Mediacology readers know that I am a big fan of Douglas Rushkoff. His recent interview for WorldChanging is full of beautiful gems, but I’ll highlight one in particular, his insight that we unconsciously inhabit an architecture of centralized currency, and its fraking us big time.
WorldChanging: I’ve been hanging out with people who want to transform economic thinking – build an economy based on sustainability… “economics as if people mattered,” as Schumacher said. How do we get to that kind of transformation? It feels like we have to sell, but selling it is sort of antithetical to the intention.
Doug: I don’t think you can do it without first revealing the underlying biases and false assumptions of the money we’re using.
Centralized currency — invented during the Renaissance, really — favors the kinds of business practices and centralization of power that actually works against good, honest, local commerce. In short, it favors Wal-Mart over, say, Community Supported Agriculture.
There are other kinds of money – and they were in existence until they were outlawed by kings and queens looking to centralize authority. Money that is lent into existence by a central bank will tend towards scarcity and competition. Money that is earned into existence by people in a specific place has very different properties, and works on a model of abundance.
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