Time-Based Compensation Concept

The problem of the monetary system is that it is based on a bartering principle, a rule of compensation where in order for one person to earn 1$ another person must give it away.

This principle creates a social condition where people will always try to get richer and obtain money at the expense of others, and the result of that over time, is poverty.

We need to invent and design a compensation system that breaks the bartering principle of the monetary system, and technology can help us achieve that.

How?

What if there is a way for a person to earn compensation for their work, without another person having to give something away as payment? What if we could compensate a person without having to sell the product itself?

Suppose it takes John 10 hours to sew a pair of pants and those hours are counted by a computer and deposited directly into his savings account, as Hours. No one gave John those hours, he created them, digitally, while working.

If the unit "Hour" is accepted as a form of commercial exchange, John could use his accumulated Hours to acquire other products and he could give away the pants to Jane for free but still have in his account the Hours that he made while creating those pants.

In other words, Jane did not pay John for this work, but John still received compensation. The product does not need to be sold in order for the producer to receive payment for his work.

The payment took place while the product was being manufactured and no "person" or company had to pay John for his work. John created his own payment while working because what is valuable is his time and experience, not the product itself.

Now, Jane on the other hand, cannot get those pants completely free. A level of consumption control must exist; otherwise she could acquire 100 pants without really having to pay for them. So the products themselves must have a value to the consumer.

If Jane has a number of Hours in her account, she could use them to acquire the pants that John produced, however, her Hours would not go to John because John has already received a compensation for his work. Jane’s Hours would just be deleted from her account. If Jane wants to buy 100 pair of pants, she needs to work and accumulate enough Work Hours.

This concept basically eliminates the bartering principle of the current monetary system, but maintains a fair model of compensation and a coherent level of consumption control.

It creates a scenario where a person could earn millions (of hours) in compensations without affecting another person or taking anything away from them.

Design Brief for Better Systems

A design brief is a written document outlining the details and guidelines for a specific design or product development project.

However, proposing an alternative system is not simply a matter of inventing reforms or systems that make things different. We must be very careful in calculating the social and environmental impact and overall implications of any idea. So it is important first to determine a set of values and principles that would be at the core of any alternative.

First and foremost, a viable alternative cannot be violent. It cannot call for war, or provoke the destruction of any nation, point of view or group of people. It can not encourage anarchy , false revolutions or social uprisings. Instead, it must be compatible with the current systems, adopt their virtues and allow a moderate and gradual transition. We can not pretend to destroy what already exists.

An alternative must be much more humane and pragmatic, a strategic transformation, or evolution. It must be adaptable and spread worldwide without the need for oppression or senseless dictatorships. Instead, people, the industry and even governments, should welcome it as an overall benefit to society and individuals, so that it can propagate in the same way the Internet and other technologies have spread around the Planet.

An efficient system should not be ideological. It should not judge religious beliefs or political views. Instead it should provide a level of global cooperation and union, where the priority is life, respect for others and for nature. It must guarantee human rights and freedom, but must also be organized, efficient. and encourage technological development as well as the protection of our planet.

It should compensate hard work and value excellence. It should motivate human beings to get an education and move forward as individuals of multiple cultures and points of view, but must also give all people equal opportunities. Must ensure access to all basic goods, but must not promote or encourage laziness, apathy and mediocrity.

A good alternative must take into account the needs of our society, adapt to our current situation and ensure our future. It must provide an efficient global resource management platform through the prioritization of alternative energy development and implementation. It must eradicate our root problems through efficiency, creativity and innovation, as well as moral, ethical values, not by force or by arms.

The list of attributes and guidelines is probably much longer than this, but we must start at some point, understanding that there will be hundreds of problems to tackle and solutions to find.

Value of a Product

A common rule in economics is that value of a product is determined by 3 elements; Salary, Rent (materials, manufacturing, transportation, marketing) and profit.

A company operating under a time based currency does not need to pay employees for their work. As explained above, they already earned compensation for their work through the time it took them to perform their job so the salary variable is eliminated.

THis means that it can produce goods much cheaper than in the current compensation system, which in turn, creates a huge competitive advantage over other companies that do need to pay salary to their employees.

Consequently, the system becomes a very attractive model for the industry. It would create a rush of companies wanting to adopt it in order to compete and reduce manufacturing and production cost of any given product.

The Rent variable or cost of manufacturing, is in reality a group of many other products. In most companies, the Rent variable would include materials, machinery, computers, tables, chairs, utilities, transportation and marketing among many others. All these products in turn, require a set of thousands of other products that allow them to be manufactured, but their value is also determined by the same 3 variables. (S,R,P)

However, if the salary variable is gradually removed from each one, as the time compensation system spreads across different industries, the overall cost of Rent itself, also starts to decrease. The result is a change in the way we value products, providing a world-wide cost reduction strategy.

The profit variable can only be removed when and if the Work Hour System is the only system. However, in order to function and be compatible with the current system, the profit variable must remain as part of the cost and value of a product in order to maintain a level of consumption control, specially from those who are not part of the work hour system and want to buy a product with money.

But the system does open the possibility to select a group of products that are intentionally provided free to the overall population, meaning basics products could be free, while non-basic products maintain a market value. Thus resolving, or at least reducing, on a worldwide scale the problem of poverty.

This is just an idea, and example of how a different system could be designed and what its implications would be if applied in the the real world. THere are thousands of variables and situations to consider and to study and tHere is a lot more research to perform, but again, the point right now is to share ideas that would thing would improve our society.

Each one of us has different ideas, but if the common goal is to fix the system, fix the planet, improve our society, our quality of life and live in peace, and all the ideas that we share are aiming towards achieving that, I think sooner or later we will succeed.

Opening a Company within the Work Hour System

Being part of one system does not mean you do not have access to the other. That would be like allowing people to use US Dollars, but not Euros. Work hours must be tradable between other currencies in order for the transition to take effect and the system to work and be compatible.

Either way, I think there is a way to work out your concern using only the work hour system, without a dependency from the current system. But before getting there, there are a few points that need to be considered.

The fact that you are thinking about investors is already putting a limitation on the development of the idea. The point of working under a time based system is so that we can remove the limitation imposed by the current system.

At this point, in order to bring any idea to reality you need money. That, in my opinion, is one of the biggest design flaws of the current monetary system.

Social reforms, scientific goals, new technologies, infrastructure projects, housing developments, medical research, education and food programs. All without exception are limited by the amount of money and funding which is available, and while this logic remains true, solutions will be insufficient or fall short to solve problems on a global scale, for all mankind.

So we have to find and design a way, a system that does not constrain our creativity and possibility to reach our goals, while maintaining environmental balance.

To do that, we need to think outside of the box, we cannot think about bringing a product to reality, building a bridge or creating a company using work hours as if we were within the current system because we would never arrive at anything different.

Hopefully I'm making sense up till now, so here's how I think it could work.

So you are part of the current system, have a good idea, the drive, the motivation to bring a product to the market but you don't have money. You look at the work hour system as a viable option because it promises to allow you to bring a product to the market with ease.

What do you do?

The first thing you need to do is login to a website where you can subscribe to the system. In many ways similar to how you would enroll to an airline mileage plan. You fill out your profile, credentials, career, experience and information that will allow the system to determine your hourly multiplier.

You do the same thing with all of your business partners, employees and the company itself.

The reason why you need this "centralized" system is so that it can be audited and people are not abusing it to increase their multipliers. It would not need to be a global "NWO" institution. Counties, local governments could monitor activity, and they themselves would be audited by private companies and vice-versa.

Once you are enrolled, a software or hardware based product is sent to you along with all registration documents. Software would be installed on your computer to monitor the amount of time you actually work or hardware, very similar to time stamps used everywhere, would be installed to monitor the amount of time each person works.

So now you are gaining hours, but there are still many things missing.

Now, as most small business do, you start out small. So you would not rent a 10000 sqf building, you need to work your way up, so you and your partners or employees probably start working from home. Saving up hours.

You don't have to sell anything an you are already earning a compensation, why? because you are working and your experience, all the years you went to school, your talents as an individual, your capability as a team, your creativity, your motivation to innovate and what you give back to society, have value, and the system is designed to compensate for that.

So get to work. Start designing your great idea your awesome product. Save up the hours so that you can get computers, rent a place and get furniture. Work so that you can accumulate hours that will allow you to pay for utilities. Talk to people who are interested in your idea and want to help you. Bring them to your company so that they too earn hours for what they do. If someone is spending the whole day doing nothing just gaining up hours, let them go, they are taking up space from your company and are slowing you down from reaching your goal.

Design your product, make it perfect, re-invented, polish it. Save up hours and exchange them for RMB so that you can pay a chinese factory to make you a nice prototype. Or work and save up more so that you can get a CNC machine and learn how to do it yourself.

So much work, so much hours and we are not even close to getting that product to the market. WTF!

Well, after months of work, you finally have your product, ready to take it to the market. Ready to make millions of dollars.

Whats the catch? Well, If you are part of the Work Hour system, people do not pay you. You have already received your compensation. So why would you earn double? It would not be fair.

However, it would also be unfair not to be recognized if you make an extremely popular product, that is green, benefits society and innovates. THere has to be an incentive for people to want to create new things for their own benefit, not only for the benefit of society, because it is human nature. In turn, the system has to be designed to recognize that effort and that condition.

So we go back to multipliers. If you are earning 35 Hours per hour, but your product is green, perhaps that raises your multiplier slightly. If your product has 5 patents on it, that raises the multiplier a bit more, and if millions of people are buying or benefiting from your product, well that raises your multiplier a whole lot.

You become a millionaire, without ever having to take anything away from anyone else. You are a millionaire not a the expense of poor people. You are a millionaire because you worked and you created something great for society.

One big problem?

Time needs to be acceptable as a unit of exchangeable currency. It must be given value. That is the complicated part, nations would have to agree and that is difficult to do. But the point here is to propose ideas.

If created however, the more people that enroll, the more people that accumulate hours and realize the benefits the system, the more feasible that it becomes.

THe more people that are part of the system, the cheaper things become because gradually, the whole chain of products and services that are needed to make anything, those thousand of companies do not need to pay salaries to their employees so their product can be sold cheaper. A huge competitive advantage, and the condition for the system to spread on a global scale is created.

Fix People or The System?

I think there are a lot more people in this World who are honest and have good values than those who don't. There are lot more people looking to do things right. And there are a lot more people that are realizing the fact that if we don't change the way we are going, we will not survive as a civilization.

However, we cannot wait for 7,000,000,000 to change their mentality before starting to make things better. We cannot say that nothing can be fixed unless people change, or that better systems and alternatives cannot be designed unless people change.

Even more important than that, we cannot pretend to change people. I believe that is one of the biggest problems of our society, everyone always trying to change people into living life the way we think is better.

Instead of changing people to comply to a system, the system should comply and be compatible with human nature and behavior. Not the other way around. That's why capitalism succeeded over communism, because it did not try to control human behavior, instead it took advantage of the survival instinct of human beings, unfortunately it did it in a way that ended up creating other serious problems.

The current monetary system was designed without people having to change first, It took advantage of a basic human behavior, which is the desire to receive a compensation or recognition for the work performed or product traded, and that's why it worked, but it doesn't mean that it cannot be improved using the technologies we now have at hand.

Although I agree things would be much better if everyone was more conscious about our society and the way things work, it should not stop us from sharing ideas, researching new innovations and conceptualizing systems that strive to make things better for every human being and for our planet.



---- Edit 2019

Polarizing our society in only 2 possible political views, is not only highly convective, but extremely harmful for the efficient development of our society. All points of view must be taken into consideration. Must be heard. 

But the right to be listened to, must also be achieved. The problem is that we have set the bar too high, so that sometimes great ideas are sometimes ignored because they come from what different people consider achievement.

There are no ignorant people, there are people that know different things. Just because someone doesn't not know something you do, does not make them ignorant.




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Master Time Keeper

Who is the master time keeper on a Time-Based Compensation System?

I don't think a master time keeper would be a god idea, necessary or efficient.

It all depends on how the system is designed, but this would require tons of brainstorming and developing, and as you said before, these concepts are far to intricate to express on Facebook, but its what we have for now, so here it goes.

In my opinion, there are 2 options to consider, Centralized or De-centralized. Either option would work out, but the de-centralized option would probably be more popular considering the current state of our society.

A Centralized version however would work in many ways like current banking systems. You have your hour savings accounts within a banking institution and banks would invest time on large scale transactions, since time needs to be exchangeable between different currencies in order to maintain compatibility and allow a gradual transition.

De-Centralized would mean each person and corporation keeps track of the hours worked, but there still needs to be some type of online infrastructure that allows people to access their profile and accumulate those hours.

On both cases auditing organizations, much like the ones that exist today may be required because obviously, like in any system, people will try to take advantage of it or cheat. So all these things need to be part of a secure system that features transparent compensation rules and makes it simple to calculate hourly multipliers.

-------  Edit (2019)

However, a Blockchain system is probably the best alternative to provide a transparent record of transactions without the need for auditing as it is used in the current monetary system.

At the same time, Machine learning could be used to assist on the automated monitoring of attempted hacking or abuse to the system.

The time keeper is simply a necessary process in order to measure the different type of actions taken by users, so that it can be properly compensated through the point and reward system.

Time is just one of the variables to consider in such a system though.

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Thoughts on Fixing the System

The only way to fix anything is to actively look for viable solutions.

The product development process has been designed from the ground up as a method to find solutions to problems, which is why I think applying this process to social issues is a good way to actually solve problems.

Politics uses a different process to find solutions, if at all that's what it tries to do, and obviously it has not resolved anything for more than 2000 years.

Design, Engineering, Architecture, Science and Physics are all disciplines designed to find solutions to problems. It is just a matter of implementing their methods to solve global social issues.

The first step any of these disciplines use to solve any problem is to do a lot of research. Global scale solutions to global scale problems, require global scale research.

We now have the global communication and infrastructure to perform global scale research, and that is what Fixing the System is all about, at least on this stage of the process.

We are programming an online platform that will allow people to find and research viable solution to global scale problems and there is an increasing number of websites doing a similar thing.

The FTS platform should hopefully be online and functional within a month. In the meantime what we are doing here is brainstorming different ideas which is also a very important part of the product development process.

Another important part of the PD process is to create a design brief, or a set of requirements that serve as guidelines. For this project however, we believe the important thing is to create a set of values and principles that would be at the core of any proposed alternative.

First and foremost, a viable alternative cannot be violent. It cannot call for war, or provoke the destruction of any nation, point of view or group of people. It can not encourage anarchy , false revolutions or social uprisings. Instead, it must be compatible with the current systems, adopt their virtues and allow a moderate and gradual transition. We can not pretend to destroy what already exists.

An alternative must be much more humane and pragmatic, a strategic transformation, or evolution. It must be adaptable and spread worldwide without the need for oppression or senseless dictatorships. Instead, people, the industry and even governments, should welcome it as an overall benefit to society and individuals.

It should however, create an incentive for businesses, a competitive advantage to those who become part of it, so that it can propagate in the same way the Internet and other beneficial technologies have spread around the Planet.

An efficient system should not be ideological. It should not judge religious beliefs or political views. Instead it should provide a level of global cooperation and union, where the priority is life, respect for others and for nature. It must guarantee human rights and freedom, but must also be organized, efficient. and encourage technological development as well as the protection of our planet.

It should compensate hard work and value excellence. It should motivate human beings to get an education and move forward as individuals of multiple cultures and points of view, but must also give all people equal opportunities. Must ensure access to all basic goods, but must not promote or encourage laziness, apathy and mediocrity.

A good alternative must take into account the needs of our society, adapt to our current situation and ensure our future. It must provide an efficient global resource management platform through the prioritization of alternative energy development and implementation. It must eradicate our root problems through efficiency, creativity and innovation, as well as moral, ethical values, not by force or by arms.

Now, you say that the only way to fix the system would be to destroy what already exists. To demolish the system and start over.

Don't you think you would find opposition by trying to destroy those who think different from you or those who agree with the current system? Strategically, that approach is destined to fail.

Wanting to destroy another system, in the same way that socialism, communism want to destroy capitalism each other is one of the things that are keeping our society on a constant state of conflict and polarization.

You also say that we need to destroy organized crime, and to some extent I agree there. But the question we need to ask is what is the cause of organized crime?

Isn't organized crime a result of the design deficiencies of the current system? Isn't the monetary system, and the quest for money, which you have to take form other people, the one thing that drives organized crime?

Why is there weapons trade along the Mexican border? Isn't it because of the poor uneducated people used as pawns by the drug cartels who know that they will do anything or kill anyone just to make money as quick as possible?

We need to focus our solutions on the root of the problem and not on the causes, with organized being one of the biggest problems caused by the current monetary system. Would changing the system reduce organized crime? Perhaps.

Now, if I am to say that we need to destroy or go against the monetary system I would be completely contradicting myself.

So wouldn't it make more sense to design a system that works better, gives people opportunity, allows them to collaborate and compete, creates innovation and motivation and provides freedom and opportunity, but more importantly gives people the choice to transition to it without obligation?

If it really is more efficient, the transition would be seamless.

It would be like wanting a new computer because the one you have had for 10 years just doesn't work as well anymore, but those who love their 10 year old computer can keep using it if they want to.

I know It sounds idealistic, but I am certain that we, humans, are capable of designing a better system.

Thoughts on Time-Based Compensation

A system based on work hours gets very interesting when we start talking about the value of a product (which in production is determined by Salary, Rent and Profit) and break those down to analyze them as part of a new system design.

Then theres the issue of dealing with system compatibility, because obviously we cannot pretend to destroy what already exists. Any alternative should be able to run in parallel with the current system and allow people to freely choose between systems.

But a system based on work hours would give participating companies a great competitive advantage, since they no longer need to pay salary to their employees, this would create a strong incentive for other companies to implement it within their organization.

Another important point is basic needs and how a system based on work hours allows for basic products to be provided for free. But by doing that, another set of problems and variable that deal with working ethics, unemployment, motivation, resource consumption and excessive population growth are created.

How do we implement strategies that solve not only those those problems, but also consider the environment, informal markets, rural areas, freelancing, handicapped people, politics, democracy and the current market.

Not only that, But how would we even go about implementing work hours as an accepted unit of global exchange?

Complicated yes, but when analyzed and handled as a product development project, all these variables become design issues that can be resolved or balanced with new concepts, ideas and technologies that are available or that will be available to us in the near future.

For example, how would nanotechnology, cloud computing, global communication, the internet, 3D printing, sustainable design, solar energy, desalination technology, magnetism, artificial intelligence and perhaps even quantum physics play a role on the design of any new social management system?

What if we could create a society where multiple, cross-compatible systems are available and each individual can freely choose to live under the system that best suits their life or fit their needs in the same way we now choose to buy one product over the other?

The variables are endless, but we have two choices, design better systems or continue on the way to destroy our civilization.

That choice I think is very simple.

Patents under Time-Based Compensation System

I recently had a long conversation with a friend in regards to patents and Intellectual property under a non-monetary system. It was tough to get the concept across because before getting to the point of talking about patents, we must first establish a coherent, non-monetary system of compensation.

This system has not yet been fully presented. So I will do my best to explain how, in my opinion, a person can gain a recognition or compensation for an idea within a system based on work hours, which is one of the concept we are exploring as viable alternatives to the monetary system.

As I have said a few times before, I believe that the problem of the monetary system is that it is based on a bartering principle, a rule of compensation where in order for one person to earn 1$ another person must give it away.

This principle creates a social condition where people will just always try to get richer and obtain money at the expense of others, and the result of that, is poverty.

We need to invent and design a compensation system that breaks the bartering principle of the monetary system, and technology can help us.

So how can we do that?

What if there is a way for a person to earn compensation for their work, without another person having to give something away as payment? What if we could compensate a person without having to sell the product itself?

Suppose it takes John 10 hours to sew a pair of pants and those hours are counted by a computer and deposited directly into his savings account, as Hours. No one gave John those hours, he created them while working.

If the unit "Hour" is accepted as a form of commercial exchange, meaning John can use it to acquire other products, he could give away the pants to Jane for free and still have in his account the Hours that he made while creating those pants.

In other words, Jane did not pay John for this work, but John still received compensation. The product does not need to be sold in order for the producer to receive payment for his work.

The payment took place while the product was being manufactured and no "person" or company had to pay John for his work. John created his own payment while working because what is valuable is his time and experience, not the product itself.

Now, Jane on the other hand, cannot get those pants completely free. A level of consumption control must exist; otherwise she could acquire 100 pants without really having to pay for them. So the products themselves must have a value to the consumer.

If Jane has a number of Hours in her account, she could use them to acquire the pants that John produced, however, her Hours would not go to John because John has already received a compensation for his work. Jane’s Hours would just be deleted from her account. If Jane wants to buy 100 pair of pants, she need to accumulate Work Hours.

This concept basically eliminates the bartering principle of the current monetary system, but maintains a fair model of compensation and a coherent level of consumption control.

It creates a scenario where a person could earn millions of hours without affecting another person.

But before getting to talk about patents, we need to solve or cover another issue. If we are talking about an "experience-based" system, it would not make sense for everyone to earn the same amount of hours per hour. People with more preparation, experience and dedication should earn more than those with less, otherwise, the system would not be fair.

So how can the system compensate differently based on experience?

Suppose a child in First grade earns 1 Hour per Hour of school. A child in Second grade earns 2 Hours per Hour, a child in Third Grade earn 3 Hours per hour and so on.

Remember, the school is not paying a salary. Students "create" their own hours as they go to school in the same way it was explained above; their time there is counted and deposited into their personal savings accounts. By the time they graduate, after 12 years of school, they could have close to 130,000 accumulated hours that no one had to pay them.

If those hours have value, a recent graduate could buy their first car, start a family, a company, or really use their savings for whatever they wanted. it is their work after all. This would also be a great motivator for students to actually want to go to school, study and move on to higher grades, because each grade will earn them a higher compensation multiplier.

The more experience you have, the more you work is worth. You could design the system so that by the time a person starts working after school, compensation multiplier is up to 25 Hours per Hour. You could design a full spectrum of disciplines that would give different careers variable but fair multipliers, and life achievements could be designed to raise those multipliers.

Now, there are obviously hundreds of variables that need to be resolved and taken into account with the system explained above. But hopefully this creates a solid ground to try to explain the idea of Intellectual Property and patents under such a system.

THe current patent system is a counter-productive model to human development. It creates a condition where in order for anyone to access an patented idea, they must pay the owner a license fee. And that is where money becomes a real limitation.

It hinders the development of new ideas, because all ideas are based on other ideas which is how humans naturally evolve. All of our innovation an technologies came from the ideas of those before us. So it would not make sense to put a limitation to access those ideas and innovate from them.

However, it is important to recognize those who bring new ideas to society. It is important to motivate innovation and create the conditions where people are encouraged to invent new things because that will get them further in life. THat is one of the great "features" of capitalism as a product. It promotes innovation and competition.

So how do you compensate for an idea without limiting access to it? Multipliers.

Suppose you are working for a company, based on your experience and performance you are earning 35 Hours per hour, remember, under a non-monetary system, your employer does not pay you. Instead, you create your own compensation which is calculated by the hours that you work.

You happen to have 2 patents under your name. One Patent is not really doing much because you haven't developed it and just have not had the time to work on it. The other patent on the other hand, is doing great, it is being produced and 10000 people benefit from it.

Based on that, your compensation multiplier rises could be adjusted to reflect your ideas and accomplishments. Each patent can raise your level of compensation, and depending on how much that patent "sells" your compensation can also be adjusted.

For example 35 + 0.1 + 0.1(10000) Hours per Hour would reflect your compensation based on your position as an employee, plus the 2 patents that you own. Within this system you would benefit from your ideas, and people would not have to pay you a license to access them and innovate from them.

The numbers above would need to be calculated to make sure multipliers are feasible, but the point is that we can create the conditions where ideas are valuable to both the owner and to society.

The point is that if we want, we can create the conditions where the system just works better.