The Richest Woman in Babylon, 2020 A.D.
Once upon a time, somewhere in the jobless future, there was a lady who was the richest and most noble young person in the land.
Her walks through the city often drew large crowds, for she was as generous as she was beautiful. People were as drawn to her as hackers are to loosely guarded information, and she always had a kind word and something in hand for all the people she was able to meet on any given day.
But as glad as people were to receive her gifts of charity, tongues still managed to wag about how she made her living. You see, most of the people in the jobless future were literally jobless. The machines had long taken over the production and distribution of all known goods and services and just a few privileged people had the only jobs in town: empathy jobs.
Empathy jobs were performed by so called elite human beings who had enough empathy to understand and help the others — troubled humans who had become disenfranchised and trapped in a virtual world of augmented reality.
But everyone knew the rich young lady wasn’t an empathy worker. In fact, they knew she didn’t have a job, for she was never at work. She was frequently seen out and about shopping, being merry, and generally just enjoying life without much financial worries.
On the other hand, most people were on a universal basic income and they usually had something or another to say about her. “Oh she must be a sex worker,” some would blurt out senselessly. Others would whisper among themselves about how she was secretly related to the Duke of Silicon Valley and was the heir to a private estate of super servers, worth several billion dollars. In reality, she was neither… and they also knew that too.
One day, while she was out on her usual walks through the jobless city, a young man on universal basic income who was not satisfied with the monotonous routine of having nothing to do worked up the courage to ask her a question as she left a gift in his hands. He was somewhat different from the others who appeared to lack ambition, and were perfectly happy lazing about on their UBIs, judging people all day long. The young man dusted off his matrix-looking apocalyptic knitwear, thanked the young woman, then said:
“Pardon my audacity my lady, but how is it that you appear to be so affluent when everyone knows that you are neither a sex worker nor an empathy worker in the jobless city?”
This question seemed to pique the interest of the others who were suddenly all attentive. Maybe they were truly curious and really wanted to learn something new, or maybe they just wanted some new information to add to their gossip material. Who knows?
The young lady smiled, then paused just as she was about to speak. She looked up into the air with a squint in her eyes that said she was either thinking of the best way to answer the question or she was simply admiring the smart but mundane aesthetics of the city’s architecture. Returning her gaze towards the fashionably dressed young man, she finally said to him, “I am able to live how I live because I make new money on a daily basis.”
Baffled by her reply, the young man pressed further: “Please forgive my ignorance my lady, but I never did understand riddles much.”
She gave him a gentle look and kindly explained, “I speak plainly and not in riddles, my friend. I really do make new money everyday and this is what sustains the lifestyle you speak of.” “So what is new money?” he asked. “Are you speaking in terms of the nouveau riche, or…?” “Oh no! Not new money in that sense,” she replied with a slight chuckle.
“When I say new money, I am literally speaking about a new form of money. And before you ask, no, it is not PayPal.” She adjusted the straps of the 3D printed handbag on her shoulder, then continued.
“I am talking about new digital currencies; cryptocash, bitcoin!” “Oh!” replied the young man. “Please, tell me more about this cryptic coin my lady.”
One of the others, an older homeless man who had been listening to the conversation while he drank his food supplement, decided to get off the cold pavement and sit on a bench right next to where the young man was standing.
‘He smells like depression’, the younger man thought to himself. ‘And that milkshake must taste like frustration’, was his second thought. Sensing his discomfort, the young lady gave the homeless man a cute little wink as she pulled out her smartphone and a black contactless card from her purse. The old man returned a genuine hearty smile, as if he’d just been touched by an angel. “Please, continue” he said.
“In this app, I hold x amount of bitcoin that I purchased for a certain amount with my universal basic income. And this card is just like a debit card; it simply reflects the amount of bitcoin I hold on this app.”
“I see…” said the young man, still wary of the man with the food milkshake sitting unusually close to him. “So, how do you make new money everyday?” asked the homeless man. “Well, remember when I said I purchased my bitcoin for a certain amount earlier?”
“Uh-huh!”, they both nodded.
“The beauty of crypto-currencies is that they can be bought and sold just like traditional money, at the touch of a button. And bitcoin always makes huge waves on the market…” she began to explain, just before a skater on a hover-board startled her as he flew a few inches past her, at high speed.
“Phew! That was close!” she said. “Are you alright?”, asked the young man, whose protective reflexes had sprung into action the moment he thought she was going to fall. “I’m fine, thank you” she replied in a way that made the others cheer loudly as if to say love was in the air. They both laughed, and blushed, as the older man smiled and clapped until the cheers died down. “So where was I?” she asked. “Somewhere around bitcoin making waves on the market” the young man replied.
“Oh yes! So everyday, I check my bitcoin balance, and if there is an addition to my initial capital, I go shopping with this card and spend some of that surplus. I can also withdraw fiat money from ATMs with my bitcoin card, and this is how I am able to live life the way you say I do.” “Aaaah!” said the voice of the others, in unison.
“Wow!” exclaimed the young man, whose mind was clearly now brimming with new ideas. But just as he was about to ask his next question, the intruding, homeless, food-supplement-drinking old man interrupted him once again, saying:
“A wise person once uttered the words: ‘ask and you shall receive.’ You are the only person in this town who has had enough decency to ask this young lady how she’s been able to live the way she does. Now, you have received the truth of the information you required. What you do with it is completely up to you, but it would be unwise not to realise that it could mark the beginning of financial freedom for you and many more people like you in this cruel and jobless city.”
He then got up from the bench, gave the young lady a cute little wink, smiled, and simply went on his way.
