History of Banking, Knowledge Economy and Moral Poverty
Introduction
This article pulls together considerations that are born from studies overtime about the nature of our banking system, as to inform me how that might be shifted to a system of ‘knowledge banking’. An older work explaining what that means was made ‘socially encrypted’ via my webizen site, noting moreover that i’ve mentioned at the end of my article; more accessible medium articles about it, as has been authored, as of today.
Today, It is not those living in poverty, who can contribute towards addressing the sorts of problems, that this article seeks to preface, as to found; these problems, gets to the heart of our society and its purpose.
Do we live in a world, where money governs; or may we forge means to ensure it may continue to serve… are we here to be consumed, or do our tools aid our biosphere and all members of humanity, as constituents of it — and if so, how.
As illustrated by the Fundamental Charter of Christian Ethical Finance alongside many other similar references that span across many religious doctrines; present to the making of its most purposeful role, our western financial system has been nurtured over more than a thousand years, as to serve mankind. Struggles against misuse, as illustrated by issues such as usury and human exploitation, have always been a problem; whilst sanity has generally prevailed, after significant movements were brought about to do so.
We are now in the middle of a new significant shift. The question, we don’t know how to answer yet, is whether and how the next ‘significant movement’ will occur… will it be peaceful, or will it be a new form of war…
Established as a set of facilities to better support trade and financing, the principles employed historically, had less to do with consumption and exploitation of all forms of natural resource; as its mechanics, have since been used to contend, facilitate and draw influence throughout our world.
In todays age of a rapidly emergent global knowledge (asset) economy; we now have new issues, even though, some of the symptoms are indeed age old.
I have researched constituents of the most prevalent problems, and have in-turn studied the heritage of how our financial system came to be. In doing so, I’ve tried to make use of these studies as a grounding force, that i sought to employ, for the purpose of understanding how our knowledge economy works today; and, how it is that we might improve societal systems to support the principles defined by our societal leaders to be of most importance, overall;
Our financial systems, power our systems of government, our democracy.
Whilst internet brings about a series of new instruments, the underlying principle of whether it is we engineer tools for democracy; or something else, should be clearly defined ‘one way or another’.
Internet means, we can no-longer use the excuse that we didn’t have the tools to make known, problems. Internet and advanced informatics means that we need to decide what citizens in our societies should be suitably equipped to cooperatively resolve, with other.
Yet the implementation of informatics & internet, all too often seeks to do the opposite. The tooling of internet is today used for ‘fake news’ and PR.
The means to discoverable; the complex inter-workings of sophisticated moral poverty machinery, is today considered all too hard, one way or another.
Meanwhile, our economies are operated in debt; which basically means, the strategies employed to serve some sort of stakeholder group, is not working.
To solve these problems, we need to get back to reality.
To do so, we need to identify a set of historical markers, like those use to navigate a ship; that we can conjointly use, to navigate to a position of moral equity, in relation to our modern informatics systems; which becomes so inextricably linked, to the governance frameworks used for knowledge equity;
Our Systems of Government, and our systems for international trade.
History of modern banking, corporations and law.
The story of the Exodus begins with the Israelites in slavery, leading to Israel and the construction of Solomons temple.
The Roman Age brought with it Roman Law and Christianity which formed notably led to the roman catholic church, that is still the largest christian church today.
The word “corporation” derives from corpus, the Latin word for body, or a “body of people”. source: wikipedia
Throughout this time a settlement called Londinium was established (~43AD) in what is now the centre of modern day London.
“The city’s future importance as a centre of financial and military — and therefore political — power became clear at the time of the Norman Conquest (1066). One of the first acts of William I the Conqueror was to accord a charter promising the citizens of London that they should enjoy the same laws as under Edward the Confessor and that he would suffer no one to do them wrong”
Source: britannica
Essentially, a deal was set-out that londinium (roman law) would respect the sovereignty of William the Conqueror so long as he respected the independence for self governances of londinium. In-turn this led to the creation of Westminster outside of the city walls of londinium; and a ‘great survey’ (for taxation purposes) was undertaken, as is known now as the doomsday book.
No surveys were made of the City of London, Winchester, or some other towns, probably due to their tax-exempt status. source: wikipedia
Whilst the city was governed through the use of roman law, outside the city walls common law was brought about.
The common law, as applied in civil cases (as distinct from criminal cases), was devised as a means of compensating someone for wrongful acts known as torts, including both intentional torts and torts caused by negligence, and as developing the body of law recognizing and regulating contracts.
Source: Wikipedia
At around 1100’s AD; a group of poor roman catholic knights from France’s Champagne region called the Poor Knights of the Temple of King Solomon, went on a journey to Solomons temple, which led to great wealth.
Upon their return the knights became known as the Knights Templar. The Templars began offering their services to pilgrims as guides and protectors, and this led to one of the earliest known economic infrastructure that provided the means for deposits to be made in one place, and withdrawals able to be made at another.
building its own network of nearly 1,000 commanderies and fortifications across Europe and the Holy Land, and arguably forming the world’s first multinational corporation.
Source: wikipedia
Meanwhile, in England (as distinct to londinium) at around 1200's due to an unpopular king whose arbitrary decisions included raising extensive taxes on the barons to accumulate money to fight a war which ended in expensive failure in 1214.
This led to the birth of one of our most sovereign principles, ‘rule of law’. The Magna Carta Libertatum (Medieval Latin for “the Great Charter of the Liberties”) settled the dispute between the king and the barons, outlining a set of rules to be administered as part of common law, that sought to ensure subjects were ruled by law; and not by man nor tyranny.
In 1218 papal bull prohibited the clergy from practising in the secular courts (where the English common law system operated, as opposed to the Roman civil law favoured by the Church). As a result, law began to be practised and taught by laymen instead of by clerics. To protect their schools from competition, first Henry II and later Henry III issued proclamations prohibiting the teaching of the civil law within the City of London. As a result, the common law lawyers moved to premises outside the City, which in time became the inns of court.[3]
Source: wikipedia
In essence; as the meaningful utility of the magna carta was brought about the legal system was moved from londinium, forming four Inns of Court — Gray’s Inn, Lincoln’s Inn, Inner Temple and Middle Temple outside the city walls.
The City of London continued to be home to Liveryman whose specialist trades formed livery companies, which continue as an instrumental part of governance today.
Members of Livery companies were able to become ‘free men’, by having been granted “the Freedom of the City” which was first recorded in the City of London in 1237.
Through a combination of historical forces, the City of London (as is distinct to London or Westminster more broadly) curated the governance of vast wealth.
The Knights Templars, had formed a means to support trade through their governance of a vast economic system spanning vast regions; as the first known well developed system for international trade that employed coinage and credit.
The Knights Templar “under the protection of the lords of the Earldom of the Champagne” (source: Templarsnow) are said to have founded the first “multinational enterprise” on trade and finance.
On Friday, 13 October 1307 (a date sometimes linked with the origin of the Friday the 13th superstition), King Philip IV ordered de Molay and scores of other French Templars to be simultaneously arrested.
After assuming the throne, Philip inherited significant debt.
Wikipedia states that; in,
November 1286 it (the debt) reached 8 tonnes of silver to his primary financiers, the Templars, equivalent to 17% of government revenue
Amongst other aspects of King Philip nobility, he was a Count of Champagne.
During the tenure of King Philip, he expelled the Jews from France, and annihilated the order of the Knights Templar Following a War with England (1294–1303); which led to the marriage of his daughter to the prince of wales (1308).
It is thought that those of the Knights Templar who survived fled to Scotland, and are likely also linked to the establishment of Switzerland; and,
The Order of Christ was founded in 1319, with the protection of the Portuguese king, Denis I, who refused to pursue and persecute the former knights. Denis negotiated with Clement’s successor, John XXII, for recognition of the new order and its right to inherit the Templar assets and property.
So basically, what happened, is that the knights templar had amassed enormous wealth, which was fought over by sovereign kings who wanted to make use of the wealth to fund wars.
“The privilege granted to the guilds in 1319 gave their Freemen the right to be admitted to the Freedom of the City by the Court of Aldermen.”
And soon thereafter a, 100 year war commenced.
By 1348 the Black Death was tearing though Europe, England was bankrupt, and King Edward, was invading mainland France.
During the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, London was invaded by rebels led by Wat Tyler. A group of peasants stormed the Tower of London and executed the Lord Chancellor, Archbishop Simon Sudbury, and the Lord Treasurer. The peasants looted the city and set fire to numerous buildings. Tyler was stabbed to death by the Lord Mayor William Walworth in a confrontation at Smithfield and the revolt collapsed.
Trade increased steadily during the Middle Ages, and London grew rapidly as a result.
Source: WIkipedia
So, to summarise the period as does relate to modern day financial systems;
There was a group called the templars, who came from the champaign region of modern day France, governed by the evolution of the roman (law) catholic church; which played a role in the monetary system, the evolution of the beginnings of the United Kingdom, common-law, and the City of London (Londinium) was central to it all (from an english perspective).
The First Banks (loans)
King Henry VIII established the Church of England in 1534 which is historically considered to have occurred due to Henry VIII wanting an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon so he could marry Anne Boleyn.
Although, one might wonder what the implication might have been with regard to any gold that may have been stored in the churches at the time…
In 1536–40 Henry VIII engaged in the Dissolution of the Monasteries, which controlled much of the richest land. He disbanded monasteries, priories, conventsand friaries in England, Wales and Ireland, appropriated their income, disposed of their assets, and provided pensions for the former residents.
Source: wikipedia
At around the same time,
The Monte di Pietà was founded in 1539, after Emperor Charles V issued an edict to expel the Jews devoted to usury. Medieval Christians were prohibited by the church from lending money at a profit, although this injunction was often ignored in the commercial centers of the peninsula. In response to the 1539 edict, some aristocratic Neapolitans (Aurelio Paparo, Gian Domenico di Lega, and Leonardo Palma) created a non-profit organisation to lend money.
Source: wikipedia
With what appears to have been the influence of additional wealth under the control of royalty; From the early 1600’s the British and the Scottish began colonization of the Americas; as a result of activities that built upon a patent to Humphrey Gilbert for discovery and overseas exploration by Elizabeth I, in 1578, alongside granting a Royal Charter to “George, Earl of Cumberland, and 215 Knights, Aldermen, and Burgesses” under the name, Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading with the East Indies, which is better known today as the East India Company.
As international systems of trade continued to develop…
In 1653 whilst England was ruled by Cromwell, the Commonwealth of England was born to unite the“Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland”.
The word Commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good.
Banks, as we know them today, may have first emerged to provide a means for poor catholics to be made able to buy a house; but a little over one hundred years later, the english beginnings of our modern banking sector as a means to support the significant costs involved in undertaking activities of international trade.
Many of the five worlds oldest (english) banks opened on or near a plot of land granted by King Edward I (1272–1307) to goldsmiths from the part of northern Italy known as Lombardym in the city of London; that in-turn led to one of the first medieval guilds to receive a royal charter (1327) and was later the fifth established livery company ( Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths ).
Some of these early banks also trace their heritage back to Scottish goldsmiths, which is in-turn related to the Bank of Scotland, which owns some of them today.
Barclays traces its origins back to 1690 when it started trading as goldsmith bankers in Lombard Street, London.
Banks Child & Co, C. Hoare & Co were seemingly established on fleet street, Coutts on the strand and the Bank of England which was established on the remains of a Roman temple of Mithras on Walbrook st.
“Mithras is said to have been worshipped as, amongst other things, the God of Contracts”
Enhanced means to support trade had now been developed over centuries
This new economic infrastructure brought about the meaningful utility of modern day contract law.
Since the Magna Carta 1215 guaranteed merchants “safe and secure” exit and entry to England “for buying and selling by the ancient rights and customs, quit from all evil tolls”.[16] In 1266 King Henry III had granted the Hanseatic League a charter to trade in England. The “Easterlings” who came to trade brought goods and money that the English came to call “Sterling”,[17] and standard rules for commerce that formed a Lex Mercatoria, the laws of the merchants. Merchant custom was most influential in the coastal trading ports like London, Boston, Hull and King’s Lynn.
Source: wikipedia
Yet the development of United Kingdoms roman influenced history, didn’t necessarily continually support the desires of the British royal family. Perhaps this is most pronounced the dynamics that occurred influencing the outcome of the The American Revolutionary War. George Washington was a shareholder of the bank of England throughout that time, whilst the decisions made by those in the City of London, seemingly differed to the interests exhibited by those in the broader United Kingdom.
“The City of London supported George Washington and provided funds and men for the cause. “
Source: Financial Times
Whilst the growth of the commonwealth continued to grow over the next few hundred years, the manifest nature through how that was achieved changed overtime.
An example can be made by illustrating the circumstances of the UAE where the British played an instrumental role in during the 1900’s, but that rather than colonisation; and all such things otherwise declared by the United Nations to no longer be ‘ok’…
Sovereign nations such as the UAE now incorporate facilities such as the Dubai International Financial Centre
The DIFC is an independent jurisdiction under the UAE Constitution, with its own civil and commercial laws distinct from those of the wider UAE. DIFC laws and regulations are written in English and default to English law in the event of an ambiguity.
Source: wikipedia
From the advent of Internet, a new type of influence is being brought about through the use of internet. This new influence, builds upon principles set-out by the OECD with the stated intention of seeking to preserve privacy, whilst now being meaningfully employed to foster an international trade of knowledge based assets where the vast majority of natural persons are not represented whatsoever; other than as a constituent of assets traded by a corporate vendor. Whilst slavery has been one of the many wrongs long associated to historical landscapes of change; now there’s a new form of highly sophisticated capability, that i call #WebSlavery
Corporate personhood is the legal notion that a corporation, separately from its associated human beings (like owners, managers, or employees), has at least some of the legal rights and responsibilities enjoyed by natural persons.
Source: WikiPedia
Amongst the many issues embodied therein, the problem that is most notably brought about is the relatively modern notion that this artificial sphere of tools have in some way intrinsic value that is MORE VALUABLE that the things in the real-world those tools were first designed to serve…
The Copyright Clause (also known as the Intellectual Property Clause, Copyright and Patent Clause, or the Progress Clause[1]) describes an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause 8).
Source: Wikipedia
The meaningful benefit of law & trade is lost when natural persons do not benefit.
Enter CyberSpace: the new frontier
The advent of our CyberSpace (and CyberWarfare) brings about the use of new qualities, that interfere with real-world socioeconomic dynamics, and whilst this brief illustration of history shows clear and independent influences from what first stemmed from Roman Law and the challenges put upon common law. Whilst many principles have been affirmed in 2013 by way of The Charter of the Commonwealth, our cyber infrastructure lacks many of functional requirements, that through a purposeful ‘future visions’, illustrate aspects that are not consistent with lived experiences of citizens, today.
In our present age there are saddening reality of long-term ‘emerging issues’, such as the circumstances whereby there are people who are dying on the streets, of cities that are filled with empty buildings, flats and rooms.
There are young persons being prayed upon by criminals and those who exploit others for personal gain, without consideration for the implications put upon their victims.
There are an array of very human problems which stem back to exodus, empowered by ignorance, negligence and misfeasance served upon the vulnerable.
Today, many may consider the innovations of tools like ‘facebook’ to provide better options than any local did; yet this may well bring about a new war of independence, this time to stimulate development of cyber means for fairness.
Today we have sophisticated computing systems that track more and more of any person carrying a mobile phone, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Yet when someone is harmed it is suggested that the data, is not available.
We have means to use online tools to coordinate activities that can mean all sorts of jobs can be done.
but there’s very few ways through which people can get paid to do work
Community may engage in illustrating problems; and working together to force solutions.
but companies will claim to have done all the work themselves, without external help. So whilst we can go about defining solutions, workers cannot expect to be paid for their useful efforts in solving a problem that needs coordinated action.
We know in life that there’s big problems.
But we’re fed fake news by vendors making money for doing so, which means our ability to ‘make sense’ or ‘sense make’, has been sold as a commodity.
To act in a way that’s doing more than simply ‘virtue signalling’, can not only save lives; but also, dramatically improve the quality of life experienced by all.
Some Key Issues:
Whilst written from an Australian context, many are similarly problematic overseas, elsewhere in the world…
- Accessibility to gainful work (not ‘internships’ for example) — meaning, payment for employment and not, free work.
The labour movement was predicated upon a pre-internet era where most workers either owned businesses or were full-time or part time, long-term employees. This time has now ended. Gig economy means ‘job creation’ might actually mean that a person got several new jobs, in a single day.
The tools used to service this are provided internationally. There is no practical means to build or make use of local web services, in a similar way.
- Accessibility to ‘rule of law’ services — meaning, access to justice and legal services
The age of ‘internet’ brings with it an array of modern ‘commercial issues’ that are not at all supported by means of legal aid (and related) services, which consequentially can lead both to worsening circumstances for those exploited; and a means through which poor hygiene can disaffect expenditure and the lives of the employed.
- Accessibility to appropriately qualified — Mental Health services (not nurses defining diagnosis)
In the industrial era, people were more likely to be physically harmed as a consequence of work. In the emergent ‘knowledge economy’ era, mental health is more likely to suffer first, as their heads are broken in ‘safe’ surroundings. This doesn’t mean its safe, it means society isn’t coping with the changes that lead people to suicide, acts that harm others and related torts.
Without qualification and without legal services, this trend will likely worsen.
- Confluence of predatory behaviour, exploitation and a lack of options
There are enumerate examples of how social systems are now failing. Whether it be the well documented issue of university age women engaging in nuanced forms of prostitution via website[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]; as should be associated to the high cost of living, the lack of available social-security, jobs and the high-cost of education, post the free education era.
should be supplemented by considerations about the express agenda to exclude the consideration for separated (former) dads, in an agenda that seemingly seeks to commodify fertility, and children in a nuanced way.
In Australia, it is reported that the Australian Government by way of its ‘social security’ activities are due to the actions of only one program, responsible for 2000 deaths; i’m not sure how anyone could connect the concepts of ‘social security’ in this way; If the agenda is to advocate for foreign powers, perhaps these sorts of activities make some sense, but i’m not sure how else, it might?
An underlying question for Australians; do we have a meaningful right to be safe; and if reality says ‘no’, then what are the impacts now felt in society?
There are many other examples, some canvassed in this google doc.
- Statistical resources are seemingly, intentionally not provided.
It’s really hard to comprehend, in good faith, why this is considered ok.
Whether resourced from international services or local ones, i see parallels about what might be made better able to occur; as might be consistent with the historical context of how it was the United States of America, was sufficiently supported as to be awarded its independence, and its constitution.
This sort of predicament is particularly disenchanting as the world has a population of about 7.5Bn people, whilst Australia has only about 25m. If kindness has nothing to do with our organisational approach, it’s problematic.
The most successful undertakings in history were built upon belief of people, no one truely believes, in cruelty and those that do, have made certain, their fate. As most doctor would support, any person who enjoys acts of cruelty, is not well. The first treatment method should be acts of kindness, but if that doesn’t work, hell.
Forming a tactical approach for a better future, from Australia.
I believe, we’ll end-up with a knowledge banking industry that will bring into the equastion the ‘status of the observer’ or in other words — humanity. Yet this ‘belief’, is far from well founded by the actions of industry.
There is today a movement engineering ‘digital twin’s’ which is defined as;
A digital twin is a digital replica of a living or non-living physical entity.
The way this is most-commonly the subject of (commercial) works, seeks to commoditise human beings as a dynamic ‘asset class’ whilst building systems that leave ‘out of scope’ problems that effect our biosphere including humans.
There are enumerate examples in society that now exist. Whether it be the lack of machine-readable digital receipts; the lack of concrete support for human identifiers and their relationship to rule of law; or many other things.
Unlike the past, this cyber influenced realm is likely to distort economies in ways that i think may be overwhelmingly burdensome if not triaged soon.
There are many concrete examples of moral equity and common sense prevailing from a historical point of view. Will we, be better than our elders.
Today, many are harmed in circumstances where the data about how that harm was put upon them most certainly exists; it’s not just available to them, nor it is available for their needs as to present their case in a court of law.
One position that might be considered reasonable is that history shows there is a class of people who are provided better opportunities than the others.
Another is that we have worked towards a system of government that is built upon the principles of democracy, as relates to other the systems of government, shows the meaningful utility of governance systems that are still make use of today where the role of citizens is shown to be of instrumental importance; and for reasons that surpass those of employing people as economic resources, to fulfil the needs of others of another class in and of itself.
Yet these somewhat ancient principles are not simply centred from one place.
Rather, there has been a ripple effect across most of the world that transcends religious affiliations, race, space and time.
From the time of the exodus, the role of simple concepts such as,
do unto others
is amongst the many, yet not limitless considerations, known by many leaders, worldwide. Perhaps therein, the problem that is has emerged is able to be best illustrated by the lack of informatics about the influence the cyber realm as it has been made; now considers its influence, on our biosphere and life in it.
As a critical piece of work that could award a means to distinguish a good actor, from a bad one; I introduce the idea of a biosphere charter implemented on the web as concept that would provide a set of tools for cyber agents to declare their moral fortitude as could then be exhibited in relation to the way they seek any interaction, on the web.
This proposed set of ontological structures about blending the cyber-sphere with our biosphere, and the informatics arrangements brought to bare through it; would seek to address the underlying assumption that the material objects of the biosphere; are more than merely resources, for the artificium derivatives constructed as artificial entities, and influencers.
Whether it be AI or companies will fully seeking advantage in utility of their personhood; the purpose of them is to serve mankind and through our lens, our biosphere.
Whilst many may argue, as is expected of them to get paid, the question that we must answer as a species is how to support the argument by ensuring those who can survive the debate, are not only those representing the needs of the artificial entities mankind has produced as to enable world-wide trade.
The qualities that make-up constituent parts of our biosphere are diverse and include those of human needs as to best serve our faculties of consciousness.
Without consideration or support for such things, we aid, moral poverty..
The thing about this video of Jason DeSilva, is the construction of his ideas and the way he leads his frame of thought; into the idea that the future definition of a billionaire, is about a person who positively impacts a billion people.
In many ways, this is not very different to the ancient stories of the past.
So what will it take to get those who we depend upon to ‘wake, the fuck, up”.
Will the use of a four letter word be considered most important overall? or does reality say it suggests any such consideration shows continued ignorance.
We must make a series of decisions quickly; about whether we value more what it is that people do, or what it is that people say. Whether it is our biosphere and the belongings of it that is more important, or the infosphere.
Whilst both form ripple effects, the underlying merit to any form of trade is fundamentally associated to the concept of value.
- If we commodify and sell resources, we miss advanced manufacture.
- If we consider human attention a resource for abuse, we diminish our core resources that could otherwise be employed in economy.
- If we do not ‘uplift’ from an information age to an intended knowledge age, we’ll be intentionally rubber stamping bullshit, for the short term interests of a few.
- If we do not consider Human Agency in our informatics design processes, we’ll build no useful tools that can be employed to discover truths.
If we finance ‘rule of law’, to be undermined; people with more money, will do the same. In Reality, the apparatus for sense making - is instrumental toolset for any meaningful curation of tasks that in congruence, could support effective socioeconomic advancement. Without capacity for to distinguish fact from fiction democratically, we’ll be blindly outcompeted, by others, for profit.
As the “golden rule” is said to show; one way or another he who has the gold, rules; But akin to the gold rush era, the most valuable thing to find was the means to discover where the gold was, long before it ended-up useful in a bank. Back then, it was the case that many who made money at that time sold the tools, products & services that were needed by those looking to find gold. Yet we’re not properly equipped to take advantage of either opportunity, as we now act to undermine our capacities to make sense of reality; and if this continues, we won’t be able to solve any problem, with any sort of bank.
Amongst the needs for our biosphere one that is of instrumental importance is to shift from ‘privacy preserving’ to ‘dignity preserving’, as to rationalise the well intended purpose of ‘OECD privacy considerations’ as is applied to cyber.
Choice of law should not apply, as it does today, to our digital twin.
I call ‘bullshit’… Wake up… As i don’t think, they live easily, with themselves.
If you’d like to read more about my ideas; on how to solve these sorts of big problems; checkout my seminal article on Human Centric Web, the reason why human creativity should be better supported and some examples of how that might be achieved both in the HyperMedia sector, and more broadly using Micropayments. I’ve also written about the need for permissive commons, and the prevalence of the tools (i was involved in making) available today by our Global ICT industries; and have exampled a means to make use of them, to better explore any given topic in the form of a knowledge cloud. Whilst i believe there are quantum mechanical implications, it seems today, that the best way to explore this might be by making a game.
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