Open source currency?

[skyfaller]

Also, I completely fail to understand what Douglas Rushkoff is suggesting here: open source currency.

Do I need to read his books or something for this concept to make sense? He seems to be suggesting that we need money that isn't controlled by the government, and that a model of money that is based on abundance rather than scarcity will enable an economy of collaboration rather than competition. What? Can someone point me to articles that will give me more specifics? (Naturally I will also be trying to Google this myself.) This article is just too vague for me to make sense of it.

Comments

[arctangent.livejournal.com]

Heard this before. All I can say is that it sure as fuck went sour real fast when Jackson tried to move us in that direction, and those were Americans that were supposedly more rugged and individualist and bred-on-freedom than us modern-day milksops -- and, what is more to the point, the economy moved at a much *slower* rate on much *smaller* scales where market shocks were much *less* of a threat than they are today. This is why the U.K., which was, back then, the actual economic superpower of the world, was never so insane as to try it.

If wildcat banking could send the U.S. into a constant boom-bust cycle for a whole century back then, imagine what it would do to today's economy. (And, keep in mind, this is money that's still technically promissory notes linked to a gold standard, not completely free-floating currency like we have today.)