Marta Dahlstrom
This article will provide a brief introduction to the economic system of New Gaia.
Our planet’s founders believed strongly in the principle that in a healthy society, every person contributes to the best of their ability and every person takes exactly and only as much as they need. We have developed an intentional economic system that attempts to mirror that philosophy. I will discuss both planet-level and individual-level economics.
Planet
New Gaia is part of the federation of the 100 Worlds, and we welcome trade with all our fellow members. As we know, trading of bulk materials, or really of any tangible goods at all, is generally impractical across interplanetary distances given the physical limitations Alçubierre technology places on the volume of objects that can be transported. Rather, most trade is in services, tourism, and various forms of information. New Gaia exports a wide variety of remotely-performed commercial and consumer services, scientific research and inventions, and artisanal goods, as I will describe below. We import technical devices (or rather, 3D templates for them together with the rights to 3D-make them) and a variety of terraforming goods and equipment.
One common type of information traded is templates for on-planet manufacture of goods using 3D makers. However, creating useful, detailed templates from scratch in a computer can be extremely difficult, and often it is easier for an artisan to create a particular artifact–say, a wooden table–from real-world materials and then 3D scan it. This approach is widely used by New Gaia’s many artisans.
Individual
Trades are consummated by individuals, and payment accruing for goods or services sold off-planet go to an individual’s account. Similarly, on-planet transactions transfer account balances between individuals. Thus, if I buy a basket of purberries at a market booth in Fentral, the price is deducted from my account and added to the vendor’s account. Note, however, that unlike a capitalist system, the vendor makes no attempt to charge me more than the berries cost, because she has no need for profit. Her incentive to grow the berries and go to the trouble of selling them to me is largely altruistic. She is “contributing to the best of her ability” to our society.
So why have individual accounts at all? Because it gives us some discretion and responsibility in managing our own daily affairs. Account balances are public knowledge, and we all try to maintain a positive balance. If we don’t, we know we may not be contributing our fair share. If our account is large, we feel worthy.
On the other hand, when we fall on hard times–illness, say–or we encounter an unusually large expense–a trip to Earth, for example–we turn to the community for help. The process is called a Panel. If someone needs money, he puts out a request on the net for volunteers, and right at that moment an ad hoc committee, called a Panel, is formed via video links. The person explains what the money is needed for, and the panel votes. If the request is approved, the money is generated by reducing every citizen’s individual account by a tiny amount calculated by dividing the total amount by the total number of citizens. Later, any unused money is returned.
In conclusion, New Gaia’s system is not perfect, and we are open to ideas for improvement over time. Yet the system does seem to fit well with our founders’ values and it has served used reasonably well during our first century of organization.
DOUG WALKER WRITES 