We're at a crossroads

Here's a brief history of money and intellectual property, however Doug Rushkoff (who put me on to Terence McKenna) is not in his best media format to present his case in my opinion. 

He's evidently under time pressure to pack in almost a millennium of financial history into fifteen minutes. He's a writer first and I think Doug comes across in a much more persuasive (and idiosyncratic style) on his podcasts over at the media squat. He's also more funny when relaxed and mulling over the world than in this video.

I still think it's important because the substance is nuts and bolts rewiring of our economies. Something I've been eager to champion long before the economic crash grasped the stock exchange's new found ability to ventilate and throttle money supply now that credit is the new cash flow (or maybe it always was).

Like Doug, I've a healthy scepticism of the digirati's enthusiasm for free. I think Chris Anderson's free-thinking about free is a bit weightless because it largely applies to the digital aristocracy. That's white boy Gen X'ers like me who get a lot of free services from Google (even though I don't put their ads on here). 

I don't see how Moore's law and free chips can put food in the mouths of hungry people if I'm on a buck a day which is a billion or so people on the planet. Paradoxically they are more prepped for what Doug Rushkoff is talking about because exchanging value is a lot more easier to do with a cart of melons and a mobile phone. But it's still not free of course. Neither is barter but it does sidestep use of fiat currency.

One thing about this spanner in the freeworks thinking is that while Doug might not have put his latest book out on the net for free, as an electronic amuse gul if you will, he's been kind enough to let me read his latest book Life Inc which I think is one of the more influential books that tackles the notion that 21st century fiat currency is an operating system which is past its sell by date. You can check out the reviews and order Life Inc over here.

Via Daria

Square

Square is a new micropayment/mobile phone payment system by the co-founder of Twitter Jack Dorsey.  It raises an interesting question about trust which is something I want to write more extensively about soon because trust is something that works on many levels including the media we consume. TV is (generally) a more trustworthy media than the internet because it costs a lot of time and money to get a communication message onto mainstream media's traditional screen but in any case I think this could be the most disruptive business model to the credit card business ever. 

Which would be a good thing. 

I think Paypal have blown it by being greedy, slow and thinking like a 20th century business rather than trying to figure out how to be truly revolutionary which often involves waiting a bit and not screwing the customer.

What interests me is that Jack Dorsey has already shown with Twitter that he is much more interested in doing the right thing than squeezing any business venture for immediate profit or Twitter would be looking different than it does now. Because of this I immediately trust him and take this new business seriously. The picture above shows the 'dongle' require to make payments and which works with an iPhone or an iTouch. Japan is way ahead of the game on the built in micropayments system for their mobile phones and may explain why Twitter always seem to pilot ideas in Japan first, but you can read more about Square over here.

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You

I'm still on the back foot till the funds arrive, and while I was really having a rant at the authorities you took the bull by the horns and did what I needed. You've been brilliant, and I'm humbled by your kindness and generosity.

Now what are all these contextual ads for flights to Tuscany doing in my mail?

This is just a small sample of your Twitterpower and forgive me if I've neglected to respond properly yet in the comments or in my mail as I've tried to be diligent but at one point I was swamped by Disqus. Sam who has been brilliant, at doing, not talking is taking care of money administration over here and I will blog every penny I spend so you can see how it's working to get me out of this situation. I may be broke for a wee while but through your collective kindness, I  believe I'm a rich man that no bean counting can every quantify. Thanks so much again and again.

Designs on Money

It's not often I post up quality design over here but I think the new British coin designs are really good. Perhaps up there with those Dutch Notes that looked so fantastic prior to the adoption of the Euro.

The new designs have been chosen via an open competition three years ago which attracted some 4,000 entries. I'm really pleased that the winning designer is a young Brit of 26 years-old called Matthew Dent, originally from Bangor who now lives and works in London as a graphic designer.It pleases me that world class designers are still emerging in the UK and so young too.

Here's a Dutch example for those who remember having some beautiful cash in their hands before the Euro. Isn't it just brilliant and beautiful?

Via Core77