Social Capital

I’ve gotten more insight into how the trading ideas mentioned in the last post could be implemented.  It could be based on the concept “you’re doing it anyway”.  You need to get milk for your morning coffee.  When you go shopping you check your phone and pick up however much milk it tells you to. You take your milk and drop the rest off at a nearly collection point to be delivered (like the lunch pail system mentioned in the last post). You would be credited with the extra cost of the food.

You would have a done a service and will earn some fair compensation.   I think the easiest method would be determined by the amount of money that was spent but I figured that would best be worked out later by the people who are willing to try the system out.  If you wanted to earn more for going to the store you could buy additional items that your phone tells you to.  The fair compensation could be to have the equivalent amount of food delivered to you over time.

We need a delivery system for this to work.  It can be based on “you’re going there anyway”.  You need to go somewhere and you tell your phone where.  You are directed to go to certain locations along the way to pick up and deliver the food or whatever item is wanted.  In these cases you have to do some extra work but you could save much more overall.  This also could naturally serve as ride sharing. You drive once a week instead of all five days.  Maybe the ride home is combined with the food sharing system and you get a hot dinner to take home.

The value of everyone’s efforts and contributions will be counted.  Just like a credit score people would have a social capital account with the sum total of their contributions to the common good. Even helping one person counts.  I think that the compensation should be to have access to whatever food, goods, perks that the society has somehow based on your SC number.  Your SC doesn’t go down when you “buy” something.  Let’s use food for example.  Everyone is entitled to healthy and nutritious food.  So the first thing that the society needs to do is make sure that it has enough food for its members.  It shouldn’t be too hard to secure or grow the basic staples that people need to survive.  Basic food should always be in supply.  Anything above that is has to be distributed.

Luck always has a lot to do with someone’s success so I suggest the basics and perks should be doled out based on a lottery system.  Your odds are based on your SC number but anyone can get anything.

There would be an incentive to contribute as you would want to keep up with your neighbors just like what happens a volunteer event.  It naturally creates value and an increase of the overall wealth of the community which you would get an fair share of.  It would obviously take a lot of work and hopefully few other rules to set this up.  It might work really well.

Jobs

I saw “The Internship” recently.  In it two guys in their mid-forties are trying to get hired at a high tech company.  They have to compete against twenty year tech-savvy geniuses to win a job position.  They triumph because they are in a movie but it’s sad to think of all the real people finding themselves in that situation.  The young people aren’t much better off. Even though a lot of them are very smart and hard working, many can’t get a job. They also have the stress of the loans for their over-priced college degrees.  Credentials they couldn’t do without to have any chance of success or so they have been told many times.  I don’t think this the best way for us to organize ourselves to provide for our needs. I suggest we take a look at the cooperative interactions that could be set up using smart phones.  I can see setting up systems similar to the primitive bicycle based food delivery system that has been used in India for decades.  It gets a warm lunch from home to working men every working day.  A guy on a bike comes to the house late morning and collects a metal lunch bucket that the wife has packed.  The bucket has a row of dots on the side perhaps six of various colors.  The bucket is put on a bamboo pole and carried with a bunch of other buckets to a central meeting point.  The buckets are collected and switched according to the colored dots.  They end up being carried by a guy who can deliver all the ones that go to specific job site or area.  It happens very quickly, efficiently and on a vast scale.

Smart phones could have apps designed that would allow us to do things for each other and be fairly compensated.  Just as there are now micro-transactions that people use to buy small things there could be a system of tracking favors and trades.  In many cases you would be paid by someone doing the exact same task you had done for someone else.   Bought a bag of cat food when they had run out.  Delivered a truckload of boxes full of the things that had been bought and switched around like the Indian lunch pails.  It would not be a money making enterprise.   I don’t know how to set up keeping track of the relative value of things but I’m sure other people that would like to try this out will eventually help.  I can see that it could be very easy to set up small and make a start.  It looks to me that ride and food sharing would be reasonable things to try.  I don’t see a limit to what needs could be taken care of ultimately.  It would also provide a huge opportunity to meet people and maybe even be the seed for real communities.   That’s one meaning of the word “pod” in Pod Cities.

Writing This

I’ve been having a rough time writing this blog on a regular basis.  I know the things I want to say but avoid sitting down at the computer to write them down.  I have a lot of ideas to share and they really should be put out there.  I know that if I was working with a coach they would make sure that I would stick to a committed schedule.  Probably most people who want to achieve something would benefit from coaches and advisers and before too long a personal assistant.  It’s a big deal for us to have these things.  Pod Cities would be set up to provide whatever help someone wanted as a matter of course.  You are basically your own company and you sell your services or trade your time with others.  You would get whatever support you needed from coaching to accounting in exchange for time, a share of the profits, or both. 

Getting started

I had said that I thought starting companies would be the best way to fund the development of actual communities.  Before we get to that point there are many other options.  One of the Pod City goals was to have food handled with healthier food and a much more efficient and enjoyable preparation/distribution system.  I can see that an initial step would be to set up food sharing groups.  Maybe people get together on a regular basis to share meals and discuss all the things that will need to be worked out for the goal of provided a better living system.  Another option would be to invest in vacation homes together.  Like a time share that is actually put together by the residents.  I hope that I will get some interest and discussions going on this blog.  I realize though that I might have to go out and target people I want to work with and try to pull them in.  I will post any positive steps that I take as one of the purposes of this blog is to serve as a record of what actually happens.

Air Power

The ultimate goal of this blog is to facilitate the creation an actual physical community.  That is going to require land, buildings, infrastructure, etc.  Where will the money needed to make this happen come from?  I figure that the most likely way will be for us to start companies that will produce what we and the rest of the world needs.  I am very interested in the prospects for the use of compressed air as an energy system.  I can see so many advantages and possibilities for this that I am positive that other people will want to be a part of it.  We will be able to create an economic powerhouse that will fund the creation of these totally new, exciting, and of course sustainable communities.  

When power systems were first being set up there were two competing electrical systems, Edison’s direct current (DC) and Westinghouse and Tesla’s alternating current (AC).  Luckily for us merit won out that time and we have a very efficient power grid.  However there was a third alternate that was briefly considered and that was for compressed air to be used.  I will go into what this could look like and the various advantages in future posts but probably the most important one is that energy can be stored extremely cheaply as compressed air until needed.  Energy storage has been the most problematic issue with renewable energy sources.  The sun goes down at night and the wind doesn’t always blow or usually blows at night when power isn’t needed as much.  The holy grail necessary for solar and wind energy to be fully implemented is the ability to store it until needed.  I believe compressed air will be the most viable solution to this problem.  Battery systems, flywheels, elevated water storage, etc. will not be able to compete.  

A few days ago the California PUC mandated that utilities would need to buy more than 1.3 gigawatts of energy by 2020.  That is expected to fuel the development of storage technologies.  As far as I know no one else is talking about using compressed air systems for energy storage.   I expect that they will be in the near future. 

  

Help Wanted

I first started thinking about large intentional communities in the mid-1970’s.  I realized that if I got to  a critical mass of interested people, say 100,000 that would probably be enough to build a new the self sufficient community that was my ultimate goal.  I didn’t know how I would reach these people at the time but am very grateful that now, when I’m actually ready to move forward, the internet makes reaching and connecting people easy.  Just as the technology shows up as needed to help this venture move forward I fully expect some dedicated, talented and hopefully enlightened people to decide to join in.   I have realized that I am the idea guy.  My job is to have and hold to the vision of what is to be.   The skill sets of many others are going to be needed.  To those who are interested in supporting this I’m looking forward to meeting you and to introducing you to each other.  I promise it will be very interesting.

Twofer Principle

Over the years I’ve had various insights on how things could be set up in more reasonable and enjoyable ways.  Some of these are basic principles on how pod cities could be structured.  One of these is that systems should try to achieve two or more benefits at the same time.  If something easily lends itself to that, it is an indication to me that it is on the right track.

An example of this is how we set up work.  I suggest that we replace traditional jobs with a task based process.  The task could be simple and short lived such as helping staff a catering event or it could be complicated and go on for years like working on the design of a new passenger jet.  A system could be set up to arrange teams to get the job done but in addition people would be put together with folks that they would be likely to have an affinity with, sort of like a dating website.  I can’t think of a better way for people to develop significant friendships and romantic relationships than working together. 

Pod Blogging Again

I’m going to start posting entries to this blog on a weekly basis.  I have a lot of ideas that I want to express and have realized that the best way to actually get them out is commit to post regularly.  It will probably be a lot of unconnected  and random stuff but hopefully with the help of others it will all somehow come together.  I’m excited to see what happens.  Good luck to all of us.

Robert

Energy Crisis?

I don’t believe in the concept of a scarcity of energy.  If you look around, it is apparent that there is an incredible abundance of energy on our world.  The warmth of the sun that you feel on your face is also falling on vast areas on the planet.  We’ve seen that wind and waves have enough power to demolish our cities.  I’ve seen videos of lava pouring out of volcanoes and of Mt. St. Helens exploding.  The energy we need is there but we have not found a way to harness it.

 In my opinion, all of the world’s energy needs could be met by sustainable means alone.  Furthermore, I would bet any one of the natural sources, solar, wind, wave, hydro, or geothermal could provide for all of our energy needs.  I have been working on various inventions to harness this energy and intend to set up socially based companies to produce them.

I am curious to hear your thoughts on the matter and welcome your comments.

Capitalism vs. Everlasting Lightbulbs

I’ve heard a rumor that it’s possible to create light bulbs that don’t burn out, and that in fact, one of the first light bulbs ever made is still burning.  If this is true, then why aren’t we able to buy everlasting light bulbs?  It seems like the light bulbs that are sold are purposely designed with a limited life so that the manufacturers can sell more light bulbs.  This creates a tremendous amount of unnecessary waste.

Think about the amount of light bulbs you’ve purchased in your life.  Multiply that by the billions of other people that buy light bulbs.  Now consider the packaging as well, the time spent going to the store, and the sometimes treacherous task of installing them.  Isn’t there a better way of doing this without wasting these resources?

In the capitalist system, where financial profit is the driving force, it doesn’t make sense to offer light bulbs that don’t burn out.

In England, when automatic knitting machines came out, people rioted because of job loss.  In Pod Cities, when you create a machine that puts people out of work, that’s a good thing.  There is always another way for those people to participate and contribute.

Social capitalism seeks to maximize production while minimizing waste.

Pod Cites operates on the concept that there is a way of getting everyone’s needs fulfilled.  If there is more demand for a certain product, rather than just raising the price for that product, the system would be set up automatically to increase the supply so that everyone is fulfilled and happy.

How is this possible?  Stay tuned.