Category: Economy 2.0

Civilisational Wealth, Economics, Economy 2.0, Thinking Money

Economics for a civilised world -Part 1

Steve Kelsey 2 mins read

A physics based economic model starts with a physical definition of wealth.

Wealth is the product of applying intelligence to base matter. This process raises base matter to a level of functionality that satisfies a need. Clay becomes brick, bricks build cities. Iron oxide becomes steel, the steel becomes machines. Our civilisation is based on trillions of transformations of this type. 

We cannot measure intelligence as a physical effect, but we can measure the amount of intelligently directed energy employed to embed intelligence in base matter.

We can therefore define wealth in physical terms using read more

Civilisational Wealth, Economics, Economy 2.0, Thinking Money

Economics for a civilised world – Part 0

Steve Kelsey 3 mins read

Economics is an evolving discipline. During my lifetime economics has transitioned from post-war Keynesianism, through the emergence of Neoliberalism in the 80’s  and now stands at a new evolutionary juncture with competing theories and and beliefs. But there is one common thread that links these theories together and that is their focus on money rather than wealth.

Irrespective of theoretical foundations, all economic models concern themselves with fiscal and monetary policy. Fiscal policy focuses on the governments ability to create and distribute money, Monetarist policy focuses on the private creation and distribution of money. But money is a concept with no physical reality. Wealth, by contrast, is entirely about physical reality. Wealth surrounds us in the cities we live in, the products we use, the services we enjoy. But modern economics has little to say about the creation and distribution of wealth. Modern economics makes assumptions that wealth is an end goal, a product of the economic system, but views wealth through the abstract medium of money. read more

Currency, Economy 2.0, Money

Community Money

Steve Kelsey 10 mins read

We are used to conventional money being issued and backed by authorities, banks and governments. However, banks are relatively new institutions historically, evolving from earlier methods of money creation. Banks as we understand them today are evolved from Lombards. Invented in Florence in the 13th Century, Lombards were a form of pawn brokerage where assets were deposited as collateral for loans (and where the assets were too large or immovable, e.g. property or land, promissory notes were lodged with the Lombard allowing the Lombard to take ownership in the event of failure to repay the loan). Private banks were prone to failure until the invention of the Central Bank in 1694 as lender of last resort.  But until very recently banks only existed for the wealthy. The common community had many alternative forms of debt and credit, many different forms of money based on community trust which operated successfully well before the invention of modern banking. read more

Civilisational Wealth, Economics, Economy 2.0, Thinking Money

Civilisational Wealth

Steve Kelsey 8 mins read

Wealth is the application of intelligence to matter.  

The more intelligence we can add to base matter the greater its value. The more widely we can distribute intelligence applied to base matter the greater wealth a civilisation has. The measure of a civilisations wealth is the amount of intelligence it has applied to base matter and how widely this is distributed.

It follows that, for any well managed society, any activity that increases the  intelligence embodied in matter, has high value.

It follows that any activity that inhibits the accumulation of intelligence or the application of intelligence to base matter or rations the distribution of enhanced matter reduces a civilisations wealth. read more

Civilisational Wealth, Currency, Economy 2.0, Money, Thinking Money

Thinking Money

Steve Kelsey 19 mins read

What’s wrong with money?

Just because something is working it doesn’t mean you can’t fix it.
The following is a record of my current thoughts on what money might look like in the 21st century if we leverage the profound evolutionary change money experienced in 2009.

I believe existing digital currencies are just the first step in the evolution of digital currencies that could follow many functional branches, a ‘Cambrian explosion’ of new forms and uses. Once the paradigm shift has been made from ‘money as a database entry’ to money as a piece of software, money can become an active agent in transactions. That paradigm shift occurred in 2009 with release of Bitcoin’s Genesis block, we are just playing conceptual catch up. read more