Dear FIS colleages,
Before assimilating the last exchanges (I have been on a trip), I have a
few pending comments on self-organization and monetary resilience.
In some of the papers (links) Bob sent us, strong emphasis is put on
"self-organization of complex flow systems sharing common patterns of
behavior. Similar energy-flow concepts and analysis methods would apply
to economic systems as well as natural ones..." As the ongoing
discussion shows, that view can be more or less OK, but... The network
and subsequent IT analysis becomes appropriate for eco-systemic flows,
but in my opinion it obscures a fundamental trait of eco-nomic flows:
that they are guided and anticipated by a superimposed structure of
information flows. So there are two flows compounded, and each one is
endowed with a specific fluency, velocity, friction, etc. radically
different. Handling prices of goods or trading shares in a stock market
is far away from circulating the physical goods or from the physical and
human structures of a company... Unfortunately the info-structure of
economy is not satisfactorily solved yet (at least in my opinion),
except the partial classical equilibrium approaches and some diminishing
returns and other nonlinear approaches. Presumably, a more complete
vision cannot be articulated yet.
Anyhow, Lietaer's application (in the paper with Goerner and Ulanowicz)
of Bob's ecological criteria on resilience to the economic crisis looks
enormously interesting. Some of the thinking lines of Nikhil could
dovetail. The underlying problem is (at least in my opinion) how to give
voice to Nature, not only evaluating the value of human work done to
extract the raw matter or to collect it, but also the caring work with
no immediate return. Who may represent Nature herself and her interests
in the human monetary market? Analyzing the currency monopoly of our
times, and the present financial crisis, the main alternative seems to
be increasing the financial resilience by adding different types of
currencies. The Swiss B2B complementary currency is mentioned in the
papers (other local, regional, and sectorial cases also exist, and the
Internet may strongly facilitate such experiences). In this line, an
ecologically based currency or eco-coin ("ecos") could pick the
voluntary work done by individuals --not extracting for nature, but
working for her preservation and care. ONGs could certify the work
properly done. Ecos could be a symbol of voluntary work done and also a
personal prestige and moral reward for Nature "lovers". Quite many new
people could be attracted to devote their voluntary work to the direct
stewardess of Nature (and not to political-ideological green activism)
being compensated by ecos. The international clout of these ecos-coins
could be considerable... and the certification could be reasonably
organized in a very ample scale. The present consciousness and fear of
climatic change would ad social urgency and further potential
importance... --Bob, could this "eco" idea may have any sense?
All the best--Pedro
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Pedro C. Marijuán
Grupo de Bioinformación / Bioinformation Group
Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud
Centro de Investigación Biomédica de Aragón (CIBA)
Avda. San Juan Bosco, 13, planta X
50009 Zaragoza, Spain
Tfno. +34 976 71 3526 (& 6818)
pcmarijuan.i...@aragon.es
http://sites.google.com/site/pedrocmarijuan/
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