1 - A Value Experiment

Today we are starting an experimental project hoping to redefine the way we value each others time and effort. This blog will document the journey. We have already documented the concept we would like to develop and many years of thinking and theorizing are behind us. Now we are ready to put our ideas to the test.

Human beings have always fulfilled their needs and desires one way or another. They can simply steal what they want by force or take the more civilized action of exchange. The action of exchange between people became know as a transaction. I am very good at making arrows and you are very good at hunting buffalo. Let’s transact!

In the modern world I am not an arrow maker but an English teacher and my friend Paulo is not a Buffalo hunter but he is a Blockchain developer. My skills are valuable to Paulo because he wants to learn English and Paulo’s skills are valuable to me because I would like to make a Web3 interface. The question our experiment is going to try to answer is how valuable are our skills relative to each other and what are the methods we can use to transact.

Of course, this problem was solved thousands of years ago by the invention of money. If I try to list the most important discoveries made by human beings I think my top three are fire, language and money. You could argue for mathematics and agriculture but regarding mathematics, I think it may have been an invention of the prehistoric accountants.

The essential characteristic of money, which sets it apart from all other substances, is that it is not desired for itself. I’m sorry, you will say, but everyone wants more money, of course money is desirable. Yes, but it is not desired for itself. We only want money so that we can buy things that we really desire or need. The desire for money only exists if we know we can exchange it for English classes or Blockchain development or anything else we may require. Money helps us to measure the value of the things that we want to exchange by giving those things a price. The price of anything is the ratio at which it exchanges for money.

If the price of my 30 minute English class is 20 Euros, the ratio of exchange is 1 Class = 20 Euros but this knowledge is only useful because I have an idea in my mind of what 20 Euros will buy for me. I know that 20 Euros will be the price of a good steak or a cheap shirt or one hour of Paulo’s time developing my interface. If I didn’t know that, the price would tell me nothing about the value of my English class. This is obvious when the price is listed in a type of money that I don’t know anything about. This shirt costs 250 Eritrean nakfas. Looking at the shirt it seems to be of reasonable quality and the Eritrean seller shows an interest in learning English so maybe I can value the shirt at 2 English classes.

Price, in short, is not the same thing as value. Our project is a value experiment.