Imagine for a moment a society without money. When you think about it, money, the lack of it, the pursuit of it, and what to do with it, takes up much of our waking consciousness. Even in our dreams, we dream about winning the lottery, paying off the mortgage or being able to afford every whim and want.
Imagine a world without money, without the pressure of bills, striving to amass, budgeting and all that goes with our present system. And what’s even better, without money, without power there would be far less conflict. Perhaps we would learn to live in peace and not contend with or try to better our fellow man. The benefits would be many.
What money makes of Us?
In short, we are slaves to money. But in reality, it is just an idea. These little pieces of paper are meaningless in themselves, rather a means by which our society is maintained, kept in some semblance of balance and order.
However, from another perspective, money and the pursuit of it reveals a far more negative aspect of humanity, greed. Because money can expand life choices and gain power over those with less of it, it is by nature the corruptor. Our monetary system, devised to be a means for fair economy and balances has become the controlling force of all human endeavor. It has become a sole purpose and the false God of a race of beings immersed in self-involvement.
The world is filled with inequity, most of which revolves around money. Those born into poverty have no choice in the matter, as is our good fortune born into wealth. The success or failure of political and economic systems comes from individual circumstance for which all associated populations endure the result. Most of us have little influence on what happens beyond trying to ensure we protect and care for our own loved ones. Of course, no-one wants to give up what they have, or lesson the lifestyle and freedom that we enjoy.
What are the Pros and Cons?
In a money-less world, society’s output and services would no longer be limited by the availability of money. We would have a massive labour force available to produce goods and services far beyond what we produce today.
These workers would consist of all those currently unemployed or underemployed in addition to those made available from eliminating all the occupations related to money in any way: the IRS, banks, advertising, prisons, the judicial system, and insurance, to name a few.
Manufacturing would be simpler because competition would be minimal, and technology would be in the public domain, eliminating duplication and trade secrets.
There are people that have been working on this possibility for some years, working out how such a society would work. The intent is not to recreate any political system or philosophy but to imagine a new working world order whereby a governing body would oversee the maintenance and procurement of all the resources needed to sustain a balanced, healthy world.
Perhaps we would all be required to work certain hours per week in our chosen fields, having been educated and nurtured to achieve our potential. The reward for participation would be housing, food, and recreational choices, living in the knowledge that our future and our children’s future is assured.
Better yet, the populace would have free access to products and services. You could go to the shoe store and get free shoes.
This would not be the same as barter. However, it does bear a resemblance to a communal living, but on a much greater scale. It would function very much as it does now. We would still have occupations: run a business, work for somebody, write a novel, play “pro” football. We would still have homes of our own choosing, drive cars, go to school.
There would continue to be industry and research to advance our quality of life. We would need government, to an organization and regulate. The standard of living would stay at least the same, and we’d all get along a lot better.
Would a money-less world work?
Human nature being what it is, the chance of it succeeding is low. We would have to start now to heal the attitudes of the entire world population. We could be looking at a period of 100 years of education and counselling before it would make sense to begin. In any case, the effort would have to be given top priority just to get everybody used to the idea. Perhaps it could be done more quickly.
We already have democracy and excellent communications, and people are starting to see cooperation as a preferred alternative to force. Automation is making manual labour obsolete, so our ability to produce goods is well established. There may also be an opportunity to take advantage of any forthcoming Mars settlement plans as a venue for some preliminary study.
There you have a money-less world in a nutshell. The idea holds great promise — but then there’s the problem of reality! This is my dream! I can’t trust myself to analyze it objectively, so I’m looking for convincing studies demonstrating that a money-less world is not possible.
