Hi Terri, thank you for posting.

As to making you want to scream: my bad.

But I am glad that you posted. As you’ve already gathered some of the things I say are deliberately provocative because I’m trying to promote dialogue. I wish more people would completely disagree with what I’m saying.

Initial comment: I suppose I could have explained the theory of resource-based economies in more detail but I wanted as brief a summary as possible, and since the central tenet of the Project is to move towards a resource-based system that will create “abundance” I don’t think my characterization was that far off. But maybe it is.

Computers: unfortunately I think the Project may have been sabotaged by some of its supporters on this one who tend to address any potential difficulty with “but we’ll have the technology to solve that by then”.

Especially since the Project site says this:
“It is doubtful that in the latter part of the twenty-first century people will play any significant role in decision-making.”

Ouch.

As to the blog feeding me: it doesn’t make any money. None at all :( I’ve been trying to get google ads but I’m having trouble installing a left sidebar.

Anyway, I use the examples of Hummers etc. because they are possessions that people can relate to (at least at the moment). This part of my critique of the Project can be broken down into 2 points:
1) People as they are right now will still want their material possessions, right or wrong, this is how people feel at the moment.
2) So if you want to move to a resource-based economy, away from a filthy capitalist one, you will have to convince people to change.

But some people will always want to stay how they are, and I believe that there will always be people who want their own possessions. It has been this way throughout human history, I don’t see how it could be completely eliminated without brainwashing, and I haven’t gotten a good explanation of how the mental change would happen or how people who refuse to change would be dealt with.

A more potent criticism is the fact that you can’t legislate away demand. That is what my artist example is about. The only point of it is this: there will always be a shortage of SOMETHING, and if there isn’t then people can create one. As soon as that happens you have an mini-economy based on scarcity, exactly what the project is trying to avoid.

Also: removing money won’t remove greed, it will just remove greed for money and replace it with greed for other things. People will get greedy for attention, for sex, for power (yes, there will still be power as long as people are making decisions. It can be benign power but it’s still power.). Hunter/Gatherer communities are essentially resource based, and while one can argue that they are far healthier (in terms of greed etc.) than we are they still have their own greed. People get jealous over other people’s wives, or prestige or influence.

You can’t blame that on Capitalism, what Capitalism does is harness it (and make it worse).

Lastly, an artist doesn’t have to be a “Capitalist” in order to want to get something out of their art. EVERYONE looks for some sort of satisfaction from what they do, right? Removing money won’t change that, it will just change it to desire for other things.

In my artist example the artists’ work has become desirable and this gives her a chance to request something that other people don’t have access to. Let’s say she wants a home in a location where all the homes are taken, so she barters some of her paintings to convince someone to move. That’s Capitalism, except with the money taken out. And it will be impossible to prevent unless you create draconian laws governing transactions (which is completely against what the Project stands for, and rightly so).

My point is that even if the Project succeeds (as I dearly hope it will) there will always be some selfish people, and they will always be able to set up mini-economies based on scarcity. The only response I can get from people who support the Project is “it won’t happen” or “people will be educated to not feel that way”.

Those aren’t good answers because they don’t explain how it will happen.

But like I said: the Project has a lot of really good ideas, and our current view of Capitalism is completely fucked up. Right now though Democratic Socialism (like Sweden, Norway, Holland etc.) seems like a much better bet for improving the world.

But thank you so much for posting, and for your positive comments about the blog. Check out some of the other articles so that we can disagree completely on them too :)

-TTB