tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737138830085975606.post7091990093326084497..comments2009-05-10T18:16:58.361-07:00Alan Rosenblithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12508818912677197006noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737138830085975606.post-50698247456263383882009-05-10T18:16:00.000-07:002009-05-10T18:16:00.000-07:00This is a fascinating question that merits a lot of thought. I thank you for bringing it up, because it is at the heart of the matter. Obviously, I support cooperative governance.<br /><br />However, that having been said, sometimes governance itself implies a layer of bureaucracy that separates people from the actions of the collective. A classic example of this is the morass of committees that is sometimes needed in cooperative grocery stores to stock even the most obvious items. <br /><br />The action of the collective (stocking the goods) is separated from the actions of the individuals by a layer of governance. This is why I refer to the governing layer (no matter how inclusive) as a them. <br /><br />Compare that with the kind of spontaneous collective intelligence that a well tuned sports team exhibits. The sports team doesn't have committee meetings every time there is a play in the game. They instead see the condition of the whole, and spontaneously adapt their behavior accordingly without the need for a formal layer of governance. All they really need to know are the rules and the goal of the game. Sure they prep themselves, but when the game starts, they are in the moment. Being in the moment is different from running plays through layers of committees. <br /><br />Fundamentally, a person playing a game is doing so by their own consent. And if they don't like the rules, they are free to make up new ones, and invite others to play with them. This is the ethos I believe we need with currency. I hope this clarifies. For further information on collective intelligence, I highly recommend Jean-Francois Noubel's work at The Transitioner:<br />http://p2pfoundation.net/Collective_Intelligence_-_Jean-Francois_NoubelAlan Rosenblithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12508818912677197006noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8737138830085975606.post-77293838779889747882009-05-10T17:50:00.000-07:002009-05-10T17:50:00.000-07:00Although I'm in enthusiastic agreement with building more adaptable people-centric currencies, it seems this article is assuming that the current state of affairs only allows for privately governed currencies. As you know, if a currency is treated as a commons governed by the members of a cooperative, we can no longer use the "them" strawman.herestomwiththeweatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00264616121941756100noreply@blogger.com