Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2008 19:26:07 -0500
From: "Hobey Ford" <hobeyone-AT-gmail.com>
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Gift economy / Spaceship Earth


My policy on gift economy is to do it whenever I can. It can be big or
the littlest thing.  What goes around comes around.

On Mon, Nov 24, 2008 at 4:59 PM, Arthur H. Poore <artiepoore-AT-mac.com> wrote:
> What an interesting thread, The Gift Economy. Very stimulating exchange.
> But ...      Things good for thinking are not always practicable.
> Philosophy vs. reality
> I am a fan of thinking.
> So to me, a Gift Economy sounds very much like the honor system, which
> I have only seen fail.
> If I am not mistaken ... and if I am I have a feeling I will be
> CORRECTED soon. it involves everyone giving first and receiving later.
> I have seen nothing in the humans which suggests that possibility, as
> everyone has to be involved for this to be anything but an interesting
> discussion. But don't get me wrong I am a fan of interesting discussion.
> As an unmentioned alternative to the original idea of practicing the
> gift economy in society, I would like to make a left turn toward
> Buckminster Fuller's Spaceship Earth, where an inventory is taken of
> the Earth and then networks are created internationally to bring water
> and indeed All the inventory of Earth, from where it is located to
> where it is needed, And to preserve what is, and maintain
> sustainability;
> Which I think is more important than personal preference, habit, or
> expectation.
> He would tour the world and people , students, politicians,
> professionals, and / or world leaders would sit on an enormous
> isosohedron based dymaxion map of earth, made of fifteen  large
> equilateral triangles spread across a floor, and each game's 100
> participants, each representing 1% of the worlds population, is given
> various resources and limitations in the form of cards.
> Players make deals bicker and haggle to make the world work for
> everyone without resorting to war( which IS one of the options ).
> There was a press corp to keep a record of transactions, and two
> things quickly become obvious.
> 1. Co-operation works.
> &
> 2. changing the world from coercion and war to peaceful co-operation
> is not going to be easy.
> about 100 workshops are still given each year worldwide.
> These were Bucky's World Game Workshops, a crude but effective
> demonstration of a game he envisioned being played by the United
> Nations delegates.
> I do not see a card game of any kind solving all the problems faced by
> our growing population, but co-operation is the KEY !
> I also cannot see the world as" why can't we all just get along" or "
> play nice in the sandbox", or maybe if we all had a rise in
> consciousness we could "all share everything" like a gift economy?
> Well in Parliament you can call the other fellow a bum, or hit him
> with a chair and on the world stage we can refuse to recognize a patch
> of land over the horizon, But
> It is difficult to see how this unworkable reality now progressing can
> maintain humankind into any distant future.
> As long as there is an US and THEM this will continue to be so.
> SO ... on a local level or even a contained situation like a family
> unit, or small island, I could see some gift economy working on
> certain levels, BUT like all things human - Someone would #*?! it up,.
> I am surprised that so much distraction can be given to such a
> wonderful idea here, when it is so obviously unworkable on the world
> scale.
> But , I am a philosophy fan.
> The Gift Economy sounds like one of many utopian constructions which
> would go the way of a chain letter, great for some, and then fizzling
> out into a fog of branching losers.
> I think Buckminster Fuller is worth a lot of research, and his is the
> closest thing to a working worldwide system I know of, AND
> The World Game Institute, now has one of the largest world resource
> data banks on Earth.
> If we didn't spend more $ on military than the other 194 countries
> combined, I think we could start to institute a system where-by we do
> the most good for the most people, including ALL.
> We now return you to your regularly scheduled discussion.
>
> Art
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