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Exchange
I want to start up a book exchange at the Meeting House.
A book and media exchange.
I'll put some books on a table with a notice that says something like
HELP YOURSELF TO WHAT YOU FANCY
DONATE WHAT YOU NO LONGER NEED.
I think of it as a teeny-tiny experiment in doing without money.
Money is a convenience but also an instrument of control. It distances us from our neighbours- especially if it's not evenly distributed. Money has been appropriate to the world we're emerging from but may not be as appropriate to the world we're moving toward. I'd like us to start getting used to managing without it.
There are other kinds of currency- skills, talents, wisdom, knowledge- and it's not hard to imagine a society in which everyone pools what they have and takes what they need without having to shuffle coins, notes or digits on a screen. I grow cabbages, you have computing skills, she makes clothes, he's good with children. In a community that's large enough- but not too large- there should be present all the goods and talents a community requires to thrive. It's how tribal societies work. It's how Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek universe works as well...
A book and media exchange.
I'll put some books on a table with a notice that says something like
HELP YOURSELF TO WHAT YOU FANCY
DONATE WHAT YOU NO LONGER NEED.
I think of it as a teeny-tiny experiment in doing without money.
Money is a convenience but also an instrument of control. It distances us from our neighbours- especially if it's not evenly distributed. Money has been appropriate to the world we're emerging from but may not be as appropriate to the world we're moving toward. I'd like us to start getting used to managing without it.
There are other kinds of currency- skills, talents, wisdom, knowledge- and it's not hard to imagine a society in which everyone pools what they have and takes what they need without having to shuffle coins, notes or digits on a screen. I grow cabbages, you have computing skills, she makes clothes, he's good with children. In a community that's large enough- but not too large- there should be present all the goods and talents a community requires to thrive. It's how tribal societies work. It's how Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek universe works as well...