Well, I've got this theory...
 

I have a theory, somewhat political, and its kind of a lil bit of everything, a world changer I guess. But, I wanted to OK it before I went on posting it here, as I know political arguements aren't really encouraged here, but I don't know where this will go, so who wants to know my theory? Or, I might go as far as philosophy.

ok?

Well, here it is. I figured i'd post it on the forums with a smaller amount of people first.


Imagine a world without money; Where everything was free. Where the human heart had no desire for a material
to be exchanged in return for a service or good. A world with no debt, no taxes, no bills. A world with no "financial problems" or "hard times."
A world where the amount of a Dollar, a Pound, a Euro, or Peso, did not matter. Why? Because this world has no currency. This world has people that
can work together to get the materials they need without a price.

It is in human nature to want something returned for something that was given, whether it be a service or an object that means virtually nothing.
This, of course, all started with the barter system and worked it's way from there. Instead of just trading a good for a different good, it became trading
a good for a little golden coin, or a piece of paper with numbers on it. These materials are just used to satisfy that need for something in return.
Of course, doing away with this would be very hard, given that this system has been around for many years. There are many pros, but little cons to doing
away with a currency system. However, there are many hurdles, as well.

Nothing has to cost money to make or do. Whether it be a house, a car, or a plane, anything that costs money does not need to cost anything.
You see on the news all the time about how bad the economy is, how people are getting laid off all the time, gasoline prices rising, etc. You know that
there are people on the street asking for change and good people turning bad and robbing stores because they have fallen on "hard times." The thing is, if
there were no money, these problems would not exist.

The Pros:
These people would be able to have very good lives because of no currency. Nobody would have to live outside in the streets
just because they did not have money. Nobody would have to risk going to jail for the good of keeping their family going.
The world would be alot farther in space travel, because the number one concern is not having enough money to get the materials and pay
all those people to build and test the crafts the space programs are making. There would be a drastic decrease in crime because
without money, there is no need to rob anyplace. The world's economy would really no longer exist because of no money, so there would not be
any debt problems or lack of jobs. The world would also be a lot farther in robotic technology and the development of Artificial Intelligence. By using
these technologies, we could have an entire robotic workforce at our disposal (this helps get over the third hurdle in section "The Hurdles").

The Cons:
Nearly the only con of doing away with the currency system is that there would be a slight increase in crimes that do not involve money. This is due to the
fact that there is people in the world that are only involved in crimes for the "thrill" of it.

The Hurdles:
One of the major hurdles is dealing with the many people who have already paid money in their life. They will be very unhappy with this because of it being
unfair to them. They may forget about it when these people get all they want by just walking into a store, and taking what they feel without it being
illegal. Another hurdle is the "everybody working together" part. There will obviously still be religions around if the currency system is done away with.
That is the hardest part. Everybody will just have to forget about their differences or convert to atheism/agnosticism, in short. The third hurlde is: who
will want to work? It may seem that there will be no point in working if you do not get anything in return, but refer to section "The Pros" for a reason
why this may only be short term). The remaining hurdle is human nature and it's need to have something in return for what was given, and that humans always
want to be better than one another, this may no be such a problem because everybody will be in as good of a situation as everybody else. However, humans
wanting something in return for another thing will just be another hurdle that has to be gotten over slowly, but surely.

Conclusion:
Money is the root of all evil. Almost every crime is connected to money in some way. Businesses become corrupt because of money, so do entire governments
at times. Peoples' lives are ruined because of money. Without money, the world would be a much better place to live. The focus could go away from money
related issues and go more towards the development of the human race and the preservation of the planet it lives on and research of the surrounding areas
in the universe. Without money, all this could happen because there would be no limit on what materials we could get except for the supply our Earth gives
us. The hurdles will take some time to get over, but if this all goes well, the world will be a much, much better place to be.

People aren't perfect and therefore this idea, although a good one— will never succeed in practice.

I'd say selfishness is the root of all evil and if you can find a way to remove that from human nature, they should name a church after you.

Sounds like Socializm.

It was tried and failed. Those who didn't fit into thier society or an unproductive member was sent to forced labor camps. Those who are handicapped and were dependant on others were seen a drain on their Society and were euthanized or slaughtered. Etc...

Atholon has a good point also, if you could eliminate the human factor (racisizm, bigotry, greed, envy, etc...) then it might work. But, then again didn't Rev. Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple try that ?

The concept is actually nothing new really. It sounds good then you think about, but it's hard to be able to view every angle at one time.
The act of doing something in return for something else is not that much different then the use of money when you think about it. When you sell something or do something for money, you do it becuase you know that money can buy you the material good that you need or want. So basically you're still trading one object for another. However, money simply provides a system that makes things smoother and more convenient.

Also, how would you pay for the fixed costs of living in modern society, such as electricity? I also agree with Dave, someone who is disabled would have a hard time surviving unless people really did help out of kindness.

Perhaps in a perfect world, but I just couldn't see it happening. The truth is, humans are not a bunch of goody two-shoes, unfortunetly. We all have greed and lusts for material goods, and the primitive side of all humans are selfish bastards, to put it bluntly. It's not the nature that is around us, but the nature that's within every one of us.

Good concept and a good read though. :)

A more realistic idea would be to have a society where those with plenty voluntarily used their excess to benefit others that are less fortunate. This doesn't mean they'd be forced to do so but if they chose to they could contribute to organizations that help the poor better their situation in life, rather than just throwing money at them (like the government does with welfare).

Then again... there's that selfishness factor. I'd say if even 10% of the most wealthy people in the world did this we'd have a completely different experience then we do now.

Thanks for the feedback guys, I knew that it would be a long jump to get this to work, and that it really was too good to be true, but then again, it is just a theory.

Well, Skinny, there would be no cost to it, it would just happen and it would be there for us to use.

Money keeps track of the ''Deeds and favors" inherently.

Very interesting theory..

become a flower child
live happy and lose your self in a dream world

sad thing is there no way one group people or person will work without some type of greed even if it for little money to buy food, sooner or later all will give up on life!

can't make a flat rate on money all will get across the broad for hard-work each one person make a daily bases of live, they become beggar and not try to make something new productive to sell or have something to look for to.

if one tax more of the rich people they ether close up shop or move away. short man/ women get the short in the stick lose income.

damn it, I can't edit my post to put a copyright on it :/

Why would you add copyright to a post on a forum? :dontknow:

Copy down the whole web page, dated in eternity on the web, load it up to the cloud, sky drive etc..."Proof of origin."

Meh, I don't think anybody's gonna take this idea anyway.

why does bigsmellyfart add copyrights to his jokes? :dontknow:

No idea? :dontknow:

Mmk then lol

Read up any book on political history of the early 20th century, and you'll find any number of w@nk jobs dreaming on, about what you are suggesting.. about 1928 to 1936, it started with the ultimate bull the USSR about 1913ish to current day China and other insecure peoples. communisim and its twin socialism, both are directly responsible for the deaths of 100's of millions of people, just keep taking your drugs RedrumSalad
Do yourself a favour read Marx leave the gaming sites to GAMES.

"M"

popular :wave2:

money is fake. it means nothing. it's either a piece of paper or a number on a harddrive somewhere.

it is a way to make people happy. with it, the unfit can continue to thrive. with it, people can be controlled. this introduces the fact that "feelings" will be the root of ultimate demise for humans.

since it is so important (it is the bottom line of every action and decision we make), i think it is best to do something that interest you the most, and it will come your way. for me, i'm going to stick around in academia and research molecular biology. sure i'm not going to make **** for money, even when i reach the point of obtaining a PhD, but i will still be doing something i'm extremely fascinated by (life and its development and evolution). afraid to say that after that i'm out of here. i feel like i'm swimming in a sea of dumbasses in this country that worry too much about small insignificant things in their life too much (like money) and have no idea what the word "priorities" means. That and in a decade or so there will be no middle class in this country, and that revolution will be supported by the middle class (which is happening today, which brings me back to the sea of dumbasses thing).

No object or "thing" in the consciousness has value unless some "one" wants "it".The usefulness of the "thing" is another matter...

Knowledge is always a useful non objective "thing"...no matter the objective "value" placed on it...

A famous quote from a somewhat controversial figure..

Publishing a theroy isnt so much about pushing the adoption of the theroy, its about getting people to think, its about raising public consciouness, so good on you for posting it.

John Rawls didnt really expect an overhaul of human morality when he wrote up A Theroy of Justice, yet that book flipped the political philosophy on its head and is still debated to this day.

Id suggest reading some books on political and economic philsophy, the most famous in their fields (IMO) are:

A Theroy of Justice by John Rawls
Anarchy, State and Utopia by Robert Nozick published in Direct opposition to the above
Both of these are more on the social philosophy side of things...

The End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama and
The Clash of Civilizations by Samuel Huntington
Deal with the political systems and how some come to dominance over others

And for economic philosophy id suggest looking the views of John Maynard Keynes, hes famous for "The General Theroy of Emplyment, Interest and Money" but id suggest reading about it first rather than dive right in because economic philosophy can be a screwy thing to get your head around...

Probably the most famous of critics of Keynes is Milton Friedman and von Hayek...

Socializm or communizm :

Both have been tried, and both have failed.

Either attempt to make everyone happy or force everyone to be happy.

Human nature says my happiness is most important. And what makes me happy may not make you happy.

Money can't make you happy. Fame can't make you happy, even giving you everything you want can't make you happy.

I believe mankind is most happy when we have something to bitch about.

I think Stomp said it best :

One day the tot loves his toys.
The next day they are strewn around the room.

Very interesting.
Perhaps stating the obvious.
Now we know the problem but what IS the answer?

I did not read all of the replies so feel free to update me but..


One thing that pops in my mind as I am reading that.

Drugs.


I know its not the greatest topic but what would people be trading that would be worth the risk to recieve drugs.

If I am paying someone $60 for a drug and they are growing it or they are recieving it from else where what would they want in return to that risk?

Also Housing etc..
Who would truly want to help build a house, an office, a sky scraper...for just a Thank you...a good feeling???

To me to be able to earn money, well earned and work hard for it. I would enjoy to have something in return and maybe some people need to not be lazy and get off their butts and that'll mean they need to work and earn money...

What would we earn without money because deep down we would love the praise and the thank yous but at the end of the day we want to earn something.

It didn't work witout money either, that's something that history has proven, it's also why we have money today :)

Price...3 clamshells

crap i only have 380ea snail shells! to trade with no clam shells

3 clam shells? how many is that in snail shells 9?

I have actually been reading a lot about this for a Moral Leadership class I am taking for my major.

There have been a number of quotes from famous individuals about the fact that the only way there will ever be a good balance here on earth is when morality is taught consistently in the home and lived by those both teaching and learning.

There is truth to that statement in many ways. But, it's not as easy as that because there are many sets of morals, often set by religion. What set of morals should everyone live by? What religion, or not, should everyone practice? That's a nasty battle that will never end.

I hear this quite a bit when I used to debate religious leaders on theism and atheism. That religion, if nothing else, is the source of morality...

I'm skeptical of these claims...

Ask most people of any religious conviction whether they would happily spend their day committing (fraud, theft, arson, rape, murder etc) and you won't get many people saying they would. Morality in simple form is also readily visible in other animal species, or is also visible in babies and toddlers that wouldn't know anything of religion...

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In hard times Many animal species will sacrifice their young to survive to breed again when things come good again.
Most humans parents will sacrifice themselves, how does this stand in the moral question?

i was told once by a friend who said to me!

* do only that you think god would do the right thing and not the wrong thing to others or the planet.

sadly many people don't care what is morally right and feel the wicket need to do the wrong! guess it like cheating you got away with something.

Yeah that does throw a wrench in their gears. Most of these individuals talked about universal truths believed by most if not all religions/cultures.

This would include concepts such as: honesty, humility, faith, responsibility.

The real problem is stated to be the LACK of religion/cultural values. Not the fact that they are different.

I wish I had the book I was reading with me. It said something to the effect that more and more laws are being put in place to compel individuals to obey. No police force or governing body or judicial system will ever have enough resources to control a population who is without morals. If those morals were present many more resources could be dedicated to more productive endeavors.

I am not saying that religion is the only way to teach good values but is often a common source of laws/commandments individuals can live by. Seriously, if I had no belief or fear of eternal consequences I would be an entirely different person. Why not rob, steal, have sex outside of marriage if there is no lasting consequence?

I personally would rather any kind of good morals (anything teaching kindness/respect/accountability/honesty) be taught at home rather than none at all, even if it isn't coming from a religion.

It seems there is a common problem with that especially now. I'll go to Walmart and see parents whose kids run all over the place pushing people, being rude, and the parents do nothing. That's the kind of attitude that ruins the future of humanity.

with each new generation of people things change some good and mostly bad.

law of the land was better then the lawyer they make laws so we stand by them! but in the end there more people then lawyer or even police force and so it's out done!

law of the land if you playing baseball and break a window you get it fix! but lawyer say you should sue in a court of law then you get more money to fix that window so it be even better then once it was broken $$$$$$$$

If we expect too much out of something it is harder when it fails.