After listening to many discourses and theories on predictions for the future, the most flawed concepts and predictions surround the idea of barter and bartering. Ask anyone who has engaged in barter, from a child at recess, to a scientist trading information with another scientist, or a computer gamer in a virtual environment, or a person living in a tribal system with limited technology, barter is fun. And there are few things that rival the pleasure of a good trade.
Barter is a social act that is different from purchasing something with a currency intermediary, and it is significantly different from borrowing or rotating items.
The first difference is when you own something, there can be an emotional attachment to the item. And the person who is bartering often has an attachment to the items he or she is offering to barter with. So when you make a trade, and even in the process of he barter, actual adrenaline and other physical chemicals can be released into the bloodstream as a result of the anticipation, anxiety, and completion of a good bartering session. So this makes the experience of bartering very interactive and enjoyable for some people.
Bartering can make someone reinforce his or her individuality and or capability to conform to social standards and norms. And that is a fun and entertaining process. Being a human being is more than just simply having needs met and leisure time. We like to simultaneously fit in with the greater community, as well as differentiate ourselves either through, persona, style, personality, influence, knowledge and a myriad of other attributes.
When I think of people who suggest a system of minimal suffering and maximum abundance of optimally created products that are distributed by a centralized authority, I can see how they are attempting to alleviate suffering through thought experiment and alternative systems theory. But the road to a migraine is paved with good intentions. And I wouldn’t be surprised if the very proponents of these systems that intentionally limit choice in the name of resource security eventually become the very champions of reverting such oppressive systems back to the freedom inherent in bartering.
In actuality, barter is the most widely used form of transaction, even in today’s market economy. This may seem counter-intuitive, but think about you and your friends and family. You actually trade goods and services every day without a second thought. Think about car pools, or household chores, or websites that disseminate information freely in exchange for visitors that improve the site’s popularity and Alexa ranking. Technically speaking, the most widely bartered item in he world economy today is quite simply, your time.
Bartering one’s free time is an often unconscious and sublimated act that is the basis of strong friendships and healthy familial relationships. And regardless of how plentiful and abundant a system can create goods for use and rotation, some people and their respective personalities and insights will be appreciated by their community and they will be compensated.
The interaction that people have with one another is one of the principle factors that make us feel human. And any excuse to come together and exchange is often pretense for a greater longing for companionship and comradeship. Being a human being has much less to do with the amount of food on the table, as it does with he people we share it with.
-Tyler