Constant Flux

The Blorg are a bunch of exocortex wearing neohippie infoanarchist hackers who go around liberating information, and sampling all the nootropics in the world. Their motto is “Free love and information, dude.”

One fine day, you help one of them out a tight spot. “Thanks man. The collective owes you one. Any time you need a favor, ask any of us.”

You never see him again, but suddenly all of them recognize you and greet you by name. You’ve been added to their centralized face/gait/RFID/aura recognition system. It’s a bit creepy, but they seem harmless.

You ask one of them about the favor. “We use a type of mutual credit system to keep track of money and reputation”, she says.

You are not familiar with the concept. An androgynous person clears their throat and says: “It is similar to LETS. I do something for someone. They credit me. They now owe the collective, and the collective owes me. Since everybody either owes the collective, or the collective owes them, we pay off one another.”

You wonder how the collective can owe you if you’re not one of them. “System not closed… tribe-collective can… interact with the external system… does not have a zero-sum value… Torvalds or… Stallman… has great reputation… with tribe-collective…” a somewhat spaced out guy tells you.

You don’t really understand. A tall woman elaborates: “The tribe can take on jobs. This increases the tribe’s value in the external economic system. It also increases the value in the tribe of the members who do the work. When the tribe spends resources on a member, their reputation drops. They who contribute the most, have the most reputation. When someone externally does something of value for the tribe, they also gain reputation in the tribe. If someone like Torvalds joined, he’s be an instant tribal elder.”

You ask about tax. “Tax? What an antediluvian concept. We don’t do tax. How can you tax favors?” a teenage boy crows.

“You have asked many questions, and we have given many answers. We have repaid our debt.” a sober man tells you. The collective ignores you again. You feel a bit lonely. They’re an interesting bunch.

Maybe you can find another one who you can do a favor for…

NOTE: Mutual credit systems exist, though they usually stick to tracking just money. South Africa even has it’s own Community Exchange System.