As we move into new socioeconomic systems that support conscious and resilient modes of interaction, certain old ideas of control and ownership of assets will fade. And in this time of transition from the old system to a newer one, we firmly believe that it is important to stay grounded in the necessities of allowing for these old (yet familiar) ideas to coexist within the context of working together in new ways.
“All living systems are dynamic. There is always movement and flow. It is what distinguishes a living organism from a rock.” We believe that if we can be most aware of the natural flows of the energetic currents that are happening in nature at all levels, we can better mimic those flows in sustainable and regenerative ways. Therefore, we believe it is appropriate to use the word currency (“current-see”) as a representation of our ability to notice, record, and better synchronize our activities with those natural flows.
It is important to note that we are not promoting the idea that a one-time analysis of natural flow patterns would or could ever represent a complete exercise. In fact, we believe quite the opposite— that any attempt to capture those values in a way that would create a sense of permanence would be making a potentially fatal mistake, and prevent the CoGov software from creating a net benefit. We believe the truth is that any decision that is made using an analysis of natural flow patterns will actually affect those patterns—sometimes immediately, and often-times, over a longer period of time. We have created CoGov specifically as a tool to enhance the ease and grace with which we can continuously analyze and re-analyze our metrics—allowing the feedback loop between humans and technology to iterate most naturally.
Control and ownership currency metrics are generally specified at the time of creation of a Collective. While CoGov provides a means of most easily allowing currency to flow between individuals, we believe that along with those early currency assignments, it is important for a Collective to publish the details of a path by which a member may expect currency to flow in or out of their stewardship.
When building actual governance interfaces, it should become obvious what kind of energetic exchanges (flows) are happening within the context of the interface. As they are identified, a current-see can be defined to help bring the flow of that current into users’ consciousness. We propose four categories within which these currencies will fall. We will now define those four currency categories: Influence Currency, Equity Currency, Fiat Currency, and Impact Currency. After the definitions, we provide a simple way to determine which category the current-see falls into.
