Kirk and Spock Discuss the Odd Human Fascination With Money & ICOs

Just for fun I decided to write a brief dialogue between Captain Kirk and Spock discussing the human species’ fascination with accumulating money.

Kirk: “What have you learned of this species?”
Spock: “They have a curious fascination with accumulating numbers”
K: “The monkeys like numbers?”
S: “Yes, it appears they will do almost any act, often barbaric, in return for numbers”
K: “Do these numbers signal their intellect, passions, interests, skills?”
S: “No, they are simply digital numbers”
K: “So they’re not used to facilitate any collective intelligence, autonomous problem solving, temporal hiveminds?”
S: “No, just inert numbers”
K: “And these numbers are distributed equally each orbit?”
S: “No, it appears that 8 of the primates now possess greater than 50% of the numbers”
K: “8!!! What about the others?”
S: “It appears if they cannot accumulate enough numbers, they starve to death. Thus the primates with greater numbers have enslaved those with fewer numbers”
K: “Wow, this is their economic system?!”
S: “Yes, it began 200 orbits ago”
K: “Why haven’t they changed it?”
S: “Their governance systems are ruled by primates with greater numbers”
K: “But it’s just digital numbers, couldn’t they just create new numbers?”
S: “Yes, some have begun building a cryptographic network beyond the reach of the primates with greater numbers”
K: “Good, so they no longer accumulate numbers”
S: “No, it appears the primates are creating new inert numbers to accumulate”
K: “Oh great, let me guess… a few monkeys have most of those new numbers, and the others are still starving to death”
S: “Yes”
K: “Primitive. Log the findings. Let’s inspect the next cluster”

😆

Imagine an economy where the numbers you accumulate actually reflect your diverse skills, passions and interests rather than whether you’re simply rich or poor.

Such an economy could:

1. match interesting paid work and send it directly to you
2. create a workforce resilient to technological automation
3. connect people with the skills to solve any new problem
4. be self-aware of your goals and help you achieve them
5. gradually change human incentives from profit to purpose

If you want to help build a new economy where the numbers we accumulate have meaning and purpose attached to them, checkout the blockchain project we’re working on called Peerism, and join the Discord channel to contribute.

*Note: It’s a fact that we’re a species of mammalian primates. Labeling humans as “monkeys” isn’t intended to offend or belittle the human race. I simply like to use the label to frame behavioural insights from a outsiders perspective.