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.