Inspiration Feed 10.08

cashless economy and high-tech barter, coop upgrade for the sharing economy, global aid and poverty, snuggle for survival & more.

links selection – 08.oct.15

£1984: does a cashless economy make for a surveillance state?
by Brett Scott (theguardian.com)

The ancient age of barter may largely be a myth, but there could be a future age of high-tech barter.”

Platform Cooperativism vs. the Sharing Economy
by Trebor Scholz (medium.com)

The inability to imagine a different life is capital’s ultimate triumph. One of the pathologies of the current system is that it trains people to think of themselves as workers instead of collective owners.”

“Companies like Uber and airbnb are enjoying their Andy Warhol moment, their $15 billion of fame, in the absence of any physical infrastructure of their own. They didn’t build that— they are running on your car, apartment, labor, and importantly, time. They are logistics companies where all participants pay up the middleman: the finanzialization of the everyday 3.0.”

The Story of Poverty
(therules.org)

Right now, for every $1 that is given in foreign aid to the global south, around $18 is taken out by other means. Money leaves the poorest countries through things like rigged trade deals that benefit the most powerful countries and corporations, debt repayment on debts already paid off many times over, and massive tax evasion and other forms of corruption committed by political and business elites north and south, and helped along by the large and growing web of tax havens. So who’s actually developing who?”

In a true sharing economy, the reward is gratitude
by Ryan Merkley (theglobeandmail.com)

Co-operators – even those who share at their own expense – often win out over time. Humanity’s story is one of both competition and co-operation: not just a struggle for survival, but also an essential “snuggle for survival.”

* weekly inspiration illustration by Ilan Katin