I'm mostly curious about peoples opinion's here.
Me personally, I think there should be a resource based economy, like that of The Venus Project. Public Access learning, activities, and business ventures. Business doesnt exactly imply monetary gain, with business ventures I mean, the business of improving society through means of scientific research, inventions, etc. Public access learning should mean free education as far as the student desires, in as many courses he/she desires from theory to practice and application of. Art, in all forms, should have a public forum open to all artists, and art lovers, with super advanced searching capabilitys through intensive cross-referencing, psychological profiling, and potentially mind mapping(if technology prevails). Keep in mind, this world would be peaceful and spiritually inclined. Therefore the disciplines instilled in the average person would retain their material desires, and keep society clean, and not over crowding with a competitive nature of fancy belongings.
Edit: feel free to get more intricate than I did=]
I think we already have some of these things and people are actively pursuing them. It operates under the framework of capitalism.
The problem, in my view, is that the consumer- and market-driven capitalist economy promotes selfishness, self-interest and narcissism rather than community-connectedness which is what I believe the world needs today. The world needs more community-connectedness and less competition. People need to share more. By sharing more and competing less, we can reduce resource and energy usage. Due to community-connectedness, the responsible behaviour of companies will no longer come from seeking to reduce financial losses incurred from negative public image and law suits, but loss of symbiotic relationships with people individually, collectively and communally.
Because people will be less concerned about their own personal value individually, in competition with others, as driven by jealousy and envy, and will be more interested in their place in the community, people will need less materially. The result of more community-connectedness is less narcissism, more humility, more modesty, less jealousy and envy, less crime, less rape, less domestic violence and depression.
Because people will have more time for recreation they will be able to find the time to pursue healthy lifestyles, abstain from processed foods and eat healthily. They will drink tea, eat leafy greens, ingest anti-oxidants, delay/prevent cancer and heart disease, have a reduced chance of getting diabetes, eat less sugar, etc. They will take herbal medicines to fight diseases and illnesses. Women won't feel so bad about being fat or skinny and men won't worry so much about the size of their salary packages, value of their home/car, etc. Men and women will have more time to appreciate and love each other. There will be less divorces and more happily married people. People won't worry so much about unemployment because there will be work for everybody and people won't care how much money they are being paid because they are not competing with anyone else for prestige or pride. They're not trying to impress anyone. More importantly, they have a place in the community. It's not how much money or assets you have. It's the value of the work you do.
1st Disclaimer: I am not a socialist or environmentalist, I am just acknowledging social, political and economic reality. The present economic systems of the West are impractical.
Relentless competition is wasteful in terms of energy and resources.
Besides, this isn't communism. It's partially socialist but still partially capitalist. What we'd have here is community-driven capitalism, rather than consumer- and market-driven capitalism. Consumer- and market-driven capitalism are about selfishness, self-interest, narcissism and maximisation of profits. Community-driven capitalism, on the other hand is about people contributing work individually and receiving credit for it, but not in the form of money. The credit they receive is praise from the community, which serves as an encouragement to either work harder or to continue making the same contribution.
The trouble with communism is that people did not receive praise or credit for their contributions. Communism dehumanised people. It was collectivism at the expense of individualism. People were treated like robots, tools and instruments. Communism did not value people as individuals. In the system I am proposing, there will be a balance between individualism and collectivism. This balance ensures that individuals in a community will not go too far in pursuit of their place in the collective that they become narcissists. At the same time, people will be given proper credit and will not be exploited as tools.
The collective has no more power than the individual. Where judgmentalism may occur, you are either innocent until proven guilty, or sinless unless someone can prove you are a dishonest, malign, deceitful, exploitative or arrogant person. People's choices are respected. The community accepts individuals as they are.
There will be less individual private ownership of property. People will be encouraged to share and not to hoard.
Capitalism will continue to function to some extent, to provide funds for smart people to contribute intellectually (ie. scientists and engineers), to buy lab, equipment, machines and tools for labourers to be physically strong and able to work. The funds, however, will not be provided for the purpose of increasing private ownership of property, but only to get work done for the community.
You don't get a house by paying for it. You have to
work for it. Maybe you could build it yourself. But I guess because of births and deaths that have taken place since the beginning of humanity, it would be impractical to build a house just because you needed one.
Houses will instead be awarded to people on the basis of usefulness. Smart people, scientists and engineers will have houses fitted with technology and lab equipment. Strong people will have weight-training equipment. Researchers, academics, professors and historians will have libraries. Business-people will have safes in which to put their money. Computer scientists will have computers. Artists will have canvases. But people won't buy these things for themselves. The community will provide these things for them.
People will not actually "own" a house. They will move around and live wherever society needs them. What I mean is, they live where they work. That saves resources and energy for transportation. Your work-place is within walking distance. You sleep in your office, factory or laboratory.
Perhaps there should be a return to the good old days where, if a father was a carpenter, the son was also a carpenter. Some people will change professions, some will inherit it from their parents. Mass education won't be necessary in all places. Everybody, due to community-connectedness, will be educated. Everybody will be a teacher of some sort. Most often, it may be your parents. You won't go to school to learn things. You will learn things from friends and family. The community, not the school, will teach and educate you.
Furthermore, today's people are mostly educated to work with a capitalist economic system. In the model I am proposing, people won't be educated on capitalism, but how to work as part of a community.
Because it isn't a consumer- and market-driven economy, there will be fewer brand names. Besides, who needs brands when you have community-connectedness? Brands are for selling. Community is about working together. When you work together and share things, you won't have to buy and sell as often.
2nd Disclaimer: This is not a manifesto! It is not a complete specification of the economic system I am proposing. Moreover, I haven't said much about the implementation, just a combination of "the ideal results" and a vague idea of the approach.
