11.11 How to Manage Our Future: Some Proposals for Immediate Action
241
(as long as these systems are not “too big to fail”). The current payment systems
(including BitCoin) are not yet perfect, but competition
37 will lead to further
innovations. In particular, I have pointed out that a one-dimensional incentive
system does not allow our complex socio-economic systems to self-organize
and function well. For this reason, a multi-dimensional reward and exchange
system is needed (which I call “multi-dimensional finance”). This would be
akin to having several bank accounts for different kinds of use.
7. Use information systems and other measurement methods to determine
externalities and compensate for them. For self-organization to work well, it
is important to quantify the externalities of decisions and actions. For example,
people and companies could be rewarded for external benefits created by them.
Similarly, if everyone had to pay for the damage produced, this would strongly
reduce the frequency and size of such damage. An important step, therefore,
is to build an infrastructure that is able to measure and quantify benefits and
damage to our physical and biological environment, and also to our socioeconomic system (“social capital”, for example). The sensor networks underlying the emerging “Internet of Things” can now serve this goal, but it will
also be important to increase awareness and create incentives for responsible
behavior.
8. Tax systemic risks and provide rewards for transparency, responsibility,
data access, informational self-determination, and open innovation.
38
Besides charging for damage which has already occurred, it would also make
sense to charge for likely socio-economic damage (“systemic risks”), similarly
to how insurance companies calculate the risks posed by individuals. In the past,
we have often had business models that lead to “tragedies of the commons” or
that undermine privacy, pollute the Web with spam, or advertise products and
services in ways that are barely distinguishable from user ratings and facts. For
the time being, until we figure out a better approach, taxation might be a relatively simple and straight-forward way to improve our techno-socio-economic
systems, including information systems. Rather than taxing labor more than
profits from financial investments or robotic production, a tax on systemic risks
would make sense and reduce risks. This would encourage the modularization
or simplification of complex systems which would increase their resilience. It
would also encourage firms to collect “Smart Data” rather than Big Data (i.e.
discourage the collection of huge quantities of data that are of limited use and
are often quite problematic in many ways). So, it might be worth considering
to introduce a progressive tax on the number of network links, and to promote
openness, transparency, interoperability, participatory opportunities, and informational self-determination through tax incentives. Such an approach could
reward local interactions and the provision of high-quality data, while encouraging the deletion of old and irrelevant data. Moreover, the development of
37 Maybe jointly with some insurance system to cover damage.
38 On the long run, it would be interesting to figure out how to tax in a distributed, adaptive and
bottom-up way.
241
(as long as these systems are not “too big to fail”). The current payment systems
(including BitCoin) are not yet perfect, but competition
37 will lead to further
innovations. In particular, I have pointed out that a one-dimensional incentive
system does not allow our complex socio-economic systems to self-organize
and function well. For this reason, a multi-dimensional reward and exchange
system is needed (which I call “multi-dimensional finance”). This would be
akin to having several bank accounts for different kinds of use.
7. Use information systems and other measurement methods to determine
externalities and compensate for them. For self-organization to work well, it
is important to quantify the externalities of decisions and actions. For example,
people and companies could be rewarded for external benefits created by them.
Similarly, if everyone had to pay for the damage produced, this would strongly
reduce the frequency and size of such damage. An important step, therefore,
is to build an infrastructure that is able to measure and quantify benefits and
damage to our physical and biological environment, and also to our socioeconomic system (“social capital”, for example). The sensor networks underlying the emerging “Internet of Things” can now serve this goal, but it will
also be important to increase awareness and create incentives for responsible
behavior.
8. Tax systemic risks and provide rewards for transparency, responsibility,
data access, informational self-determination, and open innovation.
38
Besides charging for damage which has already occurred, it would also make
sense to charge for likely socio-economic damage (“systemic risks”), similarly
to how insurance companies calculate the risks posed by individuals. In the past,
we have often had business models that lead to “tragedies of the commons” or
that undermine privacy, pollute the Web with spam, or advertise products and
services in ways that are barely distinguishable from user ratings and facts. For
the time being, until we figure out a better approach, taxation might be a relatively simple and straight-forward way to improve our techno-socio-economic
systems, including information systems. Rather than taxing labor more than
profits from financial investments or robotic production, a tax on systemic risks
would make sense and reduce risks. This would encourage the modularization
or simplification of complex systems which would increase their resilience. It
would also encourage firms to collect “Smart Data” rather than Big Data (i.e.
discourage the collection of huge quantities of data that are of limited use and
are often quite problematic in many ways). So, it might be worth considering
to introduce a progressive tax on the number of network links, and to promote
openness, transparency, interoperability, participatory opportunities, and informational self-determination through tax incentives. Such an approach could
reward local interactions and the provision of high-quality data, while encouraging the deletion of old and irrelevant data. Moreover, the development of
37 Maybe jointly with some insurance system to cover damage.
38 On the long run, it would be interesting to figure out how to tax in a distributed, adaptive and
bottom-up way.