Editors note: We sometimes get great questions that merit sharing. This is one of those. Enjoy!
Who decides what is of value in your system?
Value is a problem we as a global society need to dispense with.
Initially, the Payers decide what is categorized as a Necessity and what is categorized as a Luxury. There are good reasons for this at the why is explained in detail in our Copiosis Bulletin “On Power.”
After the initial categorization of goods and services is considered “value” is in the eyes of the Consumer and so is a separate matter that doesn’t matter much in Copiosis. Payers pay based on results (benefits – consequences). We have yet to work out the details of the Net-Benefit algorithm, but the intent of the calculation is to account for as many criteria possible, both objective and subjective.
The bottom line is the only people who care whether the “value” is accurately measured are the person producing the good or service, and sometimes the person receiving the good or service. For example, you might be so amazed at the meal you just had, you want to send personal congratulations to the chef. Maybe you go home, or right there in the restaurant, whip out your mobile device and post a glowing review on Yelp, Foursquare, or tell your friends about it on Facebook. In Copiosis, you would want to make sure the chef be specially praised for providing such an amazing meal, so you would also let the Payer Organization know about your experience. That would influence their Net-Benefit payment to the chef for that pay period.
But in other places, my guess is you don’t really think much about the people who produced the good or service you consume. So, in most cases, the Producer is the person who cares most that the value is being recognized, since she perceives that her income is based on that. So she may or may not try her best to create “wow” experiences for everyone, every time, to get that customer bump. For the vast majority of products and services though, that’s tough.
Benefits – consequences is WAY more important. Societal resources (labor, resources such as minerals, trees, land etc.) being consumed when producing a product or service are quantified and subtracted from a similar quantification of the individual (the consumer) and societal benefits of consuming that product or service. It’s less about “value”, especially “consumer value” and more about actual costs. This is a critical difference between our innovation and Traditional Capitalism and why things we can’t seem to fix today, get fixed in Copiosis.
The scourge of consumer “value”
A couple examples: Today in capitalism, rhinoceros horns have TREMENDOUS VALUE for an EXTREME minority of the earth’s population considering all its inhabitants human and otherwise. As a result of the “value” this extreme minority places on these horns, people who provide those horns earn over $100K per horn. That leaves us today with no more Black Rinos on planet earth. They were declared extinct about 3 weeks prior to this question being addressed. We could go on a long time about the number of species, raw materials, and life-sustaining resources (such as the air and water) we are or have destroyed as a result of meeting “consumer value” run amok.
In Copiosis economies, we don’t care about consumer values so much. In the case of people wanting Rino horns for virility, poachers couldn’t get paid for poaching these poor animals, because the loss of Rinos (i.e. extinction) is too great compared to a minority of people wanting to increase their libido.
The only reason why we currently don’t have consensus on the value of species vs. a minority of consumers and their perceived value of their body parts is because people earn a living cutting the faces off of Rinos, fins off sharks or providing opportunities for other people to kill “trophy” animals for sport.
Now, some people really want that horn. Some people really want to eat shark fin soup. If they really want that horn, or that soup in a Copiosis economy, they can TRY to go get it themselves. That person can go out to sea or the savannah and source their own. Most people will not want to do that. The people who currently do do it only do it because they know someone will pay them for it. And they believe it’s the only thing they can do to earn that money, which allows them to live the kind of life they hope to live.
In a Copiosis economy, they won’t do it because they won’t need to: They are living much wealthier lives as all their Necessities are being provided. And, there are plenty other more productive things they can do to earn money to enjoy the finer things. Such as playing with their kids, teaching people how to make nets, or whatever their passion might be.