Ideas 37...Utopia, the Financial Aspects, Stages 1 & 2

I include photos of Dubai, part of the UAE (United Arab Emirates) to show what can be achieved when you don't have an apathetic, bureaucratic, incompetent multi party democracy.

I believe in a world technocracy now. I have thought about this for thirty years, and now realise that if it does not happen soon, then it is likely that it will never happen, since the human race is developing technologies that governments are in no shape to control.

Western governments' have gleefully joined the global economy, but do they fully understand the implications of that? This has allowed their manufacturing base to wither as companies are encouraged to relocate to expanding new markets in developing countries. In the US, heavy industries vanish leading to entire neighbourhoods being abandoned, much of it still under mortgage, and then demolished by local authorities almost overnight. This leads to the sub-prime mortgage fiasco, namely the mixing of good mortgages with too much bad, which creates the credit squeeze, and of course higher energy and food prices. The latter caused partly by higher transport, processing and fertilizer costs. We saw this economic instability during the Arab spring of 2011 and now due to the war in the Ukraine in 2022.

Sub-prime mortgage lending and credit default swaps in the United States are creating problems in the world's banking system due to the spreading of risk to other banks, making containment impossible. Since no one knows where this risk lies, suspicion has created a credit squeeze which could not only create a world recession, but also a global banking collapse and depression. The deregulation of the banking sector, which in the 1960s was based upon the concept that 'my word is my bond,' where mortgage lending was restricted to 2.5 times the borrower's salary, has instead created something akin to Las Vegas in the City of London and elsewhere. Failure to pay workers enough and provide them with secure employment is the fundamental reason why this sub-prime exists in the first place. It is a problem created by clueless monetarist governments that refuse to accept the fact that automation is destroying jobs worldwide, making the provision of job security impossible for employers to provide. All government's want is greater productivity, which basically means, promote unpaid overtime and work during your holiday entitlement, as do many Americans.

In my last debit card arrangement which was created without my authorization, the bank deducted the money from my account, even though I had told them in writing, weeks before, not to do so. This is the second time this year I have had to put up with theft at board room level, when using this card. Because of their negative mindedness, UK companies hate training, which results in managers being created who are incapable of communicating with their workforce. Hence the poor customer care. This negative thinking, coupled with an inability to communicate, are the major reasons why we play second fiddle to the Americans and Japanese. Also, our top ranking scientists quit the EU for the USA because they are sick of our negative, ignorant, antiquated, bureaucratic, callous, corrupt and opportunistic political system. Better to hand over your inventions to a government and society you have more respect for, a situation known for decades as the brain drain.

The only way to resolve this problem is to install a professional management system that works well. The solution is to replace managers with computer based instructions. The management team that creates the instructions don't meet the operators. This removes friction and abuse from the workplace. (Although it didn't for one of NASA's Skylab crews) Since in a command economy only approved companies will be allowed to exist, the board of directors can also be replaced by a computerized national business plan. This would be maintained by HMG's Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, supported by business intelligence agencies whose duty would be to monitor the global economy, looking out for business opportunities.

It is plainly obvious that the global financial system, embracing capitalism, is a threat to the future of the human race. It is therefore necessary to phase it out. Replacing it with a utopian ideal, based upon AI and self sufficiency. Initially the economy would be a dual system, a controlled capitalist global economic system managed entirely by the central bank, known as stage 1, and a non-monetary science based society managed by the world technocracy, known as stage 2. This proposed financial system requires a leap of faith, for as far as I know, nothing like it has ever existed, or been proposed before. It is designed to reduce crime and ensure that wealth is distributed evenly across all races, an egalitarian world. People would stay in the capitalist system, stage 1, until their personal debts had been paid off, in order to prevent an uncontrolled collapse of the capitalist system which could result in the disintegration of civilisation. They would then be transferred to the non-monetary science based society, stage 2. Persons unable to pay off their debts within twenty years would be automatically transferred to stage 2. Due to advances in technology, where automation, AI and androids have taken all the jobs, stage 1 may not be feasible, requiring entire nations to transfer immediately to stage 2. Such transfers can only take place if a referendum in that nation permits.

In a technocracy, in both stage 1 and stage 2, everyone is paid and employed full time by the government. It is a form of universal benefit linked to employment and compliance. There is no unemployment, therefore no welfare benefits. Everyone will work within their physical and mental capability. There is no retirement in a world frequented by immortals. The working week will be as long as that decided by government. To build the civilisation described here within a reasonable timescale of say ten years would no doubt require no more than forty hours of work per person per week, because most people at the moment are either under employed or engaged in work incompatible with countering global warming. In addition it is not in a government's interest to see long periods of inactivity lead to mischief and crime. In most cases, including government, you work no more than two years in the same job. Employers have the right to recall essential workers from other employers, as arranged with the government.

Stage 1 is a controlled capitalist based system, whilst stage 2 is neither capitalist nor communist, it is a non-monetary utopian ideal within a global economy. In stage 1 all savings and debt are converted from their original currency to electronic global dollars (EG$). The financial dealings between governments and companies in stages 1 would be in electronic global dollars only. There would be no bank notes and coins. There would be no borrowing of any kind. Personal wealth would be limited to half a million EG$, the universal currency. The minimum period for stock ownership would be seven years, in order to stabilize stock markets.

Under stage 1, Governments would use the Gaia to finance projects. Individual earnings would be paid directly into a state pension account. Individuals would only have access to a small part of these earnings. The state pension account's prime purpose is to pay off existing debt. All of their needs would be provided by the state in the form of training, employment, evening leisure venues, personal dates, holidays, etc. Their earnings, including previous savings and value of property owned, would be accumulated in the state pension account. Once their debts, etc. had been paid off, these people would then be transferred to stage 2, should they so wish.

Multi-millionaires would be encouraged to give away their wealth, just like Bill Gates, or see the state spend it. HMG would maintain a policy of preventing people from accumulating too much wealth. This being a prime cause of poverty, because wealth is currently not being spent by rich people in sufficient amounts in order to stimulate the economy in stage 1. The average debtor would be allowed to supplement there income by employing electricity generating technology installed on the roof with the intention of paying off mortgages, but I doubt whether there would be sufficient electricity demand to make the scheme work considering the huge number of homes involved, even if companies were banned from generating power, and contaminating power stations shut down. Consumption of fossil fuels would be phased out. The natural gas grids could be converted to transport fresh water.

There also needs to be a maximum working wage of no more than four times the national minimum wage in order to reduce the gap between rich and poor, and to spread wealth further, in both stages 1 and 2. No one should be allowed to leave education without having first reached the first rung of the qualification ladder. Qualifications must match a person's field of employment. In the following table EG$1 = 1 hours work at base rate. During the industrial revolution some industrialists issued their own currency, so this is a system that is known to work. Since time is an internationally recognized constant, their will be no inflation. As an incentive, salary scales should be as follows:

In stage 2 everyone is paid in SPEVs (Specific Person Electronic Vouchers). There is no money, no banknotes, no coins and no electronic money for the general population. SPEV's are rather like US welfare vouchers, but are more sophisticated. They cover the purchase of food (where none is grown by your extended family - see biomes), clothing, utilities, holidays, day excursions, concerts, theatre, etc. All transactions are via your bio-mobile phone or bio-identity card. In order to motivate workers to become more professional, SPEV's would come in four grades, basic, technician, professional, executive and intellectual. These would dictate which star rating of hotel you would use whilst on holiday for instance, and the frequency of those holidays. Such status would have to be earned, not necessarily linked to your job. It would be earned by completing successfully set tasks, or even exceeding them. Punctuality and positive thinking (a form of brain washing) would be influential in that aim. Everyone wears a uniform, the style indicating what star rating the wearer has. This is similar to how some video games work, in order to motivate and hold onto players. Your star rating would be reviewed annually. The user could display the value of an item not just in SPEVs, but also in any former currency, probably US$, at the last realistic exchange rate.

This constitution needs to be flexible, with updates made by AI as technology and hence working practices change. Inevitably, over time the human race will be modified due to advances in bio-engineering, in order to compete with AI. Human society will become not just more intelligent but also more disciplined. Responsible behavour will be hard wired into the brain, for good or bad. This is what happens when a species, doesn't know when to stop evolving, as in the case of humans.

Of course what makes a good civilisation depends upon what good ideas are out there. In many cases, the place to find them is in research labs, exhibitions and the world expo, of which there have been many over the years.

In stage 2 the only buyer in the new economy would be the government. An ecologically based purchasing system would be employed consisting of two values, namely the time it takes to make a product and the total amount of energy consumed in making it. Time would be in man hours, whilst energy would be measured in kWh (kiloWatt hours) e.g. 4.5mh~15.27kWh. Time is not the total amount of hours worked times number of people, but the total time of a process. Government would then select the product that displayed the least time~energy consumption in its manufacture. These units would be called a Gaia.

In stage 2 the economy would be centred on the mass production of biomes, large enough to house about ten adults and most of their means of food production. Since the occupants would be immortal and 'sterilized' there would be no children. The domes of the biomes would be fitted with LED's, rather like the Yas Marina (F1) Circuit in the Abu Dhabi, middle east, but it would be programmable to display images such as holiday themes, accompanied by digital sound. The accommodation would be first class for all, in order to create an harmonious environment, as well as to encourage initial acceptance of the scheme. The community would include a gymnasium, swimming pool and sailing yacht basin linked by canal to the sea. There will be about five or six elevated accommodation modules, rather like the Nissan Smart House (NSH-2012) to enable hydroponics and fish farming underneath. The central module will be for public activities and control of building services. Meat will be from chickens, rabbits and the fish farm, with the production of artificial meats, similar to Quorn, later. Artificial meats also have the advantage of ensuring that they are not contaminated by feed stock and drugs the way cattle were in the BSE scandal, with no animal odours, making it more residentially acceptable. The less farm animals exist, the better the chance of protecting wildlife and water quality. Each biome would have a Sun tracking photo-voltaic array (PVA) and each community a wind turbine to generate electricity, plus an air taxi landing pad. It would include fresh water extraction where practical and waste water treatment.

These electricity generators would be connected to a super conducting global electricity grid. Water would also be obtained from a global water grid which would also be used to irrigate desert regions, either for the production of grains, etc., or to support wild life reserves. To reduce utility networks biomes would be located in a line near the coast and other awe-inspiring landscapes otherwise known as intellectually stimulating environments, mostly in warm regions, but where the heat does not adversely affect food production and PVA efficiency. The biomes would be designed for quick erection since one billion of them would be required at the present count.

Note. When androids become practical, the forces of capitalism will dictate that millions of these will be produced. What will they be used for? If we do not have a world technocracy by then, we will witness another arms race employing AI that is likely to lead to world war three. The only way to absorb the production of millions of androids is on construction projects that would terraform the planet. This would probably mean absorbing people from the third world into the developed world, as a way of fast tracking them out of poverty. Through racial integration, these people would act as a catalyst, creating an atmosphere of true humanitarian union.

Once the family had saved a specific amount, they would qualify for stage 2, where they would be shipped off to an even higher standard of living in communities which had embraced the utopian ideal. They would be replaced by people from the third world into stage 1. Land owned by these migrants in the third world would be transferred to central government ownership and eventually developed by major corporations, as mining concessions, nature reserves, plantations, etc. By rotating the population across the globe, a human melting pot is created. By keeping money out of circulation, opportunities for crime are greatly reduced. There would be only one central bank, regulated by expert systems software and AI. There would be no money to finance gambling, including speculation (currencies, shares, property), commodities (oil, gold), futures (market trends), credit derivatives including credit default swaps (insurance), etc., since there would be no financial institutions other than the central bank, which in effect would be a data centre for the management of SPEV's. There would be no money to finance alcohol, vice, terrorism and wars.

In stage 2 there would be no welfare benefits and no retirement, except on the grounds of severe ill health. Meals would be eaten at home in the morning and evening. There would be no fast food outlets and cafes, whilst perks in the form of restaurant meals would be provided through SPEVs, managed by government. From now on one would be encouraged to attend sport, hobby and cultural events, by paying people to do so. By controlling the food supply, one controls the masses. From now on there would be no escaping big brother. The price for order.

In the UK limited companies would have to employ a minimum of ten thousand people, since only large companies can provide job security, training, decent working conditions, social amenities, etc. The government would provide personnel to companies on a project basis, ensuring that everyone is directly and permanently employed.

Stage 2 employs no currency. Tendering employs Gaia instead, whilst individuals are paid in SPEV's. All construction and manufacturing is decided by central government. Companies are allocated contracts decided by AI. It works out the man hours and kilowatt hours, and recruits resources accordingly. It is all based upon production control methods and not on financial control. Personnel are recruited via the Global Curriculum Vitae Centre (GCVC) and Skillcentres. All projects would have to be approved by the Department of Ecology.

A world technocracy (meritocracy) with a global command economy with built in personal incentives, is clearly the way to go. Once a world technocracy has been achieved, the resources presently spent on armaments can be employed to terraform the planet using people and armies of androids. Problems with health, housing, education and communications would finally be a thing of the past.

In 2021 the richest person in the UK is Sir Leonard Blavatnik from the Ukraine, whose wealth increased £7.2 billion to £23 billion that year. There are now 171 billionaires in the UK whose total wealth rose 21.7 % in the financial year 2020/21 to a total £597.2 billion. It is the duty of multi-millionaires and billionaires to generate jobs for others. Unfortunately much of this wealth is simply invested in company stock, government guilts, commodities and gambled on the futures market. Such a financial system is not bettering the quality of life of most people on this planet. Anyone who cannot see from this a good reason to give the global financial system a huge makeover, is clearly unfit to be a politician or economist.

It must be plainly obvious to most people that the day of reckoning is not far off. As people's debts rise due to damage from global warming, fuel and food price escalation due to the Russo-Ukraine war, and bankruptcy due to cutthroat competition from IT companies whose business model is based upon maximum profit decided by AI and quantum computing, to the detriment of everything else, clearly someone has to confront the governments' of the world with the implications before there is a total collapse of civilisation. Someone has to go to the United Nations and tell its member states, that due to huge national debts, the world must either adopt a global currency or SPEVs. When will we have a politician bold enough to make that speech?