Listen to this article(VISION OF) A PERFECT WORLD
This page proposes and speculates about one type of economic or commercial infrastructure (among many others) that possibly could emerge to personify a perfect world for humans living in deep space. It is an infrastructure which I refer to as Nobody-Anybody-Everybodyism. As I have noted elsewhere on this website and as the following video illustrates, perhaps a perfect world for humans residing in deep space would be one that is very similar to ant society right here on Earth. However, unlike the case of ant society which revolves around the queen, human societies in space would revolve around the principle of Nobody-Anybody-Everybodyism.
I think that one of the most exciting things about humans living on permanent space colonies or humans living on another heavenly body is this: Such a development would give these space-faring humans an opportunity to experiment with new ideas, new paradigms, or new ways of getting things done. Such a development would give these space-faring humans the opportunity to think outside the box, so to speak.
TOWARDS HUMAN COLONIZATION OF DEEP SPACE
Although I am confident that spaceship Earth can be transformed into a heavenly paradise for the living, I also think that a perfect world for the human species will begin with human colonization of deep space. What would life be like for humans living on another heavenly body either within the Solar System (such as humans permanently living on the Moon or Mars), within the Milky Way galaxy, or humans simply living aboard a space colony somewhere in the Universe? What type of society would emerge?
Science fiction writers and futuristic visionaries have pondered these kinds of questions for years. The following videos, graphic, and link represent some of these ponderings:
Source SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration
THE PRINCIPLE OF NOBODY-ANYBODY-EVERYBODYISM
Nobody-Anybody-Everybodyism means that the natural resources on the heavenly body would be owned by "Nobody," in general. These natural resources would be owned by "Anybody" and "Everybody," in particular. The principle of Nobody-Anybody-Everybodyism in space would be completely different from the principle of private control and ownership of natural resources currently in existence on Earth.
Life in space under Nobody-Anybody-Everybodyism would work something like this: The basic underpinnings of Nobody-Anybody-Everybodyism is that all natural resources on a heavenly body are free gifts of Nature (that is, its air, water, land, minerals, and so forth). On the one hand, nobody would stake a claim of ownership to any of these natural resources. Anybody and everybody would be free to use these natural resources as they saw fit. But, on the other hand, members of the space society, in fact, would retain ownership of all human-made products that they personally acquire and possess during their lifetimes.
For the sake of simplicity, assume that the only products produced on the heavenly body or space colony were food, clothing, housing, and furniture. The only industries to exist would be those directly or indirectly engaged in the production of food, clothing, housing, and furniture. According to the principle of Nobody-Anybody-Everybodyism, some members would devote a portion of their working hours to the production of food, some to the production of clothing, some to the production of housing, and the remaining members would devote their working hours to the production of furniture.
Assume that your assigned role in space society would be to produce housing. Having been given the number of housing units to produce, you would proceed to produce the demanded units of housing. In turn, you would be entitled to consume all of the other products being produced by the space society. For instance, you would be entitled to go to the furniture store and select some furniture for free. You would be entitled to go to the supermarket and select some food for free. You would be entitled to go to the clothing store and select some clothing for free.
In other words, specialization of labor (hence, giving to society) and open-market consumption (hence, taking from society) would be the way in which commerce is conducted on the heavenly body or space colony. Everybody places the output of his or her production on the open market for free, and everybody takes a share of the other products from the open market for free. Many humans already are familiar with the present-day open software and open data movements on Earth. In a sense, Nobody-Anybody-Everybodyism would be a more sophisticated variation of the open software concept. Human life on the heavenly body or space colony would be patterned after ant society on Earth.
What happens if there are conflicting claims being made for use of a given natural resource by various parties interested in using the resource? One role of government in deep space would be to resolve such conflicts. In addition to conflicting claims on resources, of even greater concern for the feasibilty of Nobody-Anybody-Everybodyism is this: On Earth, humans (both as households and businesses) primarily are motivated by a desire to (1) succeed in a career or business, (2) earn a lot of money, (3) live the good life, and (4) perhaps distinguish themselves as being a cut above the rest of society's members. As a result, many humans work hard, put forth tremendous effort, innovate, and generally produce many desirable and unique products for sale. By its very nature, this type of commercial approach, though spectacularly successful, encourages humans to consume more and more products. Some of these products are tantamount to useless junk—and a waste of resources—that consumers have been convinced to purchase through marketing hype. This type of commercial approach encourages producers to use more and more natural resources. This type of commerical approach encourages superfluous production, and it encourages conspicuous consumption in society to keep the wheels of commerce perpetually in motion.
Without the presence of these four motivators (that is, the human desire for success, wealth, prosperity, and status), does it mean that the open and moneyless approach of Nobody-Anybody-Everybodyism would be doomed to failure? Does it mean that humans primarily would become complacent, disinterested in innovation, and would start producing shoddy products? I think that the answer is, no, humans will not become complacent and disengaged from society. For starters, if members of the space society desire to consume high quality products, then it would behoove them also to give their very best productive effort in the things that they produced and placed on the open market. If members of the space society wish to advance, grow, and not become stagnant, then it would behoove them to continue to innovative both scientifically and technologically.
Based on life on Earth, it has been established that human consumption would be endless if all products were available for free. It stands to reason, then, that another possible flaw in the principle of Nobody-Anybody-Everybodyism (where everything is available for free and money does not exist) is that the demand for products in space society always would outpace supply thereby triggering shortages of all products and provoking societal disaffection. To avert the prospect of shortages, societal disaffection, and declining living standards, here's the rub about deep space living: The only way for Nobody-Anybody-Everybodyism to work is for humans living in deep space to foster a new mindset of selflessness like ants. Humans living in deep space would need to instill within themselves a new value system where living comfortably but owning fewer material things would become the new motivator and hallmark of success as opposed to owning more and more material things. Nobody-Anybody-Everybodyism would have the effect of discouraging conspicuous consumption albeit all products would be available for free. Instead of a preoccupation with consumerism and consumption, the focus of Nobody-Anybody-Everybodyism would be on leisure, self-improvement, physical and mental enrichment, and enjoying life.
The current hallmark or standard of success on Earth is to earn lots of money and to acquire all kinds of luxurious material possessions. On the contrary, for a Nobody-Anybody-Everybodyism type of societal structure, the hallmark of success would be to consume the least amount of products. In other words, in a Nobody-Anybody-Everybodyism type of world, everybody would be free to enter into the marketplace and consume whatever products he or she desires. However, the most admired members of society would be those who choose to consume the least quantity of products or who choose to live the simple life.
The Nobody-Anybody-Everybody model of shared production and shared consumption might work well for smaller human settlements in space. When settlements on a heavenly body or aboard a space colony begin to reach millions of human inhabitants, then it might be necessary to implement a market system of money, demand, supply, and prices to regulate production and consumption behavior (that is, a determination of what gets produced and for whom and by whom). To be sure, if the Nobody-Anybody-Everybody model proves to be impractical or unworkable, then the space society should abandon it and shift to a more traditional approach such as, say, a free-enterprise, private property system of commerce.
I think that a Nobody-Anybody-Everybody model would be difficult to implement on contemporary Earth. It is a model that needs to start small, simple, and then evolve alongside the newly formed space society. Humans on Earth have become too accustomed to transacting business on the basis of the market-money-price approach. Moreover, it would be too disruptive of daily life to try to replace Earth's existing commercial infrastructure with an unorthodox (and an unproven) system such as Nobody-Anybody-Everybodyism.
In its own unique, distributed kind of way, the Internet operates somewhat like a Nobody-Anybody-Everybody type of system. Nobody, in particular, owns the Internet. The resources on the Internet are available for anybody and everybody, in general, to use as they see fit. Of course, there are service-provider costs related to users connecting to the Internet (particularly, its World Wide Web).
VISIONS OF HUMAN LIFE IN DEEP SPACE
BACK ON PLANET EARTH...
Meanwhile, back on planet Earth (in the near human, space-faring future), peace, prosperity, and happy feelings for all, finally, are abound.
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