[yzhengyu]

Article comes across to me as a very preachy, high falutin, very warped perception of what constitutes a modern economy.

If the end outcome of increasingly rapid automation means that a significant percentage of humanity ends up being unable to participate in economic activity due to an inability to acquire currency, then we are in big trouble.

[contingencies]

Maybe, as some people suggest, we need to redefine the nature of currency using social and environmental welfare as factors? The problem is, SWIFT, SIX Interbank Clearing and the ISO don't support this, banks don't support this, and national governments don't support this. Instead, IMHO, they pay it just enough lip service (eg. carbon credits) to keep it from having a truly fair go. With the technology we have available today, alternate and more broadly informed currencies are entirely feasible as potential instruments of trade for large portions of the economy, at least in the developed world. The kicker is, it will detract from nationalism, and governments have a PR problem with taxing the facilitation of social or environmental good.

[rapala]

How would these social and environmental factors be featured in the new currency? How would they differ from the current situation where things like moral value of goods are reflected directly in the price (green energy costs more because it has more value)? I'm having difficulties seeing how this new currency would work.

[contingencies]

I'm no expert, there is an entire field here. However, basically, anything people agree to value can function as an asset to be traded as nationally issued fiat-currency (debt) is today. There's essentially no difference, though the latter has the historical benefit of being demanded as tax and supporting by a large army, theoretically though the governments cannot wield these against the hippy next door for, you know, growing trees (environmental credits) or sharing spliffs (social credits).

People wanting the currency (debt) is based upon trust; ie. the trust that the debt society owes you, symbolized in the form of your possession of the asset in question, will be redeemed at some future point by someone else for something you want. (Note that due to inflation and the creation of money in current era systems this debt notion is flipped; typical money must be repaid - with interest, at speed - or forfeited. But that's a tangent.)

A path forward will probably include convincing one or more governments to adopt some alternate assets and begin to effectively provide rates of exchange through government tax incentives or similar. This could kickstart a modern renaissance in multi-asset accounting and localized economies. Not holding my breath on speed, but anything's possible. Part of the challenge here is that social and environmental concerns typically cross borders and election terms, and developed countries' political decisionmaking is heavily blinkered against these two classes of issue.

Recommended reading: Debt: The First 5000 Years.