Why is sharing the path to a money-free world?

Since I’ve start promoting sharing more vigorously as the path to a money-free world, quite a few people have asked me this question, so thought I’d create a post about it.

Why is sharing the path to a money-free world?

Well, for lots of reasons, but first…

It goes without saying that you cannot share what you don’t have, so no-one is asking you to perform miracles here. But you probably have a lot more to share than you think. Eg. your skills, knowledge – or anything that you no longer use – are all potentially shareable goods that may have a high value to someone else. We just need an effective way of matching your shareable goods with the people who can benefit from them.

So, here’s why sharing is the answer:

• It helps people get the things they need without having to pay or trade
• It reduces our reliance on traditional economic methods
• It promotes trust
• It promotes connection between people and communities
• It reduces environmental impact
• Most importantly of all, it forges a new way of thinking about how we procure the things we need

All obviously good things, so how does this lead to a money-free world?

Multiple people sharing as a habit is a positive feedback loop that grows. As more people benefit from this type of behaviour, more will start engaging in it themselves and benefiting others in turn. And as more join, trust will build in the system and higher value and more diverse goods will become available.

And when this feedback loop starts producing sharing transactions in their millions and billions, then we are already well on the way to creating a post-money system.

It won’t replace the money system overnight of course, but it does unquestionably replace it. Every item shared is one less transaction for the money system and one more for post-money.

A money free world, or your money back

And here’s the rub: if it doesn’t succeed, or if we can’t make it work, then we may need to face the uncomfortable fact that a money-free world can’t work. Because, make no mistake: no approach to creating a money-free world can succeed without humans engaging in sharing as a way of life.

If you’re one of those who believes that science will somehow usher in a money-free society, then you need to ask yourself why it hasn’t already done so in the last three of four decades, when it would have been eminently possible.

It hasn’t happened simply because there is no will or incentive to do so. And that needs to change before anything else can happen.

A money-free world is a sharing world. The good news is we can engage in this alternative type of behaviour right here, right now in parallel with the existing. We don’t need to wait for a miracle. We just need some time and dedication to get the ball rolling. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

So let’s get started?