Let’s Co-Opt Currency!

An introduction to

Metacurrency & JoatU

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Jamie Klinger

Founder of JoatU

Special Thanks to Arthur Brock, Founder of Metacurrency & Holochain

Redéfinir la valeur pour un nouveau monde

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Pourquoi votre emploi actuel est-il insatisfaisant? Comment les pays les plus riches ne parviennent-ils pas systématiquement à résoudre les problèmes de pauvreté et d’environnement? Le problème ne concerne pas le manque d'argent, mais la façon dont nous percevons et utilisons collectivement l'argent. Si nous pouvons changer notre état d’esprit en valeur, nous pouvons commencer à détourner le débat des limites de l’ancien monde sur la façon dont nous percevons l’argent et à adopter un changement de paradigme qui profitera au monde collectif.

How to listen to this presentation

Whenever you hear these words,

think beyond money.

Actively think how these words play

Wealth, Currency, Value

UBI & JoatU : Basic Income & Basic Employment for Everyone 


With diminishing employment opportunities and climbing costs of living, we are being squeezed between a rock and a hard place. This workshop will explore solutions that have been experimented with and ones that are in the works to begin living lives more closely aligned with our personal values. Basic Income is the concept that every citizen would receive a stipend from the government just for being a citizen. JoatU is a collaborative community economic system encouraging trading and sharing among neighbors and encouraging community engaging activities. A combination of local community support and a basic income could be a seamless transition towards an automated society, a democratic government & economy, and ultimately, a post-monetary world. 


Economy: capitalism - crises - alternatives

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Currency - The shared symbol systems that we create to shape, enable, and manage flows.

What was most important to me?

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Write it down.

Winning the

‘game’ of life.

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Used to see life as a game, trying to get better grades. Found myself playing poker, feeling like I won. But it didn’t have an effect on the world, I felt like a banker and it lost its lustre.

What is most important to me?

​

Write it down.

Creating as big of a positive impact as possible while living according to my personal values.

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Used to see life as a game, trying to get better grades. Found myself playing poker, feeling like I won. But it didn’t have an effect on the world, I felt like a banker and it lost its lustre.

What is most important to you?

​

Write it down.

People

Money

Current

Global System

Money-first economy

Currency in Capitalism

Cash, Rules, Everything, Around, Me

C.R.E.A.M.

Get the money

Dollar, dollar bill y'all

Wu-Tang Clan

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Currency as Relationships

The shared symbol systems that we create to shape, enable, and manage flows.

Art Brock

Currency as Information

  • The ‘current’ that we see

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  • The flow of information

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  • X/Y

Currency in Traffic

Cars on Sherbrooke/Hour

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Currencies/Values/Information/Relationships:

    • Noise in Decibels
    • Pollution
    • Circulation Speed
    • Accidents

A People-First Economy

Money

People

JoatU

Ville Intelligente

et Inclusive

2017 Winner

Jack of all trades Universe

JoatU is an on-demand volunteering marketplace that rewards community projects,
promotes altruism, and helps build local communities.

How it works

JoatU generates Community Action Points to recognize their community contributions

Volunteers trade their CAPS in exchange for goods & services in the hyperlocal online marketplace

Community members create positive actions & events in their neighbourhoods

Local

Neighbourhood

CAPS

CAPS

JoatU

Merci JoatU!

So what about that job?

1

Your Labour

2

Their Capital

What other currencies are exchanged?

1

Your productivity, your restfulness, your creativity, your time

2

Working conditions, (in)security, stress...

“[The capitalist division of lavour] converts the labourer into a crippled monstrosity, by forcing his detail dexterity at the expense of a world of productive capabilities and instincts… The individual himself is made the automatic motor of a fractional operation.” - Marx, Capital Vol 1

Founder of JoatU

Jamie Klinger

My First Jobs

  • Assistant Hat Shipper
    • Had many hats to offer but they only wanted one
  • Telemarketing “Medic-Alert” Bracelets
    • Phoned in Ethics

Precariously positioned proletariat – term coined by Guy Standing

June 2014 – BIEN – Basic Income Earth Network Congress at McGill Faculty of Law – June 2014

Inequity – lack of fairness/justice

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From First Jobs

to New Economies

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Write it down.

Three Lessons from Occupy Montreal

  • Inequity leads to Inequality

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  • Inequality leads to Inequity

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  • Centralisation of Wealth inevitably leads to the Centralization of Power

How to maintain a system of inequity

Accumulation

Capital

Information

Centralized

Value Creation &

Valuation

Centralized

of Centralized Institutions

Corruption

disrupt

How to decentralize control of valuation

  • Decouple Wealth in $ from Wealth

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  • Force the recognition of “Value” in ‘externalities’

Introducing

Metacurrency

$60

40lbs

Organic

1st Prize

Apis

Mellifera

Western Honey Bee

Can they evolve their dances which
communicate where
the flowers are?

Co2

Credits

48lbs/yr

offset

Certified Disease-free

Increased Life Expectancy

Red Oak

How will trees

affect the

surrounding ecosystem?

Speculative Wealth diminishes Non-Speculative Wealth

The Great Lie

If we pay money (speculative wealth) in exchange for (tradable wealth)...

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Then it’s ok to pollute more (destroying rankable, measurable, nameable and possible wealth).

If we spend all of our money to make honey,

and none to protect the environment bees use,

then we lose the entire food system!

Reality

Speculative Wealth diminishes Non-Speculative Wealth

What now?

Detach speculative wealth from absolute wealth

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    • Shift your perspective on wealth, currency & value using the practices of Metacurrency

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    • Integrate alternatives that incorporate forms of wealth that recognize your values, like JoatU

JoatU

Ville Intelligente

et Inclusive

2017 Winner

Jack of all trades Universe

JoatU is an on-demand volunteering marketplace that rewards community projects,
promotes altruism, and helps build local communities.

$70/hr or CAPS

Labour

Teaching

Diplomas

Experience

Qualitative Reviews

Alice

All of the ways that people interacting can change each other’s lives

Offering her services with

How it works

JoatU generates Community Action Points to recognize their community contributions.

Volunteers trade their CAPS in exchange for goods & services in the hyperlocal online marketplace

Community members create positive actions & events in their neighbourhoods

JoatU’s Alternative Currency

CAPS

Community Action Points

JoatU CAPS: Currency Phase 1

Members

Personal exchanges

Community Offerings

CAPS Created

CAPS Value/hour

50

5

0

0

No CAPS

100

25

0

0

No CAPS

JoatU CAPS: Currency Phase 1: Personal Exchanges

Bob has skills in woodworking.

Alice has skills in plumbing.

Bob and Alice come to a personal arrangement and exchange 1 hour of woodworking for 1 hour of plumbing.

JoatU CAPS: Currency Phase 2

Members

Personal exchanges

Community Offerings

CAPS Created

CAPS Value/hour

50

5

0

0

No CAPS

100

25

0

0

No CAPS

150

50

5

50

Fixed 10/hr

200

100

15

150

Fixed 10/hr

250

150

20

200

Fixed 10/hr

JoatU CAPS: Currency Phase 2: Community Exchanges

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Alice wants to to build mini-herb gardens in the tree planters up and down her street. She’s looking for

  • 24 clippings of herbs to grow
  • 2 bags of soil
  • 4 volunteers for 4 hours of volunteer help
  • a small shovel

JoatU CAPS: Currency Phase 2: Community Exchanges

Alice creates an a community event on JoatU

  • Describes volunteer roles
  • Required tools
  • Required materials

After the event has taken place:

CAPS are generated as recognition for the volunteer work

JoatU CAPS: Currency Phase 3

Members

Personal exchanges

Community Offerings

CAPS Created

CAPS Value/hour

50

5

0

0

No CAPS

100

25

0

0

No CAPS

150

50

5

50

Fixed 10/hr

200

100

15

150

Fixed 10/hr

250

150

20

200

Fixed 10/hr

300

220

25

TBD

Democratic

Democratic Currency Generation

Types of Community Offers

Vote on CAPS generation per hour for each category

Popular Education Class

10

Skill Sharing Class

10

Well Being / Activity Class

10

Food distribution

10

Environmental Action

10

Democratic Currency Generation

Types of Community Offers

CAPS/hr of Volunteer Work

Popular Education Class

10

Skill Sharing Class

11

Well Being / Activity Class

8

Food distribution

9

Environmental Action

12

Alice’s Survey

Democratic Currency Generation

Types of Community Offers

CAPS/hr of Volunteer Work

Popular Education Class

10

Skill Sharing Class

12

Well Being / Activity Class

9

Food distribution

10

Environmental Action

8

Bob’s Survey

Sheaf Candle Theory

“Holochain White Paper and the Road to Sheafhood” - Jon Paprocki Ph.D. candidate in Mathematics at Georgia Tech

https://medium.com/the-advancedness-project/holochain-white-paper-and-the-road-to-sheafhood-9d5b159ee074

A sheaf associates to every region of some space some sort of data.

JoatU Currency Generation

8

CAPS/HR

12

CAPS/HR

10

8

12

Bob Voted

Alice Voted

Social Currencies

Increase civic participation

Promote local businesses

Upcycle existing public infrastructure

Enhance the integration of newcomers

Facilitate a circular economy

Gather and share

open data

People

Traditional Economy

City

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Simplyk

Bunz

Accorderie

JoatU

Hyperlocal

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Volunteering Opportunities

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Rewards Volunteering

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Barter Platform

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Point System

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JoatU Comparative Analysis

What is happening with JoatU today?

Building a test network of residents in Verdun

  • Get 200 Users to fill out our application at http://verdun.joatu.com

Accepting general applications for our next test networks

http://en.joatu.com & http://fr.joatu.com

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Building JoatU in Ruby on Rails and when we have enough resources, on Holochain

  • Brooks, Solomon, and every other person who made this event possible
  • Every person who has helped move JoatU forward

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  • Art Brock & Eric Harris-Braun of MetaCurrency.org

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  • Yourselves

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Currency of Appreciation

UBI & JoatU : Basic Income & Basic Employment for Everyone 


With diminishing employment opportunities and climbing costs of living, we are being squeezed between a rock and a hard place. This workshop will explore solutions that have been experimented with and ones that are in the works to begin living lives more closely aligned with our personal values. Basic Income is the concept that every citizen would receive a stipend from the government just for being a citizen. JoatU is a collaborative community economic system encouraging trading and sharing among neighbors and encouraging community engaging activities. A combination of local community support and a basic income could be a seamless transition towards an automated society, a democratic government & economy, and ultimately, a post-monetary world. 


Economy: capitalism - crises - alternatives

Influential Documentaries

  • Capitalism
    • The Corporation (2003)
  • Psychology & Marketing
    • Century of the Self (2002)
  • Philosophy
    • The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology (2012)
  • CopyLeft
    • Rip : A remix manifesto (2008)

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Founder of JoatU

Jamie Klinger

Get Involved! Get in touch! http://JamieKlinger.com

Join → http://en.joatu.com & http://fr.joatu.com

Extra Slides

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1cIRkKAcG7LQztSrNQp02OJ5JIJE5Dfd4-fgxo-vf_cQ/

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