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The Serviceberry: An Economy of Abundance

29 points by jelliclesfarm 6y ago

ivan_ah 6y ago
I found this to be very profound. Current economics paradigms are severely limited in scope by focussing only on "excludable goods" and may have little interesting to teach us about other forms of value preservation (e.g. protect nature's resources as 1st class citizens, not as externalities), value exchange (e.g. FOSS and open content). Indeed, in 2021, it's past-time for the Chicago-Boys-style economics to retire and let new ideas come in.
samatman 6y ago
> She is not obeying the rules of the capitalist market economy; she is not behaving in a way that will maximize her profit. How un-American. I refuse to concede this point. Instead, I invoke the memory of Johnny Appleseed, an American folk hero, who dedicated his life to planting apple orchards across the United States, and the American frontier. Which he did with no thought of reward, in the spirit of fellowship. And we remember his name to this day. Merry Christmas everyone.
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skybrian 6y ago
Abundance is relative. The berries may sometimes be locally abundant, but they aren't available everywhere in the world unless someone does the shipping. Shouldn't they be paid? It seems like you need a small, isolated population to have abundance. When there is trade, it becomes a cash crop.
- throwaway316943 6y ago
  Yep, the reference to a gift economy also ignores the fundamental aspect of it which is keeping a mental tally of who has given what to who, what each persons status is and their relationships to each member of the community. A gift economy is just a mental ledger for lack of any coin of the realm. Tangible and fiat currency improve on it by making accounting accurate, transferable and applicable to people you don’t know personally. I’d call it FUD but this is more so ignorance, sentimentality and naivety.
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markvdb 6y ago
If you like this article, you may want to read The fish can sing by Halldor Laxness.[0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fish_Can_Sing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fish_Can_Sing .

29 points by jelliclesfarm 6y ago

I found this to be very profound. Current economics paradigms are severely limited in scope by focussing only on "excludable goods" and may have little interesting to teach us about other forms of value preservation (e.g. protect nature's resources as 1st class citizens, not as externalities), value exchange (e.g. FOSS and open content). Indeed, in 2021, it's past-time for the Chicago-Boys-style economics to retire and let new ideas come in.

samatman 6y ago

> She is not obeying the rules of the capitalist market economy; she is not behaving in a way that will maximize her profit. How un-American. I refuse to concede this point. Instead, I invoke the memory of Johnny Appleseed, an American folk hero, who dedicated his life to planting apple orchards across the United States, and the American frontier. Which he did with no thought of reward, in the spirit of fellowship. And we remember his name to this day. Merry Christmas everyone.

deleted 6y ago
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skybrian 6y ago

Abundance is relative. The berries may sometimes be locally abundant, but they aren't available everywhere in the world unless someone does the shipping. Shouldn't they be paid? It seems like you need a small, isolated population to have abundance. When there is trade, it becomes a cash crop.

throwaway316943 6y ago
Yep, the reference to a gift economy also ignores the fundamental aspect of it which is keeping a mental tally of who has given what to who, what each persons status is and their relationships to each member of the community. A gift economy is just a mental ledger for lack of any coin of the realm. Tangible and fiat currency improve on it by making accounting accurate, transferable and applicable to people you don’t know personally. I’d call it FUD but this is more so ignorance, sentimentality and naivety.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

markvdb 6y ago

If you like this article, you may want to read The fish can sing by Halldor Laxness.[0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fish_Can_Sing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fish_Can_Sing .