[ExI] Joule currency (Re: Banking, corporations, and rights)

[Anders Sandberg]

spike wrote:
> The problem with that is that not all joules are created equal.  You need
> another measure to go with any measure of energy, its entropy.  The ocean is
> full of joules in its thermal energy, but the entropy is so high it cannot
> be converted to useful anything.
>
> High entropy = bad, low entropy = good.
>   

Would a negentropy currency make sense? (I hesitate to call it an 
extropy currency) Earth can only dissipate a fixed amount of entropy 
into space as long as its temperature remains constant, there is a 
fundamental limit/link to erasing information, and most processes we 
tend to regard as 'bad' seem to involve a lot of entropy increase.


The big problem with resource based currencies is that they tend to 
inflate when you invent or find new resources - Spain got into serious 
trouble by conquering the New World and then getting flooded with gold. 
Invent a fusion reactor and the energy currency inflates. Maybe 
negentropy is the only way around it, since it is so tough to make.

(Another problem with resource based currencies is that prices are not 
resource-based but due to subjective human desires and needs)

-- 
Anders Sandberg,
Future of Humanity Institute
Philosophy Faculty of Oxford University