THE TIMELIKETOON PEACE INSTITUTE

In the current age of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, war has the potential to destroy all life on Earth. If not that potential, then at least the potential to destroy the human race. Since that's the case, I'm going to do what I can to promote peace. Needless to say, the promotion of peace in this war-oriented dystopia is definitely one of the most difficult to achieve goals there is. And with my very poor record of persuasion, my ability to achieve peace is about as likely as a snowball's chance in the solar corona.

Nevertheless, I'm going to take part in this up-hill battle for peace. Besides, one thing I have noticed about this war-oriented dystopia is that the infamous military industrial congressional complex is extremely profit-driven. If it were porssible to take the profit out of war, then war would become less common. Or at least that's one possibility. Consider asteroid mining. As you may know, Planetary Resources – the new asteroid mining company -- plans to profit from the extraction of natural resources found on asteroids that pass near Earth. Since it has long been established that many of the solar system's millions of asteroids have an abundance of usable resources, it's virtually guaranteed that Planetary Resources's plan will succeed. This possibility has led Planetary Resourrces and its supporters to conclude that Planetary Resources may become the world's first trillion-dollar company. And if that happens, Planetary Resources may eventually make more money than all the arms manufacturing firms on Earth combined!

Think what that means. If you're an arms manufacturer, your company very likey will only make a few billion dollars in profit a year. At the same time, an asteroid mining company could be making a few trillion dollars in profit a year. If your goal is to become as rich as physically possible, it would be counterproductive to stay in the war business when you can potentially make 1,000 time more profit in the asteroid mining business.

Yes. That is the simplified version of how asteroid mining could lead to world peace. The continued survival of the human race requires world peace, so I will indeed continue my support for asteroid mining. At the same time, I do realize that asteroid mining won't guarantee world peace. After all, they did say Esperanto would lead to world peace. They did say the airplane would lead to world peace. They did say the Internet would lead to world peace. But again I say the continued survival of the human race still requires world peace. It's time to figure out how to make a potential peace effort like asteroid mining actually achieve world peace.

Peace!


COMMON DREAMS
PEACE ACTION
PEACE & COLLABORATIVE DEVELOPMENT NETWORK
PLANETARY RESOURCES
DEEP SPACE INDUSTRIES
STOTT SPACE

A preoccupation with the resource based economy

Every so often, I would latch onto some idea that's obscure and unknown to most people. I latched onto the metric system. I latched onto Esperanto. I latched onto regenerative medicine. I lacthed onto thorium energy. And now I'm latching onto the resource based economy. Latching onto obscure and unknown ideas. It's what I do!

Anyway, a resource based economy is an economic system that requires no money in order to function. For example, to build a house in the current monetary based economy, you would need to acquire the money to buy the resources needed to build the house. But in a resource based economy, you would first determine what resources are needed to build the house then acquire those resources without payment. Another example along these lines would be a small island where, say, 10 people live. The island has more than enough food, water and other resources for everyone there. Anyone can get whatever they need and not need to pay anything since all resources are abundant. A person who wants to sell, say, bananas to the other people on the island would end up selling nothing. Bananas are everywhere and there may be as many as 1,000 bananas for every person on the island.

Indeed, all goods and services in an RBE are free, and all the natural resources of Earth are considered the common heritage of all the worlds people. As such, people can be provided with food, water, clothing and shelter at no cost. You could say that an RBE is what communism wanted to be but couldn't accomplish. Of course communism didn't work at all -- unless you count those in the top levels of the system. You could also say the same about the current capitalist system. But the truth is that an RBE is neither communist, capitalist nor any other economic/political system that's currently in use. That's because all the other current economic systems use money, while an RBe does not. An RBE is an economic system that's often defined as "using the scientific method for social concern."

Another difference between an RBE and other current economic systems is that an RBE operates according to the scientific method. In contrast, other economic systems primarily operate according to the opinions of those running the system. But the thing is that reality ultimately works according to scientific principles. Therefore, it makes no sense to operate human affairs as if the rest of reality has no effect on those affairs. Since an RBE works according to the scientific method, human-made laws are not applied. Instead, the laws of physics are fully acknowledged and scientific principles are strongly emphasized. This is because the main goal of an RBE is human survival. The laws of physics aren't going to change themselves for our benefit, you know.

Proposals regarding the use of resources has to be scientifically validated in an RBE. For example, legislation regarding how to deal with climate change in today's modern monetary dystopia primarily involves monetary concerns. Often, climate change skeptics would point out potential job losses as an argument against reducing CO2 emissions. In an RBE, only scientific evidence (or lack thereof ) for climate change would be considered when determining when or how to deal with it. Opinions are completely disregarded because the laws of physics don't care about people's opinions. Because of this, some RBE advocates refer to an RBE as a sort of dictatorship. The dictator is the natural world and its unchangable laws of physics. I, however, don't look at nature as a dictator, but as a dispassionate machine that only does what it's programmed to do. Dictatorships imply rule by ego maniacal despots who can change their minds on a whim. The laws of physics are not ego maniacal nor despotic and have no mind to change. However, they do to operate like a dispassionate machine that only does what it's programmed to do. And the programming of natural laws can't be change (at least not for a very long time). The beauty of dealing with a dispassionate machine is that you don't have to take what it does to you personally. But if you do acknowledge this machine's capabilities and conform to its rules, there's a good chance you'll benefit from it.

The advancement of technology is another reason why human-made laws are unnecessary in an RBE. Because in an RBE, technology is used to reduce or even eliminate counterproductive activities. For example, there are no drunk driving laws in an RBE. But even so, drunk driving is impossible in an RBE because all motor vehicles are self-driving. And self-driving cars don't get drunk, don't get road rage and don't drive while distracted. In other words, the only laws in an RBE are the laws of physics and the requirement that the human race survives.

One of most important elements of an RBE is the conservation of both material and energy resources. This conservation is done to help maintain the planet's finite resources and to reduce and even eliminate human-made environmental damage. To save energy on distribution of goods and services, most food is grown locally and most products are also made locally. In addition to that, a wide assortment of clean energy systems is put into use including wind, solar and geothermal power. And since an RBE won't have the infinite growth that the current monetary system has, energy usage will be reduced. But despite that reduction, standards of living will increase mainly due to advancing technology. The concept of what's called resource access also helps in conserving resources while increasing living standards. As a consequence, people can borrow many of the items they use , then return them when done using them much like with a library. For example, if you need a bike to get around, you can borrow it for as long as you are using it. When you get to your destination, another person can use the bike. Of course similar bike programs are in use now. The main difference here is that no money is used for it in an RBE. Since items are freely shared in an RBE, ownership of property becomes less important. Though people in an RBE are allow to own property, sharing property is made far more practical than ownership.

Because everything is free in an RBE, theft is meaningless. Just consider this example: Let's say you're at a cafe using your tablet computer. Let's also say that you leave your seat and you tablet to use the bathroom. If you find that someone has taken your table while you were away, you haven't really lost anything. You can go to a nearby distribution center and get an other tablet for free. And with cloud computing, you can immediately go back to where you left off.

Most cities in an RBE are circular in design with all the major facilities located in the center. These major facilities include schools, hospitals and distribution centers. Having all the major facilities located in the center of town allows anyone in the have the quickest access to goods and services -- another form of RBE efficiency. Each RBE city has a supercomputer that is networked with the supercomputers of other RBE cities. It's part of a decentralized network that monitors global resource distribution and availability. Similarly, massive amounts of automation are implemented in an RBE. Boring, repetitive and dangerous jobs are mostly conducted by machines. Jobs like sewage work, farming and construction are done by automated devices. The jobs that are likely to remain include technical support for the automated systems, scientific research and educational jobs. But given time, even these jobs may disappear. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean that people in an RBE will lay around all day at home playing video games or whatever. Since education is strongly encouraged, many people will go back to school. And with education being free, there's no limit to what a person can study. This freely accessible education is why everyone in an RBE has the potential to contribute. Also, creativity will be encouraged in an RBE. Without the pressures of the monetary system to make art "marketable", an explosion of new creativity can be achieved.

One notible advantage that an RBE has over the current system is the rate of technological advancement. Without money, technology could advance like never before. Consider this: Researchers in the monetary system who are trying to develop nuclear fusion need funding to keep this research going. When the money runs out, the research stops. Only after more money is found can the research resume. In an RBE, that same research project can continue uninterrupted because there are more than enough resources to conduct this research. Thus it takes longer to progress technology in a monetary system than in an RBE. The claim that competition advances technology is no always true.

Then of course some may ask who runs everything in an RBE? The answer depends on your interpretation of the matter. One could say that no one runs an RBE. The super computers do most of what government does today, thus making government obsolete. However, since all people in an RBE have the potential to contribute to the system, you could say everyone runs the RBE. An RBE could – as RBE developer Jacque Fresco often sites -- finally make humans civilized. I totally agree with that assessment!

Now another pressing question: What's to prevent an RBE from creating a real-life Cylon uprising? The answer to that question involves something that is frequently dealt with in RBE: problem solving. Since all problems are ultimately technical, one or more technical solutions would be imployed to prevent machines from destroying humanity. Like the Laws of Robotics for example. But in all probability, a real life Cylon uprising is extremely low since most of the machines in an RBE have a very low level of intelligence. Intelligence far too low for them to contemplate their existence and resent being enslaved by humanity. More to the point, machines in an RBE are only tools just as they are in the current system. When pilots use altimeters to determine their altitude, that particular device is not controlling them. Likewise, when the supercomputers of an RBE report on global food supplies, people are not controlled by them either.

Nevertheless, an RBE is not a utopia (depending on what your definition of utopia is). Money-related crimes would cease to exist under the RBE system, and thus most crime would end. However, an RBE would have problems like occasional machine breakdowns and resource shortages as well as natural and human-made disasters. There's nothing utopian about that. But even with the assort problems that may plague an RBE, it's an improvement over the monetary system (unless you like the inefficiency and scarcity of the monetary system).

As for the crime issue, non-money related crimes would still exist. Since jails and the justice system don't exist in an RBE, behavioral experts would work to cure the mental aberration that cause such crimes. Besides, much RBE technology is designed to be super safe and very difficult to abuse. A Sandy Hook-like gun shooting could be avoided in an RBE by having a biometric trigger lock on the guns. Or some sort of technology that would lock the trigger if the gun is carried in certain areas. Or perhaps the gun could be built with pattern recognition tech and programmed not to work when aimed at people. There are all kinds of possibilities. And these solutions could be done without laws being passed.

The entire RBE system is totally voluntary. It needs to be voluntary because of the reality that people are more likely to be cooperative when they have freedom to choose. Forcing people to live in an RBE would be counter productive since resistance to the RBE would likely destroy the system. The idea here is that hopefully the majority of the world's people will choose to live under an RBE. At the same time, the minority who choose not to live under an RBE can still retain the old economic system. such people could live in various capitalist enclaves, in a situation much like the Amish. If you're living in an RBE and you decide you don't like it any more, you're free to leave. And if you change your mind and decide to come back, you'll be welcomed with opened arms.

There are numerous reasons why it makes sense to establish an RBE. Reason like the finite resources of Earth making infinite consumption impossible. (Though the resources of space are virtually infinite, but that's another matter.) Or the clean energy usage urged by RBE will save the Earth's environment. But I believe the most important reason to start an RBE is technological unemployment. Technological unemployment, of course, happens when machines replace people in the workplace. With computer technology advancing the way it currently is, many companies can't help but to replace more of their employees with machines. Machines are often cheaper and more accurate than human workers, thus allowing higher profit levels. But those higher profit levels will only be temporary since technological unemployment will cause a continuous shrinking of consumer purchasing power. One way to deal with that is to hault all technological advancement. Unless you're a Unabomber groupie, that sounds like a bogus idea. But another way to deal with that is to eliminate the monetary system altogether an provide all people with free goods and services.

Now that I'm on the RBE bandwagon, I'm constantly seeing RBEs everywhere. Freecycle.org, for example, is probably the best approximation of what an RBE would be like that I know of. Freecycle is a online community where members donate goods they no longer want to people who do want them. No money or barter is involved – just like in an RBE. I also see an RBE in the alien invasion television series Falling Skies (at least during the first two seasons). In this series, the surviving humans value things like food, water, clothing, shelter and weapons. They consider money to be totally worthless. The only time that money had value in the show is when one character finds a huge bag of cash and uses it to build a fire.

I even see an RBE on Gilligan's Island. If I remember correctly, Mr. Howell would occasional bribe the other folks on the island with huge money offers. Of course they won't be able to use any of that money until after they get off the island. Therefore Mr. Howell's millions are essential worthless. And when the Professor builds a radioisotope thermoelectric generator out of bamboo and coconuts, he doesn't need to pay for the materials to build such a device. All he has to do is walk around the island and grab up some bamboo and coconuts, then slap together his RTG from there.

Then there's Moonbase Alpha rom Space: 1999. It's definitely a resource based economy. Moonbase Alpha personal can't get their paychecks if Earth is light-years away. In a somewhat similar way, The International Space Station could be considered an RBE. Though the ISS astronauts obviously get paid, it's not like they get their pay checks delivered to them every time a supply ship docks with the station.

I'm also paying closer attention to certain technologies that I've notice could help make an RBE possible. These technologies include The Internet, 3D printing, e-books, cloud computing, zip cars, autonomous vehicles, geoengineering and even asteroid mining. What all these technologies have in common is that they can create abundance. And with enough abundance, money becomes obsolete.

But of course in this modern dystopia, there has to be opposition to RBE. Opponents usually don't know what they're talking about. They often refer to an RBE as a communist plot or new world order conspiracy. The worst part is that they over estimate the influence of RBE advocotes. If an RBE is the powerful conspiracy they say it is, everybody would know about it.

I only have two bones of contention with the RBE concept as it's currently presented. One is the disregard for the virtually limitless resources of space. Another is the disregard for the fact that natural law applies to the rest of the universe as well Earth. Repairing and preserving the Earth's environment is important. But if an asteroid is on a collision with Earth as an RBE is being developed, the RBE will fail if people are too focused on RBE development and not focused enough on asteroid defense. Earth is not isolated from the rest of the universe.

To sum it up, the main things I like about an RBE are high technology, clean energy, a scientific society and free stuff. Who could say no to that? The people who don't like it, of course. Also, I would LOVE to live in a world that''s filled to the brim with highly intelligent and creative people! I can get plenty of that in an RBE. Unfortunately, I can't get much of that in today's modern monetary dystopia. With that being the case, I feel I have to revise my favorite catchphrase. In other words, I wish I could go on a one-way mars mission and start a resource based economy when I get there!


Resource based economy city in Bryce 3D

THE VENUS PROJECT
THE ZEITGEIST MOVEMENT

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The Timeliketoon Peace Institute © Yul Tolbert/Timelike Line Productions Inc.