tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737138830085975606.post2833226997989172286..comments2022-12-08T02:33:27.794-08:00Comments on New Currency Frontiers: Intro to Currency PlatformsAlan Rosenblithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12508818912677197006noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737138830085975606.post-23772968716329270062009-03-17T17:58:00.000-07:002009-03-17T17:58:00.000-07:00Great post, Alan, and nice points, everyone. Emil...Great post, Alan, and nice points, everyone. Emily was just telling me about how clothing swaps in Portland have gotten really organized of late, even to the point of having size-specific groups.<BR/><BR/>Sounds like a great idea, right? BUT: What if you want go to a clothing swap and you just, say, lost a bunch of weight?<BR/><BR/>You want to <I>give</I> big clothes, but you also want to <I>receive</I> small clothes. So which swap do you go to? What do you do??<BR/><BR/>No problem! You just start an inter-size clothing swap currency, and go on your merry, clothes swapping way.<BR/><BR/>If only it were as easy as #size 12 to size 10: 6 garments.<BR/><BR/>With that kind of thing, the "failure" part of the equation doesn't really even enter into it, I don't think. The focus is just convenience and simplicity.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15103202538535463244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737138830085975606.post-66586478158221039032009-03-17T17:52:00.000-07:002009-03-17T17:52:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15103202538535463244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737138830085975606.post-54943372740436224212009-03-17T15:52:00.000-07:002009-03-17T15:52:00.000-07:00"It is not a mistake to commit a mistake, for no o..."It is not a mistake to commit a mistake, for no one commits a mistake knowing it to be one. But it is a mistake not to correct the mistake after knowing it to be one. If you are afraid of committing a mistake, you are afraid of doing anything at all. You will correct your mistakes whenever you find them."<BR/><BR/>from http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/gora13.htm#CHAP_VII.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737138830085975606.post-62496167524173634522009-03-17T15:12:00.000-07:002009-03-17T15:12:00.000-07:00Edgar, I have seen PROWL. Great work! (http://tya...Edgar, <BR/>I have seen PROWL. Great work! (http://tyaga.org/prowl/ for others). I totally agree with the need for a clear set of best practices, or at the very least a clearer matrix of understanding for what kinds of currency designs are appropriate for what kinds of communities. I also fully agree that collecting information about how different designs are correlated with different outcomes will be very valuable. It may even bump the field of economics into the realm of science :D (I think Michael Linton made this joke once).<BR/><BR/>With all that said, I think fear of failure is one of the biggest obstacles to creativity. And, if there is one thing we need right now to solve our current problems, it is creativity. One thing I love about science when it is done right is that it can have a very light and playful feel; kind of like kids experimenting with the world around them. I fully support bringing that ethos to the world of currency, as well as the subsequent rigor.Alan Rosenblithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12508818912677197006noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737138830085975606.post-12835623688557188292009-03-17T10:01:00.000-07:002009-03-17T10:01:00.000-07:00I totally agree with the need to lower expectation...I totally agree with the need to lower expectations, or at least make realistic ones. I came to the same conclusion just recently, as I am currently strategizing how to conduct a market trial for a Prowl-based system. <BR/><BR/>However, I disagree with the notion that anyone could or would want to be a currency issuer. It's not that I want to deny that right or responsibility to others - anyone could do that now without any software at all and regardless of what I think. But it is also obvious that certain conditions must be met to have a reasonable expectation of mild success.<BR/><BR/>So even though you might have an open platform that anyone could easily package, there is a responsibility on the platform provider to announce the required skills and best practices that are likely to lead to a successful implementation.<BR/><BR/>In particular, all implementations should have some sort of study objectives, in order to systematically collect data that could be used to generate an implementation knowledge base. For example, certain conditions that coincided with a successful or failed implementation could be processed to give useful information to guide subsequent attempts.<BR/><BR/>For me, lowering the cost of failure is important <I>because</I> better knowledge about trends could be gained from a larger set of implementation data. Otherwise, the success to failure ratio would remain the same or perhaps even worsen if there were more trials that have no study objectives. <BR/><BR/>edgar (aka just a demo)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737138830085975606.post-36973780649824287772009-03-17T08:40:00.000-07:002009-03-17T08:40:00.000-07:00@just a demo: Thanks for the comment (and everyon...@just a demo: <BR/>Thanks for the comment (and everyone)!<BR/>I would include the risk of a potential community becoming jaded as part of the cost of failure. That has been one of the reasons currency practitioners have put a lot of pressure on themselves to "get it right the first time." I think, however, that "lowering the cost of failure" also means lowering promises and expectations about what currency can do. In order to rally support in a community, currency practitioners have often made outrageous (and completely impossible to fulfill) promises about what will happen once the community gets on board with the new currency. When these promises are broken, the community loses faith in currency as a tool. Wouldn't it be better to lower everyone's expectations a little? Think email groups. Some work, others peter out. No one has lost faith in email groups because they were in a couple that went no where. This is because no one has made outlandish promises about email groups turning a community around overnight. When community currency as a tool becomes organically infused with culture, then it will make a big difference in society. However, until then, our primary goal should be about enabling it to happen organically rather than psyching everyone up for it.Alan Rosenblithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12508818912677197006noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737138830085975606.post-73168127842759186692009-03-16T22:59:00.000-07:002009-03-16T22:59:00.000-07:00Hi, I have enjoyed reading your recent posts. I ag...Hi, I have enjoyed reading your recent posts. I agree that lowering the cost of failure would be a good platform goal. However, if there are too many unsuccesful attempts that affect the same community, there would be a serious risk of immunizing potential participants due to overexposure to too many failed om initiatives. In other words, instead of getting people used to the idea of cc, they might instead become more critical of new attempts as something that would lead to the same failed result.Just a Demohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09043497937435172005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737138830085975606.post-49256217871626953142009-03-16T19:52:00.000-07:002009-03-16T19:52:00.000-07:00Jct: When I visited Europe in 1999, I paid for 39/...Jct: When I visited Europe in 1999, I paid for 39/40 nights of accommodations with an IOU for a night back in Canada worth 5 Hours. <BR/>It's only a matter of time until all systems based on the Time Standard of Money will use the internet to intertrade globally. I did. <BR/>We need the United Nations Millennium Declaration UNILETS Resolution C6 to governments for a time-based currency to restructure the global financial architecture. Barter Timebanks are economic lifeboats. <BR/>See my banking systems engineering analysis at http://youtube.com/kingofthepaupers with an index of articles at http://johnturmel.com/kotp.htmKing of the Paupershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14374913605730692218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737138830085975606.post-37298346193489632492009-03-16T14:26:00.000-07:002009-03-16T14:26:00.000-07:00Excellent article.MarkExcellent article.<BR/><BR/>MarkMark Herpelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16570867131790072001noreply@blogger.com