User:Spiritdude

My name is Rene K. Mueller, and I have been studying RBE for a while as part of my involvement at the Occupy movement in 2011/2012, and currently run

• OccupyConcepts.org and also a wiki, in particular the
• Resource-based Economy entry, where I listed also the history origin of RBE (it was proposed before TVP and TZM), and I also address some of the short comings of RBE in its current state (2013/01).

By participating here at RBEM.org I hope RBE extends beyond a sole technocratic take on nowadays problems, and some actual transitional or hybrid RBE projects are implemented in order to test and then refine the RBE further, so it no longer remains just wishful thinking.

Considerations for RBE Communities

I have been observing various emerging RBE projects:

• RBE 10K (2013/01), hosted and started on this Wiki
• Build a RBE Hybrid Community (group at FB), aims to raise money via multi-marketing strategy, details of the project not yet clear
• Global Unity Project (2013/01), eco pod (container) based habitat, aims to be a transitional RBE project

so I addressed some of the issues of those projects:

Monetary System vs Money/Currency Itself

Some what is talked about RBE doesn't make sense to me, and I like to describe it in more details. Many people don't like money, and like to operate without a currency - what they actually don't like is that the monetary system and the currency thereby

1. create distance between them and the things they need and desire
2. aids not the equal distribution of resources and wealth but more inequality of such.

Because this mix up of cause and effect, as I see it, many RBE advocates blame money or currency in general for the problems. There are some issues with the issuing of money which creates an inherent unequal distribution of wealth as abstracted through money (money issued as debt by the national/federal banks, and the fractional reserve bank, which empowers banks to issue money themselves, and due human flaw, aids to the abuse of that position of power), it is a problem of the current implementation of the monetary system, but money/currency itself isn't the core problem here, let me explain:

Any value assignment, any comparison between two separate things and their individual assessment, creates a currency, an abstract currency - it allows to compare and weight overhead. Any system which aims to be efficient, requires to calculate overhead and choose the more efficient one, internally determined by comparison, which as just mentioned, is a currency (a number). So, any system which aims to be sufficient, calculates within with a virtual currency (e.g. Wh). What I am saying, currency has a function, and not all currencies are coins and bills, but numbers multiplied with an assessment factor in a computer program or system, especially the rather technocratic RBE approach by TVP.

RBE Flavors

What RBE promotes (there are several flavors underway, not just TVP or TZM but also other groups, and RBE has been around before J. Fresco, see Resource-based Economy I mostly wrote) is a common good approach, yet, it never really goes to the very details what it really means, but it becomes very important when a transitional project of RBE.

If you focus on starting a RBE based community, village or even larger project, concentrate on the principle how RBE actually works, because I think there you really state your vision, as right now RBE is a too airy concept to implement.

Common Goods

All is owned by all, it also means there is no private ownership of anything anymore. What exists is private possession (possessing is not owning), usership over ownership. Regardless how big a RBE space is, a small house, a village or the entire planet: in that perimeter there is no ownership but only using- or usership; you can take care of things, use it. Inventory of the tools, or the resources is essential, this also means, there is no secrecy of anything, everything related to resources and goods is published within the perimeter - you know what is where and how available, this is the practical side transitioning owning to using and taking care of something. Listing the individuals and their expertise is a good start, but it needs to be an actual system, e.g. a small group has a spreadsheet to 'hire' (mark to have his/her working force) a specialized individual for a certain time, then others know he or she is occupied.

Prevent (Self-)Enslavement

Many communities have been tried (last 50-60 years) and some suffered the enslavement of the individual. People joined an utopian project, and gave everything, no pay, 60-80 hr work per week, and after a couple of years they were exhausted, they enslaved themselves.

Make no mistake, e.g. to start a permaculture garden takes up to 10 years, so long it takes you to study the environment and its co-dependencies. The first 2-3 years your harvest might be minimal, some things you wish might not grow at all.

Seed of Abundance

Whatever transition project you aim, ensure there is one technology or thing you have abundant, a "Seed of Abundance", which aids direct to the community, e.g. a specialized core which enables you to create something you need essentially in abundance, and what exceeds your needs, you can sell outside the perimeter and cover resources you aren't able to produce yourself yet, e.g. some projects working close to RBE, like Damanhur, Auroville etc, they have that "Seed of Abundance", mainly being attractive by their own existance, and have income from visitors - which isn't really sustainable for the entire planet.

Once you have defined the using/taking-care of resources within a RBE system (regardless of size), and developed this initial "seed of abundance" you can start.

Apply RBE at the Beginning

If you aim for a perimeter like a village, you don't necessarily need money, you need someone who is willing to join the project with the resource: the land (you apply RBE in the bootstrap process itself). Of course you can also raise money to buy the resource (land for example) if one or two individuals cannot join with the resource required.

My recommendation: focus on the details how RBE actual functions, how actual work (we aren't there were automation does all, but we might getting there eventually) is distributed, how the actual common goods approach is applied and lived.

General Thoughts on Self-Determination

You see, pretend you live right now in RBE, you just do things you might not really like to do, but this isn't about money, it's about you deciding to do something to earn money to make a living. In RBE there is still work to do, perhaps 70-90% of all the work done today, and it needs to be organized, and people still need resources to live, to produce the things we need and desire. Of course it feels great once you decide what you want to work, but the next thought is, is that what I like to work also that what the RBE community needs? So you start to make a list what the actual needs of the RBE community is: a public available list, and those who can contribute do so. You might account the time you use, as you unlikely can be at two place at the same time physically (the spreadsheet I mentioned above). At first you, as community, like to provide the physical necessities, like shelter and food, and then the other human needs; once the actual needs are covered, aim for the vision (e.g. some may aim for further automation, to reduce time to work, others may aim for some other goals). The vision creates the cohesion for the social aspect of the community.

So, why I say this all? RBE as conceptual framework has to become clear, concrete, explain exactly what is valued (the prime values), what is accounted, what is optimized to gain efficiency - this is the tidieous groundwork indeed.

Once this groundwork is really done, a transition / hybrid RBE will have no trouble to take off and gain huge traction, because people wish for a more self-determined way of living, and to see more close what you work for makes sense for the whole (of the community) and isn't just to make a disconnected living.

Links

• User:Ziggy where he describes his motivation to start this wiki and the RBE10K project.

Contact

• Google+
• Email: spiritdude AT gmail DOT com