How Does Copiosis Work?

The beauty of Copiosis is in its simplicity. It doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel. It just identifies the core major faults of capitalism and fixes them. First we describe how Copiosis is different. Then we show how it works.

It Eliminates Money

Redefine money mobile

Today: Money and profit compel endless economic growth. Money gets created through interest-bearing debt. That means we’re all burdened by debt which limits real freedom.  With money tied to debt, one dollar is tied to all other dollars. That means, we compete with each other for a limited money pie.

That’s why when you want a raise, your raise is contingent on your company budget. Your salary or wage increase comes from others’ pockets. A person can harm the environment or other people and still get rich. Often, doing so is in a person’s best interest. Despite regulations, society often plays catch up, sometimes repairing damage done from profit-taking acts and sometimes not.

Libraries, museums, food, transportation, and many manufacturing operations generate societal benefits. Other activities create benefits too. The harm they create outweighs their benefits though. They continue because they’re profitable, in the limited, economic definition: net revenues or profit. Profit doesn’t consider a firm’s social or environmental impacts.

Copiosis Solution:  Net Benefit Reward (NBR) replaces money and debt. It makes your potential “income” unlimited. Society gives you NBR when what you do creates net benefit. A net benefit happens when your acts produce more positive results than negative ones. As long as positive results continue, you continue receiving reward.

NBR is unlimited because it literally gets created from nothing. Its existence is fictitious. NBR also is non-transferrable, meaning, once you get it, you can’t give it to someone else. Spend it and it disappears.

This means, your “income” gets determined solely by what you do and how what you do benefits others. Create massive benefit, you get massive amounts of NBR. Since NBR comes from nowhere, no one competes against others. You get what you need to take such actions at no cost. How? People giving you such resources get rewarded when you create net benefit. They rely on you and you rely on them. We’re all in this together.

In this way Copiosis eliminates “cost”, a big factor that limits what’s possible. Eliminating “cost” also eliminates “profit” too, since profit’s definition relies on cost being a thing. In Copiosis it is not.

So people get rich without needing to “profit”, making getting rich far easier.

By eliminating money Copiosis does far, far more than what you’ve just read. But what you’ve just read is a big deal. Many of today’s problems go away with this simple shift.

It Offers A New “How”

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Today: Most of our global society measures success by the percentage growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP). If more goods and services (of any kind) are exchanged for money, we say that society is progressing. The how of that progress or those exchanges doesn’t matter.

For example, in many places, medical care is so expensive, the vast majority of people, rich or not, can’t directly pay for it. So we buy health insurance, which has its own problems. Every dollar spent on premiums, and medical care costs, even administrating that care, adds GDP value. But we can give everyone their medical care at no cost. We just can’t do it today.

Today many things getting done have no monetary value, while providing immense value in other ways. Child-rearing, looking after elderly parents and mentoring all are examples. Today’s economy places no value on these valuable acts.

So it is across the economy. How we do things gets less attention than what we do. At the top of what we do, economically speaking, is “how much is being spent?”, not, “how are we spending?”

Copiosis Solution: Copiosis replaces GDP with Net Benefit as the central value. A town, region, nation or individual prospers when Net Benefit goes up. Any activity not creating Net Benefit gets no reward.

Individuals, companies and even nations can easily change how they’re acting, thereby increasing Net Benefit. It’s easy because capital goods they need come at no cost. Capital goods providers create Net Benefit providing their goods and services, so they get NBR when they do so. That way the “cost” of resources goes away.

All this means, the more an individual prospers, the better that person’s community gets. The more a company prospers, the better people working there and the community surrounding it gets. Same with nations. Same with the world.

It Redefines The Social Contract

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Today: We could easily provide for everyone’s needs worldwide. Today, except in the most dire cases, you must “afford” your needs. Few people, therefore enjoy autonomy over their own time.

Meanwhile, many trade their freedom for a job and what it allows. Today your survival requires your economic contribution. Everyone must contribute. That contribution, however, must fit within strict parameters if you want income for that contribution. Don’t contribute within this narrow range and you can’t afford food, clothing, shelter or healthcare.

Today, most people can’t afford pursuing their passions long enough that they become valuable contributions to others. Instead, they must “earn their living” 🙄.

Copiosis Solution: Whereas capitalism guaranteed the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, Copiosis also guarantees the right to food, clothing, shelter, education, and healthcare. But Copiosis is not socialism. It retains the incentives at the heart of capitalism, the idea that if you dedicate yourself to your passions then you will be rewarded with nice things.

How does it do this without a government getting in the way?

By creating a broad menu of elements that together create real freedom for everyone, provide necessities to everyone at no cost to anyone while still making everyone rich, Copiosis creates a new framework honoring a new social contract.

That social contract says: life for everyone will be better off if everyone follows their passions, no one has to afford anything, and no one is obligated to do anything they don’t want to do. Ironically, this social contract, which sounds somewhat like today, potentially outperforms what we have today. Without money, cost, and “earning a living” in the way, people get on with what lights their fire, thereby lighting the world on fire. In a good way. 😂💯👍🏻

Main differences between money and Net Benefit Rewards

Money

Net Benefit Reward

Can be used for nearly any purpose. And can be transferred between people or institutions. Non-transferrable – only natural humans get it and once assigned can only be used by the assignee. Institutions or organizations can not own NBR.
Can be used to make anyone do just about anything including sell drugs, fight wars, murder, cheat, steal, defraud others and destroy the environment. Good for one thing and only one thing:  luxury consumption.
Exists both virtually and in physical form, even if it is just paper with special ink on it. Completely virtual and fictitious.
Scarce – The money system forces people into competition for never enough money. Abundant – there’s no limit to how much can be rewarded.
Debt-based. Money gets created through debt creation NBR gets created from nothing. Debt doesn’t exist in Copiosis.

How is Net Benefit calculated?

This video explains it all:

Copiosis Algorithm basic details:

Algorithm Formula

Three general sections comprise the algorithm. Here’s what each does:

  1. Product demand balance function
    • Measures resources producer activity consumes and the abundance of such resources
    • Measures the number of producers producing similar outputs thereby consuming similar resources
    • Measures number people demanding what producers are producing
  2. Consumer Benefit function
    • Measures the subjective benefits accrued to consumers when they consume a good or service
    • Measures the objective benefits accrued to consumers when they consume a good or service
  3. Environmental benefit function
    • Measures the scale of benefit produced by producer/consumer activity
    • Measures the environmental benefit resulting from producer/consumer activity
    • Measures the human effects resulting from producer/consumer activity as it relates to human resiliency.

Each variable as well as each function has a “weighting” variable which allows for cultural values differences to be included in the formula.

Find out more about the algorithm. Check out our Advanced Sh*t section (coming soon as funding arrives), or download our Algorithm proposal, version 7.1.

Let’s compare Copiosis to capitalism

There are many things Copiosis shares with capitalism, but many of those things don’t look like they do today. Here is a short list of some of those things:

How Copiosis is like Capitalism

How Copiosis is unlike Capitalism

Retains the incentive to work and the rewards that come from that work Producers are not constrained by costs, but instead by net benefit to planet and people. People “work” by following their passions, not doing things to “earn their living”.
Retains the market mechanism as it is applied to earning NBR. NBR rewards drive supply and demand. Higher Net Benefit generating activities command larger proportions of supply activity. Labor focuses on driving Net Benefit, not profit. Therefore, our success measure, globally is not GDP. It’s increasing, real freedom and prosperity measured by how much Net Benefit gets produced.
Markets still exist. Markets are unlimited, meaning, any problem identified is a market and any said market gets met by resources to the degree said market offers Net Benefit generating potential.
Production decisions are made by producers – the people who make things, not by a central committee or government. Government, debt or cost do not constrain what producers make or restrict what  people do.
The best product “wins”. Many pursuits that go unrewarded in capitalism are rewarded in Copiosis, creating vibrant potential disruption opportunities. Intellectual Patents and Copyrights are eliminated, leaving all ideas free for anyone to exploit. When exploited, the IP originator gets rewarded.
Those who benefit more people are rewarded more. Rich people in Copiosis can’t use their wealth to control others because NBR wealth is non-transferrable, there are no politicians to buy and no government creating laws to lobby or fund.
Consumerism exists, but in an enlightened state, balanced by other factors as all persons are granted autonomy over their own time and are able to pursue their self actualization. Everyone is provided access to the basic needs without needing to work at all, freeing people to participate (or not) in whatever projects or activities they want. Activities producing no Net Benefit generating no NBR.

There is no credit, no loans, no layaway. If you want a luxury, you must have sufficient NBR to unlock the Gateway.

Justice still exists, property and individual rights are still protected. Justice system workers, from the police to the highest judges, are rewarded only when their solutions produce Net Benefit.
A person can still become very wealthy if that’s what a person chooses. Corporate personhood no longer absolves people from the consequences of their decisions…because organizations can’t own NBR or make decisions
Property may be passed on to future family generations (inheritance) There are no taxes at all, including estate or inheritance taxes.
Market volatility exists as problems will always exist and solutions therefore constantly created. The financial sector no longer exists, including activities related to market speculation, hedging, investing, banking, etc.
You are liable for your actions, including damage you inflict on other people’s persons and property. Insurance is no longer necessary as replacing goods that are damaged, or getting medical care is no longer cost prohibitive.

How Things Happen In Copiosis

In this section we explain how processes, products, services all take place today, take place in Copiosis. Things can happen in many ways in Copiosis as creativity and resources are unleashed when money, government and markets don’t stand between getting things done. The following two examples show a couple ways Copiosis works. One shows how food gets from the ground to the consumer. The other shows how a computer gets made. More examples will be added in the future.

How food gets from ground to consumers

A person decides they want to become a farmer. It doesn’t matter what kind or what it is they want to farm. But let’s assume they know how to farm. They just need land, equipment supplies and people that will help.

This person contacts a coordinator. A coordinator is a person who, obvious by the name, coordinates and connects producers with similar desires and passions. We call people like these today “networkers”, “people brokers” and “connectors”.

The coordinator knows she will be rewarded NBR when she connects producers who create something that produces Net Benefit Value (NBV). NBV is what the algorithm calculates using data fed to it by researchers, scientists, statisticians and other experts. These people measure and collect data on what’s happening in the global society. They do this work because they know what they do creates a lot of NBV and so they will receive a lot of NBR for their work.

The coordinator knows when she connects producers and the producers create NBV, she’ll get NBR too because NBV is what the Copiosis society is all about. NBV means, value has been created that makes people and the planet better in net terms. If no NBV gets created nobody gets any NBR, including the coordinator. So everyone involved, if they want NBR, must ensure everyone else contributes to the end result: NBV creation.

So the coordinator is eager to hear our new producer’s idea. Let’s call this producer Tom the farmer. So Tom the farmer tells the coordinator he needs some land. In a different scenario, Tom might already know of someone, or he might have land himself. But let’s say he doesn’t have any.

But the coordinator knows of a landowner looking to offer land to someone willing to work it. The landowner knows that if he offers the land, and the land’s conditions are optimal and kept that way, he’ll get NBR too for the NBV he produces as a result of letting someone like Tom use his land. 

So the coordinator, let’s call her Sue, connects Tom to the landowner. Tom shows the landowner his plans. The landowner takes Tom on a land tour. The landowner is interested because he’s prepared his land on purpose for farming. He was waiting for exactly this kind of opportunity!

Good work Sue!

The Tom, the coordinator and the landowner declare, through their mobile devices, that an arrangement has been made between the Tom and landowner, with assistance from Sue, the coordinator. Now the Copiosis Organization knows everything it needs to know (so far) to distribute NBR to the parties.

Interestingly, the landowner’s land is 42 acres. Far more land than Tom can manage on his own, even with automation. Sue knows this too. So does the landowner. So, after their declaration, Sue suggests she help Tom source help.

She can do this in all kinds of ways, but let’s choose the following option: Sue uses the NBR opportunity group on Facebook, a clearing house where people looking for things they can do to create NBV can find such things. Facebook offers this clearing house. The people running that aspect of Facebook thereby create a lot of NBV. After all, they’re helping people find things they can do. So these people running the clearing house get NBR for providing that service. Sue BTW also gets more NBR for connecting Tom with Facebook.

In about a week, Tom not only has helping “hands” available, he also has equipment and seed and other things he needs to run his new farm. He got those the same way these folks came to help: everyone giving him resources he needs will get NBR for the NBV they help create.

Even utilities are provided to Tom at not cost to him. Why? Because everyone who contributes to Tom’s activity helps Tom create NBV. So everyone contributing will be rewarded NBR. Tom doesn’t reward them. The Copiosis Organization using the Copiosis algorithm rewards them.

Meanwhile, Tom doesn’t have to pay any utility bills, or meet a payroll. He doesn’t have to borrow money from a bank to buy equipment, or give equity to investors. Money doesn’t exist in Copiosis after all and yet everyone involved is sure of their ability to contribute to the overall NBV of Tom’s farm. 

So now Tom has everything he needs. He organizes all these resources and people in the way he sees fit. Let’s say he recognizes the talents of each person, so he let’s those people call the shots in the specific areas Tom and the people have agreed they will work. It could be organized another way, but that’s how Tom wants it.

Meanwhile, John Deere, the company providing the large farming equipment, dispatches a team that will ensure the equipment Tom’s team uses stays in tip-top shape. Why? Same answer: those people will get NBR for the NBV that looks like the John Deere equipment continuing to work…

…One season in, Tom has a yield of beets raring to go. His team harvested them in the manner they designed as a team. Tom meanwhile has gone out and worked with Sue to find stores that would be interested in stocking his beets. But she couldn’t find enough to take his entire harvest.

That’s ok. Tom is smart and this is just his first year. He’s already set aside a small portion of the remaining harvest for seeds for next season. He’s also contacted local school districts which are happy to take a portion of his harvest and serve the fresh beets to students via the kitchen. Tom also coordinated with Sue to set up a CSA where he can offer a portion of the remaining harvest to local families. Of the remaining portion of his harvest he arranged half of it to be combined with other produce Sue has organized to be shipped to India. The final half he’s arranged, with the help of the landowner, to go to a local dairy where it will feed cows.

All these decisions of Tom’s generates a lot of NBV. The Copiosis Organization has been collecting data on Tom’s operation since it started, so they know what’s going on. Researchers are feeding the algorithm with all these data and Tom starts seeing the NBR roll in. Same with Sue. Same with the landowner, same with John Deere and Facebook employees, same with people working alongside Tom.

Meanwhile, all kinds of consultants visit Tom’s farm. They offer Tom new ways to do framework that the consultants promise will increase NBV of Tom’s farm. Tom accepts some and rejects others. In other areas of the farm, Tom’s team accepts still other ideas from other consultants. Tom doesn’t know about this and really, Tom doesn’t care, so long as whatever changes happen increase rather than decrease NBV. Consultants who succeed in increasing the farm’s NBV of course also get NBR.

We still have beets headed to the stores, right? Let’s see how that works…

A third of the stores have their own distribution systems – driverless trucks sent out to collect products booked from producers upstream in the supply chain. That process is simple: the trucks arrive at Tom’s farm. Tom’s team loads the beets and declare transfer of ownership of said loads to the stores’ distribution operation. The store declares acknowledgment and off the trucks go.

They arrive at the store’s distribution center, which divvies up portions of the beets depending on predicted beet demand for each store. People monitoring this automated process (in the same way military drone pilots operate drones from a distance) create a lot of NBV moving products this way. So they’re being rewarded NBR. Meanwhile, people at Volvo, the company that makes the trucks, are creating a lot of NBV as they have trucks like these operating all over the world. In fact, maybe Volvo runs the monitoring and operating hub right there at their own headquarters on behalf of the stores. Or maybe in distributed centers in each timezone. Whatever the case, these people get rewarded NBR for all that NBV they’re creating moving all this stuff around. It’s more than beets for sure!

So the beets arrive at the store, back room workers unload the beets or if the operation is large, automated systems unload the trucks and move the beets into the stores. As that happens, the beets are weighed, tagged and accounted for as beets move along the supply chain to their final destination: the customers’ hands (or mouths).

Finally, clerks take the beets from the back into the shopping area and put them on stands with the right labeling and packaging. Those acts are NBV producing too, so those people get rewarded NBR.

For stores that don’t have automated distribution systems, it’s basically the same except there’s a driver in the truck. The driver may be an independent producer with his own truck, or may be part of the store driving the truck. These stores may be independents, small local stores owned by a family wherein the son drives a Ford F150. Let’s go with that.

So Jim, the store owner’s son, arrives at Tom’s farm with the F150. He greets Tom and tries a beet Tom had steamed beforehand. They’re delicious! Tom helps Jim load the baskets. Jim reports in his mobile device that Tom helped him so Tom will get a nice little bit of NBR for the NBV produced called “Jim not having to load the truck on his own.”

Jim also declares taking the prescribed amount of beets into his ownership. Tom declares releasing that same amount of beets into Jim’s ownership. So now Jim owns the beets. This declaration/transaction happens any time someone comes and takes possession of Tom’s beets.

Jim drives his truck full of beets to his dad’s store. He unloads them with help from his dad. Jim makes another declaration that his dad helped so his dad gets NBR for that kindness. His dad declared ahead of time that Jim went to fetch the beets, so when the beets arrive, Jim and his dad make a declaration completing the beet transportation transaction from Jim to his dad, accounting for the NBV created by Jim delivering beets to his dad.

That’s right, Jim gets NBR for transporting beets for Tom AND for his dad.

Jim also helps his dad stock the produce section with the beets and both his dad and he get NBR when consumers come in and walk out with beets. To be sure beets are available to everyone, Jim’s dad sets in their software system a limited amount that each consumer can have. That way Jim’s dad maximizes his NBR by distributing beets to as many customers as he can.

So Sally, a regular customer of Jim’s dad’s store, now wants some beets. She loves shopping at Jim’s dad’s store. Jim’s dad, let’s call him Clint, knows this so he sends an email or text to Sally letting her know beets are in. Sally appreciates this and makes a declaration of receipt of the message. That message benefitted Sally because she can now go get fresh beets! Clint just got some NBR for sending Sally the heads up.

Sally high-tails it to the store, goes in and Clint already has a bushel wrapped and ready for her at the counter. Sally makes another declaration about that nice gesture, which Clint confirms and Clint gets even more NBR in addition to the expected NBR for providing Sally beets.

Meanwhile, his store’s inventory system deducts that many beets from his inventory and transfers it to Sally. Clint gets more NBR for providing food to Sally and Sally puts a declaration in Clint’s reputation account for the pleasure of having her beets all ready when she got there.

How Copiosis Works: Building a computer

Computers are complex manufactured goods. Here is how such a product would be made in a Copiosis economy, generally. Many steps are left out for brevity (such as component and prototype selection and testing, quality assurance and inspection processes, focus group testing, manufacturing process testing and design, etc.) but these omitted process happen similar to the processes described below. Use your imagination! Fill in the holes. Contact us if you have a question, objection or “whadabout?”

The process is not much different than how a computer is designed today. Acountability and the reward process (i.e. distribution of wealth) differs though. But because of these differences, process decisions are much, much different than today.

Design teams would specify basic expected features users want. But they would not stop there. Their objective: maximize their own Net Benefit Rewards by maximizing the net benefit to consumers and the planet. So the design team would design a computer that minimizes negative environmental effects of building, distributing and using the computer, while packing it with as many other features as possible.

Because of this, this team obviously would be composed of far more people than coders and product engineers. This team would spec a computer that would last as long as possible, with parts that can be upgraded constantly through its life. The computer would likely also provide functions computers today do not, such as collecting biometric monitoring information that could benefit user health, for example.

It might also be designed for effortless end-of-life recovery and recycling.

A personal safety and security function might be included that could alert not only the user, but also authorities if unauthorized access or other privacy violation happens.

The manufacturing process would use the absolute minimum in resources and those resources would be of the most abundant possible. Sourcing those resources would be accomplished in the most sustainable manner as Net Benefit drives supplier activity as well as the design and manufacturing teams.

Now, you could say that is what happens today. However, with cost measured in money, that’s not what really happens. What happens is the least cost sustainable resource, process, labor and or design is usually the one that is used. Then scale is used to gain cost efficiencies: The more computers made, the more costs can be allocated to more units, thereby decreasing per unit costs, which equal larger profits.

Trade-offs between costs and the environment are always being made, often with the environment losing. That is why, for example, you see mountains of computer carcasses littering African cities and poisoning water, soil and people. It costs too much to include in the design an efficient way to reclaim old componentry.

In Copiosis, the computer maker isn’t constrained by cost because it doesn’t pay anybody for anything. Costs therefore don’t exist. So trade-offs aren’t needed. Suppliers are rewarded for the net benefit they create by contributing to the computer maker’s production process. This frees the computer maker to make the absolute best product possible with no regard for costs but with every regard for their process’ effect on the environment.

Once the design spec is near completion, the work would go to engineers (both on the software and hardware sides) who would begin designing these capabilities into code and into the hardware.

Meanwhile, supply chain coordinators would begin sourcing factories, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), tooling requirements, etc. for building the computer. They would coordinate with these contractors and suppliers to ensure their bill of materials and specs are met.

Suppliers and contractors, knowing their businesses better than the computer maker, would likely offer new compelling ways to improve the maker’s specs and processes. Thus making the computer making process even more efficient (i.e. even more positive net benefit producing). Coordinators might help the computer maker meet new suppliers and contractors with even better ideas.

Once relationships get set and process determined, materials and equipment get allocated.

One or more OEM factories might assemble/make parts. The OEM factory owner would offer her factory and, if chosen, she and her co-workers (there are no employees) would receive NBR for producing the computers once they begin rolling out of the factory.

Raw materials would be ordered – natural or existing materials would be converted to processed materials. Waste plastic, for example might be grinded up and converted to pellets that can be used to create computer housings, for example. At that step, everyone who was involved in collecting, grinding and turning waste plastic into new plastic substrate delivered to the factory, would be rewarded NBR once that processed material was delivered. They benefitted the factory (and society) by providing the net benefit of converting a waste stream into a useable material.

Once all materials arrived, the factory uses them to create the computer parts. Once complete, computer parts would be shipped to the assembly factory. Once those parts arrive at the assembly factory, everyone responsible for converting the natural and waste stream “raw” materials into computer parts would be rewarded NBR for the net benefit of enabling the computer maker to make computers.

At the assembly factory, the parts would be assembled into computers. The computers are then shipped to various locations where consumers can get them. Once the computers are consumed, i.e. being used by consumers in however way that looks, everyone responsible for creating those computers is rewarded NBR. This includes the people responsible for helping the consumers choose this computer.

The consumer likely does not own the computer, even though she can do whatever she wants with it. The computer maker decides whether its computers are Necessities, Capital Goods or Luxuries. But in every case, it’s likely the maker retains ownership and liability for end-of-use impact on the environment. Why? Because making sure that used computer doesn’t end up in the environment is a net-benefit producing action.

So long as the computers remain in use, everyone who contributed to the consumer benefitting from using that computer continues receiving a recurring periodic reward. Once that usage stops though, all recurring rewards cease. That means there’s strong incentive on everyone’s part that things they make not only provide maximum net benefit, they last too.

Upstream suppliers don’t receive this recurring reward stream. They benefit from the vast amount of net benefit they produce in providing the material going into huge numbers of parts and processes. So the plastics recycler, likely has thousands of consumers of their plastics, making them both a high net benefit producer and a very wealthy group of people.

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