Herbert Hofmann: TIME FOR TIME - An Utopian Travelogue with Internet Connection
Previous page | Next page | Page: 4 of 11 |
Jump to page:
Page 4
---------------------------------------------------------------------
How does such a community finance itself?
Masacha:
"As already said, every citizen, hence every Efektiviganto, has the right for the provision of the basic goods. These are housing, food, clothes, medical supply, transportation and education. These goods must be provided in order to secure the existence of the world population. At birth, every person is entitled by our constitution to access these goods and services. At first free of charge. Later on, starting with the age of 16, every citizen is obligated to spend part of his lifetime working to make these goods available. By "time of existence" we understand the time in which an Efektiviganto will work for the community. The sum of this "time of existence" is administered by the Realiganto for economy. As you know, we don't have money. Our taxes are computed in seconds and minutes. The "time of existence" which need to be served never ends, however, it diminuishes. One of the tasks the Realiganto for economy has to carry out is to annually determine how long a person has to serve the community in order to provide for the basic needs of all. At present, these are three months, or 300 Horoj."
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Which interest-rate is applied on time?
Mascha:
"I for example am a catholic priest. I am responsible for a small church here in Istanbul. The members of the congregation pay me directly. They guaranteed that I will receive a fixed wage of one time unit, of a Horo, as we say, per work hour. I have some Horos in my account. I can do with them whatever I want: I can save them or buy myself something and use it, or I can donate them. The latter are characteristics, which the Horo does not have. The Horo is not transferable. However, my lifetime is, and I can give it to someone for example in the form of work."
Time does not have a universal exchange value, and is not directly transferable. Only through past time, equal to the number of goods produced, or directly by human interaction can time be exchanged. It is impossible to inherit lifetime; one can only give it to the community at one's death. If time has this prominent value, so our consideration, then everybody will regard his lifetime and the lifetime of others differently. People would, for example, put more emphasis on the development of personality rather than on the possession of consumer goods with all their negative characteristics.
Previous page | Next page
