Sociological Thought Experiment

[Shirtless Crackhead]

So here's the scenario.

 

You have a town of 25,000 people, Middle America.

 

You are going to be able to forgo any infrastructural fundamentals, but let's list out what you got.

 

- 75% Caucasian, 10% Hispanic, 8% Asian, 6% Black, 1% Other

- 1 large automotive factory

- Lots of good farming land, seasonal growing only (winters are a bit chilly for plants)

- 1 medium-small river, a couple of subsidiary creeks

- No dangerous wild animals

- Middle of the road quality for roads, bridges, and non-commercial railway (no commercial ones, atleast not from the start)

- 2 High Schools, 2 Middle Schools, and 3 Primary Schools

- Basic American make-up of stores (Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Dollar Store, and some local stores)

 

Now, here's the problem I will put to any/all of you.

 

How would you create a monetary system, that being a system of represented value for purposes of payroll, taxation, and trade. You are going to take out the dollar, and the normal financial system that exists in America today. Replace it with something.

 

You are going to have to explain it in detail, and it must work at this local level.

 

I await to see if anyone's got any ideas.

 

Also, whatever monetary/trade medium system you go with, doesn't have to be a national/global system; just a local one.

 

I am just looking for a system that would work for an individual community, any discussion of it's larger implication can take place after we get some ideas going.

[Nomrah]

Barter and Trade.

 

First things first strip the Wal-Mart and all similar stores clean of all the worthless junk (including cell-phones and i-pads) and send it off in buses headed towards an unknown location. This will hopefully help sort through the majority of the populace as materialistic consumers will instinctively chase after the buses never to return (it's a trap!).

 

Replace these empty warehouse spaces with real progress. Focus on building things that are important to enhancing lives, things of quality, not quantity.

 

Now that the life-blood (the dollar) of the merchant class is gone, we can be free of their scheming nonsense. It's time for things of value to take precedence, no more trash to stupefy the population and clutter the environment.

 

There will be a focus on regrowing forests and freeing up land previously held hostage by mans ever-growing concrete jungle. It's time for everyone to relearn what it means to be hard working, disciplined and self-sufficient.

 

 

I'm not sure if this is exactly the type of response you wanted, but I am interested in any ideas you've come up with.

[Shirtless Crackhead]

I'm not trying to throw a pipe-wrench at your problem here, but there is something to consider.

 

What goods does a car dealership take for cars?

 

You also realize that people are very unlikely to be willing to give up their electronics, I know I wouldn't.

 

There is also always going to be huge problems, from the perspective of public acceptance of any sort of primitivism, which I also feel.

[Nomrah]

Society could be set up in a more family/clan based fashion, therefore a clan will focus on a particular trade and excel at what they do. For instance a clan in charge of a car dealership, which would most likely in this case include the manufacturing of vehicles, would focus on selling vehicles for anything from livestock, firearms, appliances or any number of requested goods for the rest of the clan. A family oriented trade/business would be a positive contrast to the big corporate takeovers we see in America today. Sure family business's exist but are frequently being steamrolled and bought out by bigger corporations, these corporations are completely different and lack any real connection with those that work their backs off to keep it afloat, things eventually deteriorate and lose overall value when a business continues in this fashion, this in turn has adverse effects on the rest of society. It's important to keep things closer to family due to natural association.

 

As for electronics, I would not want a complete abandonment of all things technology. I would want technology to continue to grow and prosper, but I would like to see a change in how people interact with it. I guess I just have never quite valued the whole smart phone concept, I mostly find myself frustrated seeing people walk around public places all while staring down at their cell-phones wired into the digital world rather than the world around them. I have never felt the urge to "tune" into technology while on the go, I keep a cell-phone for pure calling purposes and that's it. I hold a particular disdain for social networking sites and their impact on society and the value of communication, which ties in with how I view smart phones. Almost every aspect of human involvement, interaction and existence is becoming more and more minimalistic as the years tick by. How much longer can things continue on this way?

 

As far as primitivism goes, I believe it is important for nature to once again become an essential and important part of peoples lives. I am by no means talking about people dropping everything and living in caves, but for people to at least reclaim their sense of dependance on what is natural. This dependance on the system that the government has webbed all around us is no good, it has completely stripped us of our human rights to live independently without navigating through the systems endless corridors of red tape.

Edited October 5, 2011 by Nomrah

[Vincent210]

Your disdain for social networking is ironic considering where you're typing this.

[Shirtless Crackhead]

Not to mention technology will always be the future.

 

Voluntarism is important as well though.

[Nomrah]

Your disdain for social networking is ironic considering where you're typing this.

I knew someone would write this. I like forums and view them differently than I would a site as broad and unfocused as facebook or myspace. A Forum narrows down its populace to a specific category or interest allowing a more focused crowd, people who would not normally meet are able to discuss certain subjects of interest. Although here I am discussing something other than Armored Core, but I've become associated with this place and discussion here is usually a bit more stimulating or interesting than the meaningless babble you would normally find on a site such as facebook. If the discussions here did not interest me, I would not be here, that is why I am not on facebook or other similar sites. The disdain I hold for social networking is rooted in the empty and overall meaningless activity that spawns within such places.

Edited October 5, 2011 by Nomrah

[Bakuhatsu Pengin]

acu is pretty goddamn broad and unfocused, notgonnalie

[Nomrah]

Broad as it may be, at least a thread that I find interesting will pop up from time to time. Although this one is losing focus and starting to suck, it is becoming as I say, empty and meaningless. Is this the great future technology has in store for us? As the Earths population continues to grow and the prospect of space colonization seems to fade further away, where does that leave us? We will simply cling closer to the seemingly vast and infinite world of cyberspace as the world outside continues to become more ill and congested, perhaps pursuit of the virtual will be mans only frontier for many generations to come. Edited October 6, 2011 by Nomrah

[Shirtless Crackhead]

A world without cyberspace is actually pretty big.

[Bakuhatsu Pengin]

why does everyone think everything has to have a meaning

[Shirtless Crackhead]

It doesn't, but somebody can find meaning in just about anything.

[Nomrah]

A world without cyberspace is actually pretty big.

Government sure is good at making it seem small.

[Shirtless Crackhead]

How do you figure that?

[Nomrah]

How do you figure that?

Not physically smaller, just mentally. You know that feeling you get when shit starts to go down, you realize that no existing laws will dictate or interfere with the situation, until whatever it was has been settled. Your mind crosses all imaginary boundaries, the constant awareness of overhead government control, laws and restrictions, without these things you establish a sense of freedom. Within those moments the world looks and feels like an entirely different place, a much larger and mysterious place.

 

A good example would be how humans behave differently under different circumstances, such as public behavior as opposed to private behavior.

 

As things are now I feel an overwhelming sense of both restriction and reliance, forces that I cannot see or touch dictate the way I live my life. I mentioned earlier, corridors of red tape, just think of it as herd mentality. We are constantly being led, tugged and pulled in various directions. You can make your own decisions from time to time, but they are predominately restricted to the best way to manage and survive within the currently existing social/political structure.

[Shirtless Crackhead]

You now know why I'm pro-minimal government.

 

[Ataraxis]

Your disdain for social networking is ironic considering where you're typing this.

 

I think making a distinction between a forum such as ACU and a social networking site like Facebook is actually a fair one to make. Though apparently not the separation Nomrah had in mind, there is usually a significant difference in who you interact with on each of these.

 

Forums tend to be more anonymous; the people you encounter are not those you interact with in the day to day grind. They are typically unable to have any physical presence. A list of Facebook aquaintances usually has a large percentage of people who you've met through school, work, parties, etc. There is at the very least, some chance of encountering them should you leave your computer or put down your smartphone. That people choose to spend their free time on Facebook talking to these very people instead of actually going to see them places a fair amount of brunt behind Nomrah's point.

 

I don't feel like getting much into the originally proposed topic. I will say that I enjoy the idea of the economy working on a system of goods and services - that is, if you need something, you must give or do something that is needed. It doesn't always work so well in practice.

[Nomrah]

Forums tend to be more anonymous; the people you encounter are not those you interact with in the day to day grind. They are typically unable to have any physical presence. A list of Facebook aquaintances usually has a large percentage of people who you've met through school, work, parties, etc. There is at the very least, some chance of encountering them should you leave your computer or put down your smartphone. That people choose to spend their free time on Facebook talking to these very people instead of actually going to see them places a fair amount of brunt behind Nomrah's point.

My thoughts exactly, I could not have said it better myself. People are passing up personal engagement for simple texts more and more these days. A lot can be gained by actually speaking to someone face to face, it builds character for one. I believe a lack of true personal engagement can have adverse effects on how we behave and treat others in real world scenarios. Short texts simply lack a critical degree of emotion, and overall severely limit the manner in which we convey messages.

[Shirtless Crackhead]

I prefer the internet with a higher degree of anonymity than Facebook type stuff that wants to know you and everything about you.

[Nomrah]

I prefer the internet with a higher degree of anonymity than Facebook type stuff that wants to know you and everything about you.

Haha, you're onto that you shit as well. Centers of self worship, that's all they are.

[Vincent210]

Can't blame people for wanting to be worshiped.

 

Being worshiped is fucking awesome.

[Shirtless Crackhead]

Indeed, and find me a better site for user-based video content, I doubt you can.

[Nomrah]

You and your videos.

[Shirtless Crackhead]

Videos in and of themselves don't do anything bad.

[Shirtless Crackhead]

Speaking of which, I figured you might like the video Nomrah.