I’ve never been to preoccupied with money myself — I’m more inclined to give it away when I have it (and bum it off friends when I don’t) than think about where it comes from or where it’s going to. I guess I always took it to be a force of nature, like a hurricane or a volcanic eruption. But economic systems, just like the church, the state, marriage and punk rock music, change with the times and with technology. And in a period of accelerated change, such as we are seeing now, systems that have generally remained relatively stable could be transformed seemingly overnight.
As a sort of “armchair philosopher” I’m fascinated by the possible sci-fi worlds that seem to be opening up around us with every new technological breakthrough, modern art movement, war and permutation of corporate greed — these are the things that inform my writing and my sometimes grim world view. The latest thing to really jump out at me was Julian Dibbell’s “The Decline and Fall of an Ultra Rich Online Gaming Empire,” the story of an ex-child actor who went on to make millions in the virtual gold trade.
Of course, Bucky Fuller’s Spaceship Earth hipped you to the fact that real wealth is a measure of man’s ability to create, and that it is infinite. Somewhere he defined wealth as human “know-how and know-what” — meaning that all state currency is little more than “virtual gold.” And just like industry in meatspace, the virtual gold trade is not without controversy, with young people in China working 12 hours a day, seven days a week, trolling Ultima Online, World of Warcraft and the like to harvest virtual goods for affluent gamers worldwide.
[Check out: "The Decline and Fall of an Ultra Rich Online Gaming Empire" here.]
[The full text of Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth by R. Buckminster Fuller is available here.]
[Read "Ogre to Slay? Outsource It to Chinese" here.]
Filed under: economics , buckminster fuller, operating manual for spaceship earth, trade, ultima online, virtual gold, virtual reality, world of warcraft
