[bu]
        !            83: That perpetual conflict provides the best standard of living for as many people as possible
        !            84: .LP
        !            85: There are many problems with these assumptions. First, if our entire system of
        !            86: economics is built on the assumption that all human beings are basically evil,
        !            87: it sets the standard for human behavior at an incredibly low bar, becoming something
        !            88: of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Second, how can we syncretize an economic view
        !            89: that promotes evil canceling out evil when nearly all cultures of the world have
        !            90: long agreed on the ethical axiom that two wrongs don't make a right? But, of all
        !            91: of these three assumptions, the third is the most troubling. Analogically, we view
        !            92: the whole of humanity as a collective organism, in which each individual agent
        !            93: functions in a manner similar to that of a cell. If a cell in the human body acts
        !            94: out of purely self-interested motives, the immune system kills that cell and removes
        !            95: it from circulation in defense of the larger mechanism. If a cell learns how to
        !            96: game the system, and reproduce in its self-interest without triggering the immune system,
        !            97: it becomes a cancer which, if untreated, destroys the entire organism.
        !            98: 
        !            99: If human cells, lacking sentience, are programmed to weed out self-interest,
        !           100: what sense can we make of an economic system where sentient free agents, uniquely
        !           101: capable of compassion, are encouraged to direct their choices towards behavior
        !           102: that is inherently destructive of humanity as a whole?
        !           103: 
        !           104: This is not to say that self-interest is always bad--properly-guided self-interest
        !           105: promotes our survival--but we must differentiate here between the true self and the ego.
        !           106: The former is one that recognizes its kinship with and dependence on its surroundings
        !           107: and companions, while the latter denies it in pursuit of fleeting material excess and
        !           108: meaningless flattery. Like the human body in isolation, humanity, as cells within a wider
        !           109: organism, must act in meaningful collaboration rather than self-defeating competition
        !           110: in order to ensure its continued health and well-being, as well as the health and
        !           111: well-being of the planet in which it lives.
        !           112: 
        !           113: Capitalism, as proposed and practiced, clearly falls short.
        !           114: .NH
        !           115: Geodigraph: The Human Economy
        !           116: .LP
        !           117: If we look at Geodigraph at a superficial level, it might appear to be simply another
        !           118: entry in a long line of collaboration tools, of which there are many. However, the
        !           119: reality is quite different. It respects and expands upon the natural order, by making
        !           120: the individual and her skills the central currency in which it trades. A traditional
        !           121: collaboration tool is limited in scope to a single company, pursuing its isolated goals
        !           122: of competition and ego-centric self-interest. 
        !           123: 
        !           124: By placing individual skills and the connection of those skills with those who need them
        !           125: front-and-center, in a realistic, social environment. Geodigraph can satisfy humanity's
        !           126: need for security by giving them self-determination, achievement, and connectedness
        !           127: \fIfirst\fP, rather than making security a pre-requisite for the higher needs.
        !           128: 
        !           129: 
        !           130: 
        !           131: