Perhaps this way:
- Make necessities (food, clothing, shelter, education, healthcare) available to all worldwide at no cost.
- Define, then measure and only reward “beneficial human actions” creating a moral reward system. Moral being defined as “those human acts we want to see.”
- Provide a governance model which makes 1 & 2 possible.
In such a model, we’d do away with cash, credit, debt or any other form of amoral currency (amoral currency = money which can be gained through any means, whether that means produces harm to people or the environment or not). We’ll replace all currency with a virtual reward called “Net Benefit Rewards (NBR)”. NBR is not money. It is non-transferrable, 100 percent virtual and has no store of value. When you “pay” for something, your NBR is deducted from your account, but it will not go into someone else’s account. Instead it disappears.
If you get “paid” for something, your “payment” doesn’t come from someone else’s NBR account either. Instead, it’s created specifically for you and comes from nowhere.
A person’s “Net Benefit” output determines one’s “pay”. If you decide to do something that benefits someone or the environment, but also negatively effects someone or the environment, then your Net Benefit will be: the good you’ve done minus the bad you’ve done. It’s in your “financial interest” then to be as ethical and environmentally-benign or regenerative as possible.
So in this model, everyone is free to pursue their passions with nor real barriers other than others’ willingness to join you supporting your passions with resources you might need. Very high quality, decision making, and high-quality productive human output results from the pursuit of passion.
In this model, pursuits generating Net Beneficial output are rewarded. Net Negative Beneficial output receives no reward.
We need to reclassify goods and services. Let’s use Necessities, Capital Goods and Luxuries. Necessities are basic housing, clothing, food, education and medical care. All the stuff you need to live. Necessities are provided at no cost for everyone in the world. Those making Necessities for others are creating Net Benefit, right? So they are being rewarded for that work.
Same with Capital goods. They are things people use to make things. Let’s provide them to all at no cost as well. Like Necessities, people making these things produce Net Benefit. So they are being “compensated.” The only problem then, is incentive to work. That’s where Luxuries come in…
If you want anything beyond the semi-prosperous life Necessities allow — which for most people on the planet today would be a far cry better than what capitalism provides — you must decide to do something that allows you to receive NBR in this model. Say you decide you want a TV, car, designer clothes, musical instrument, nice furniture, cellphone, coffee maker, umbrella, whatever. Getting these things requires you do something that produces more positive effects in the world than negative ones. More Net Benefit in other words. This is the only purpose for NBR: Your NBR allows access to these items.
How much NBR people get depends on how much Net Benefit they produce. How people get “paid” is decided by a new kind of “open boundaried” organization. Let’s call them the Payer Organization. They use an algorithm which measures Net Benefit output and rewards the actor with calculated NBR. The Payer Organization’s sole job is ensure everyone is fairly “paid” through the algorithm.
Being “open boundaried”, the Payer Organization is open to anyone. It comprises tens of millions of people dispersed worldwide monitoring human activity. The algorithm they use includes all variables needed to reward people for any action taken. Payers collect data the algorithm needs to calculate individual rewards, administer the algorithm, the software and performs other functions as needed, but they all support this core function of rewarding people. Payers have no other function and no other authority.
A pretty robust transition process would be needed to make this possible, but that’s not an impediment. So, with Necessities provided to all and money, debt and capital (money) investment compensated for and thus eliminated via the transition plan, people are free to do what they believe is best. People know what decisions to make and what actions to take. This model allows people to act greedily (NBR maximization for Maximum Luxury Enjoyment) but only greedy actions that produce Net Benefit are rewarded NBR. All other activity is not. In this way the model makes human greed — an amoral human quality — into into a positive force.
