Continuing the discussion from Is 32Bit development to continue (long term)?:
(There is a TLDR summary at the bottom.)
Philosophical Background
Considering that traditional-style “wallet wallpaper” cash is likely to soon be replaced by digital currencies so that we can be micro-managed into oblivion like the CCP does to the digital yuan, I’d suggest that open-source be commercialized differently than conventional software. Some sort of time-sharing of development resources would be an option at some point.
I’ve often been fascinated by the way that feudal monks in Europe were better educated than the ruling authorities of the day but because of the politicization of the religious authorities, they really weren’t any more liberated than the serfs they preached to. Once a theology professor stumbled across some passages of scripture that had been cherry-picked around so thoroughly that they had gone virtually unnoticed for centuries by the feudal version of the Roman Catholic church and posted 95 theses on a bulletin board on the church building in Wittenberg, Germany as debate subjects, the religious authorities kicked him out. Martin Luthor’s debate subjects were the observation that later (possibly indirectly) inspired Hans Christian Anderson’s story about “The Emporer’s New Clothes”.
Monetization of Cashlessness
In an era where countries are implored by international bodies to allow noncitizens to ignore borders, morals and any other marks that would indicate any resemblance of civilized society, I propose that a new “central bank” of software compensation that could use development-specific “coupon currency” other than legal tender (for reasons similar to those listed above, regarding the undereducated ruling-class nobility of feudal Europe compared to the church). Since legality of digital compensation is still dubious in its infancy with such attempts as crypto and the digital yuan, I would propose an exchange currency for each trade individually, so that outsiders could be forced to pay for the privilege of influencing the behaviors of tradesmen whose trades they little understand but thoroughly appreciate regardless. Exchange rates between trade currencies will vary accordingly but the values of influence between unrelated fields of study can be more easily documented if this is enacted.
Most of the problems of software development are related to overdevelopment of projects that are already mainstream at the expense of better engineered solutions that have little or no exposure to the common public. The fact that legal tender and its financial exclusions of currencies from professions outside the legal profession and governments whose constituents are frequently ignored as a result, presents an undue burden on those whose backgrounds are unsuited to political service due to their ineligibility to get the legal profession’s recognition for their achievements. (Wow! What a mouthful! I may need to refactor that last sentence!) Legalities may need to give way in the same order of magnitude as feudalism vs. constitutional republics in government and revolts against Catholicism and Orthodoxy in Europe.
Implementation
Such a currency exchange should be rooted in decentralization. (Can decentralization be fed from a common root at all?) Bitcoin, for all it’s faults, is vastly superior to the digital yuan due to the latter’s ties to the central, authoritarian regime of the Chinese Communist Party. Likewise crypto, designed to monetize the needs of banking systems and governments with math used for stronger encryption, is a model for such a system.
There are features and anti-features to any approach taken so this thread is intended to be a source of talking points regarding such a plan:
Pro
- Diminished undue influence of the legal profession over others
- Allows technology to replace positions of authority, both corporate and government, with much cheaper machine-learning equivalents
Con
- Moral authority had been too diluted to offer much resistance to amoral governments, despite the assurances that a “state religion” would not be allowed in the USA and other western nations
- Moral authority must be reestablished according to something reliable enough that it won’t be a mere “punching bag” as the Protestant churches in the west have become
As far as crypto exchanges go, they are better modelled than any of the more traditional financial institutions for the traits listed above. Accountability is a must, as always.
TLDR
Government currencies allow the undue influence of lawyers and other non-technical trades over the tech sector. A new crypto (or similar) currency could be used to mitigate the effects.
Notes:
I’ve been away from the forum for a few months now to face a few “demons” and it appears I’ve become something of a “prophet” as a result! It feels good to be back.