Altruistic Economics

A presentation by Robin Upton, 2010-02-02,at The Hub Amsterdam

Latest version at www.altruists.org/ge1

Attribution – NonCommercial - ShareAlike

www.altruists.org

v1.0.2

GE1: An Internet Gift Economy

Contents

1. FEAR or LOVE?2. A Modern Myth...3. Smaller Picture4. Larger Picture5. Altruistic Economics6. Friend2Friend7. Project Overview

1. FEAR or LOVE ?

“The single most important decision any of us will ever make is

whether or not to believe the universe is

friendly.”

Albert Einstein

4

Opposite Motivations

LOVELOVE

FEARFEAR

FLOW, Creativity, Energy

Paralysis, Stress, Inertia

5

Fundamental Dichotomy

PLAYPLAYSocialSocial

WORKWORKBuBu$$ineine$$$$

Family/Friends

AgreementsFlexible

Volitional

ColleaguesPlanned

ContractsFixed

EnFORCEd

Unpredictable

6

2. A Modern Myth...

You needMoneyto live!

Everyone knows That

Don’t Remind

Me…

Obviously!

7

Emperor's Clothes...

You needMoney to

live!

No. I need Food to

live!

8

Fiction + Fact = Fiction

Food = Life Almost Money = Everything…=

Many adults' life experience supports the fiction

Agreement on the facts

9

Ecology Matters!

New Oil Fields, Ozone

Layer, Rainforests,

Climate, Soil... = $??????

Money = Almost Everything...

Depletion of the ecosphere revealing the fallacy

10

Twisted Ideology

How much is he

worth?

11

Twisted Ideology

= + + ?

12

3. Smaller PictureCash payoff closes the circle.

13

Barter

Swapping goods without money

14

Selling = Reverse of Buying

Cash payoff ends the relationship.

15

Buying + Selling ≠ Barter

Buying & Selling costs extra, since it needs money...

16

Debt-Backed Money

People borrow money from

Banks...by promising to

repay it with extra money

later.

www.MoneyAsDebt.net

Financial Sector

Money carries an interest charge.

17

Giving

Foodsharing is the primordial act of altruism,

a natural reaction to abundance.

18

Giving Back

Reciprocal altruism occurs even between different species!

19

Barter ≠ Giving & Regiving

A subtle but essential difference.

A barter is a pair of gifts without the trust.

ALTRUISMALTRUISMSELFISHNESSELFISHNESSS

20

Mutual Theft ≠ Mutual Giving!

...these two patterns are anything but identical!

ALTRUISMALTRUISMSELFISHNESSSELFISHNESS

Materialistic economics misses the point...

21

Self-interest warps “profitability”

Selfishness (=self-interest) is highly destructive!

TOTAL SALE VALUE

TOTAL SALE VALUE

Electricity +

22

4. Larger Picture

1. Use software to find someone to help you.

2. Credit them without .

3. Help others the same way.

Aggregating altruism over the internet...

23

User Interface

Category:

.

Amount:

Location:BD

ADVANCED OPTIONS:

Dhaka

Farmgate

Country:

City:

Region:

Number:

2kg .

Weight:

Requests

Angela Robinson, +550h –175h, Rating= 70h I make a lot of fruit pies. Best quality cooking apples, please …

Md. Ali Khan, +120h –40h, Rate= 10hI will need about 15kg of apples for my brother’s wedding. He loves apples…

!!

Graham Upton, +3h –2h, Rate= 20hI just can’t get my Wireless LAN working properly. It keeps cutting out, just …

Offers

Robin Upton, +160h –45h, Rate= -0.2Apples, Gardening Advice, Carpentry, Bengali Lessons, Computers…

Md. Anwar, +14h –3h, Rate= -0.2Motorbike repair, Shop Management, Psychology, Apples …

Jamil Aman, +60h –15h, Rate= -0.35Computer programming, Apples, Fresh Olives, Internet Advice, Fertilizers …

Science/Agriculture/Horticulture/Fruits/Apples

24

Request

Ask Your friends

Can you give me 2kg of Apples?

Sure.

25

Ask Around

Request

= Ask your friends… to ask their friends...

Request

Request

RequestRequest

Request

Request

Request

Request

to ask their friends...

Computers could make this much easier…

to ask their friends...

Request

Request

Request

26

State what happened, digitally.

Say “Thank You!”

PublishOnline

PublishOnline

“I gave 10 apples.”

“ gave me enough apples for 4kg of jam.”

27

Digital Identity

PublishOnline

PublishOnline

“I gave . 10 apples.”

“ gave me $5 worth of apples.”

1. People need personal servers.

2. They must be networked.

“Classic economic theory, based as it is on an inadequate

theory of human motivation, could be revolutionized by

accepting the reality of higher human needs, including the impulse to self actualization and the love for the highest

values.”Abraham Maslow

5. Altruistic Economics

Telephone Dilemma

Would you call back if your friend asked?

...Your wife?...Your Mum?

Mobile Landline = €0.07/minute

Landline Mobile = €0.03/minute

Someone rings your mobile,

and requests you call back to save them money.

Sympathy

You would give up your own profit to prevent their loss.

www.altruists.org/355

FriendYou sympathy

You have sympathy for a friend if (and only if)…

Call Back

Don’t Call

Quantifying Sympathy

0 13/7Sympathy:

Indifference value of S = €0.03 / €0.07

32

Indirect Sympathy

www.altruists.org/ae3

FriendYou s1

Mathematically, people have sympathy for friends of friends

Friend'sFriends

2

Self-Evaluation of Interactions

...in currencies of their choice.

Unhappier Happier

- +0

Users evaluate their own interactions...

34

Independent Evaluations

A Multi-dimensional evaluation:-

www.altruists.org/ae106

Good for Both

Bad for Both

+

+

-

-

(+10 mins, -2 mins)

Saved me 10 mins

Cost me 2 mins

35

“Personal Credit History”

Win-WinWin-Win

WinWinLose-LoseLose-Lose

(+10, -2)

(+8, +8)

(+15, +11)

36

ScarcityScarcity

AbundanceAbundance

37

6. Friend2Friend Network

1. Stores Data

2. Manages Cryptography

3. Native Wit

http://www.altruists.org/ff

38

User Machine

WWW: Traditional Data Storage

Every users’ data

www.example2.com

Every users’ data

www.example1.com

Websites need databases of all users’ data

Enter your data

Cookie

Cookie

Data owners prove their identity to data users,

e.g. with certificates, passwords, cookies...

39

User Machine

F2F : Control Your Own Data

Data users prove their identity to the data owners

f2f.example2.me

f2f.example.me

Public Key

Public Key

Private Key

Private Key

Unique set of personal data

Data please...?

Data please...?

40

Internet

7. Project Structure

...Insert Dark Nets to Taste...

AE : Altruistic Economics

ME : Meta-Evaluation

GE : Gift Economy

Transport

Definition

Processing

Presentation

F2F: Friend2Friend Processing

41

WWW:

http://altruists.org/ae Altruistic Economicshttp://altruists.org/ff Friend2Friend

Email Me:robin2010 altruists.org@