She left Mark’s shipboard apartment immediately after Anzio, strolled through a deserted Squad Hub, and found her apartment and bed while smiling with the knowledge that it was Mark’s voice from the crowd that had called for her to speak.
Chapter 18
Dr. Mark Spencer
By the next morning people’s routines were, for the most part, back to normal (if anything could be said to be normal about being aboard an alien spacecraft heading God-knows where).
I caught Major Reagan early and we shared breakfast in his quarters; which gave me a chance to discuss my time with Ambassador Rutledge from the night before as well as my upcoming session with Jaki.
“The Ambassador is frustrated not to be a part of the discussion; he wants me to make a case for him,” I said between bites.
I was learning a comfort level around the Major. He didn’t seem to have any hidden agendas or an out of control ego. He was a good listener and tended to give thoughtful advice. He was much closer to my version of a leader than Memphis would ever be.
“Well, I think that’s understandable,” Major Reagan replied.
“It’s not that I don’t want him to be involved,” I continued the thought. “It’s just that I don’t really want to be cut out of it. I think, for whatever reason, I have some insight into the way that Jaki thinks.”
Major Reagan thought for a few moments and then said, “Dr. Spencer, I don’t have any authority to decide these things and I suspect very little influence, but it seems to me that your instincts have proven true so far. If I were you I think I’d just go for it. Even if you get Rutledge’s group involved in the process I don’t think that excludes your participation. I think Jaki will talk to who she wants to talk to when she wants to talk to them and so far you’re the only one that seems to have any influence over that.”
It wasn’t that I needed the reassurance but it did feel good to hear those words from someone I respected. I mean it’s not like the future of mankind was riding on our actions or anything.
“I’ll make Rutledge’s pitch for him and he gave me 63 other questions that he desperately needs answers to, but I think I’m going to have to go where the conversation takes me. Come to think of it do you have any requests?”
“Actually Dr. Spencer, I do. Our communications gear doesn’t work inside this ship; I’d like the Noridians to manufacture some earpieces we could use so I don’t have to keep sending a runner every time I need to talk to someone.”
“I can’t imagine that would be a problem for them; I’ll bring it up.” After a couple of seconds I added, “Of course with their system there may be no security…”
The Major looked straight at me and said, “Mark, do you really think anything we say or do on this ship is secure?”
∆∆∆
“That’s the group Kansas,” I said as I took a seat in Jaki’s quarters. “Dust in the Wind is one of my favorites.”
“I was hoping to make you feel comfortable. I thought a little background music might be appropriate,” she replied.
“I appreciate the consideration but if you really want to enjoy rock ‘n’ roll you don’t play it at background level; you jam to it.”
I could swear she was hiding a grin when she said to me, “You’ll have to show me how to ‘jam’ sometime.”
“Who’d have thought,” I said out loud. “A retro alien! You know, they say rock ’n’ roll was the downfall of the Soviet Union.”
“The Soviet… ah, introducing liberal ideas into a totalitarian culture. Forgive me for saying so but sometimes the quaintness of your culture still surprises me,” Jaki responded.
“By quaintness you mean primitiveness?” I said while giving her my best smile.
I had decided to keep this session as friendly as possible and hopefully make everyone proud of me.
Ambassador Rutledge and I had also agreed that it would be interesting to subtly explore her depth of knowledge on us. From her hesitation, however, it sure seemed as if she’d just learned of the Soviet Union from some hidden database. Interesting.
Jaki returned the smile and said, “Mark, I know it’s important to you so please be aware that the recording of this session is starting. So we now have an audience!” she said brightly.
She continued, “I think we have a lot to talk about today but before we get back to our previous topic, are there any other shorter questions I could answer for you?”
Good. My master strategy was working. It seems that Jaki had decided to play nice today too…
“Actually, yes. Would it be possible for you to make some sort of communication earpieces for each of our team? Ours don’t seem to work in your ship.”
“Consider it done. Anything else?”
“Jaki, what is your title? I’m assuming you’re the head of the Noridian mission so how does the hierarchy work? Are you part of a military service? A diplomatic corps? At this point I know that Noridia may or may not have what we would call a government but there has to be some organization?”
We were sitting in a slightly different version of the sunken living area each of us had in our quarters and at this point Jaki leaned back in her sofa and gave what I was starting to regard as her signature move; crossing those distractingly long legs of hers. Did I mention she was wearing another form fitting short dress?
“I don’t have a title Mark. In our society titles don’t designate rank; they’re honorary and given from respect,” she responded.
“This is probably a good segue,” she continued, “to pick up where we left off.
“We’ve talked about how on your world government’s practical purpose has been to control resource distribution for the ultimate benefit of the redistributors. There are undoubtedly many who might argue this but according to our research and quite frankly our experience with many other worlds that developed similar to yours, it is true. Even the founding fathers of your own United States wrote a constitution that for the first time in your world’s history didn’t empower government but restricted it. They feared government and wanted to keep it as small, localized, and weak as possible.”
As a history professor Jaki was stating truths that I knew well. Although there was certainly debate, the Founding Fathers of the United States were generally among the opinion that government was inherently evil and that men couldn’t be free unless they were protected from it. In other words, they felt that government, by the nature of man, would always be a growing, power-hungry monstrosity that would constantly need pruning. These same Founding Fathers wouldn’t recognize our modern world; where we teach our school children that government is our friend. I didn’t know if she was saying these things for my benefit or those that would be listening in but I nodded for her to continue.
“We need to remember that the only reason for any group to want to control resources is because they have value and value comes from scarcity.
“For example, gold is a mineral that is found rarely on earth because it is only naturally formed in the heart of stars and expelled across the galaxy when they go nova. Gold is not native to earth, therefore rare, and therefore carries a high value, but what if everyone had the ability in their own bathtub to chemically turn dirt into gold? No catches and no real expertise or rare chemical needed; just the desire to do so?
“For a while,” she continued, “everyone would go crazy making gold. It wouldn’t just be jewelry; people would plate their furniture and cars in gold. Until one day it would stop being special.
“No one would admire your gold and they certainly would not pay you anything for your gold; they could just make their own. So from an economic standpoint something only has intrinsic value to someone if it is relatively hard for them to attain.”
“Jaki,” I interjected. “I’m a historian not an economist but even if it was abundant I would think gold would still be valuable. We use it in all kinds of industrial processes.”
“Mark, you’re confusing importance with value. Just because somet
hing doesn’t have any intrinsic value doesn’t mean it’s not important. Gold will always be important because of its conductive and manufacturing qualities. To have intrinsic value however it must be important and scarce.
“Now let us take this a step further, what if all matter could be manipulated on the subatomic level? What if it was relatively easy to make not only gold but just about any element or molecule? The raw materials for just about anything you use or need from car parts, highway cement, clothing fibers, electronic equipment, food, or medicine would be abundant and available to everyone.
“The same would apply to energy. It would be possible to make energy fuel sources such as petroleum, coal, or uranium-235 but why bother when you can extract an abundance of energy from nothing; it can actually be ‘extracted’ from the space or vacuum between the molecules of the world around us? If everyone had access to Zero Point Energy why would anyone need to buy it?”
I had no idea how to respond to that. She was describing a world so far ahead of us that I’d never even contemplated it. What would we use money for?
“What would we use money for?” I asked.
She paused and then continued as if on a new subject.
“The energy and raw materials to make the things we need and want would be important but have no intrinsic value. What might hold more value would be the knowledge of how to use those raw materials to make the things you want...
“For example, you can have a 3D printer capable of making anything and let’s say that printer was easy to operate and program but if you don’t know the specifications of what you’re trying to make…”
“So in your society,” I said, “money is used to purchase knowledge?”
“Yes, but you need to remember the difference between money and currency. Money is the value of something; typically your time or knowledge. But money can’t be held or touched; currency is the physical placeholder we use to represent money.”
Shaking her head she said, “When raw materials are scarce currency is a good medium of exchange. This is because the value of a raw material changes relatively slowly. The value of a certain piece of knowledge however can change dramatically and very quickly depending upon who has access to it. Compared to that currency is very inflexible; so currency is a poor medium of exchange for knowledge.
“Think about this: New knowledge is a one-time consumable product. Most often the true worth of a piece of knowledge is not known until long after it has been made available and we see what people have been able to do with it. So how do you set a price on the initial sharing of that knowledge? While only you have that newly discovered or otherwise rare knowledge it is very scarce and we can only guess at how important it might become to others. However, once that rare knowledge is shared it becomes available to all and therefore isn’t scarce and has little value even if it might be the greatest breakthrough known to man.
“Several of us have enjoyed studying your music industry and for years now it has been encountering the same issues. Music is simply a specific type of information or knowledge. With the advent of digital music all access restrictions to a performer’s creation were effectively removed. Artists are struggling to be reimbursed for their creativity because most people can access their music for free. Even the most famous of artists make their wealth from their live performances or promotions, not the creation with the real value – the music itself.
“The price you pay for knowledge, which includes information such as music, should be dynamic; in other words, if the knowledge benefits many people, even over time, the price should grow and if it benefits few it should shrink. Also, if it turns out to be incorrect or harmful it should subtract or have a negative value.”
I was incredibly intrigued by what she was saying but if this was some elaborate sales pitch or negotiation I instinctually knew this would be the time to let her think her fish had slipped the hook… “Jaki, are you trying to tell me that your society uses some magical form of super currency that we’re going to have to buy from you to fit into galactic culture? Because I’ve got to tell you I come from a whole planet of entrepreneurs and they’re not an easy sell.”
Ignoring me completely she continued, “What earth societies have traditionally used for money or currency will not fulfill these requirements but, ‘respect’ will.
“Respect for knowledge, or more specifically, the specialized application of knowledge is the money of the future.”
Damn, she had me back on the hook.
“For example, let us say I want to build a bicycle. I have plenty of raw materials and energy and I have a 3D Printer that is capable of printing all the parts as well as access to online databases that can tell me how to assemble it. What I do not have is someone that can ask me the questions I did not even know to ask; determine what I want to use the bicycle for and recommend the tire size, gear ratio, frame composition, size, and style pattern that will best fit my needs.
“I could probably look up those entire datum and eventually come up with the right answers (most of the time) but the specialized expertise of someone that can do that for me quickly and easily is valuable to me and I pay them with my respect – a respect that grows every time I ride my bike.
“You already have something similar happening on your internet. If you read a great book, see a good movie, or eat at a nice restaurant you can go online and write a review or indicate that you ‘like’ it. Likewise if your experience was bad you can leave a bad review.”
“Are we talking about giving respect to individuals or businesses?” I asked. “Do you want every person on earth to have a website where people review or rate their performance?”
“Mark, it is not so far-fetched. Granted it is very primitive but you already have what you call social media. Some of those sites specialize in professional profiles and some are personal profiles. Most businesses on your planet check out a person’s professional profile before hiring them because they want to see what kind of references and recommendations they carry. They then check out the personal profiles to screen out the immoral, unethical, or just plain stupid candidates.
“Earth is a long way from having the advanced information systems that we use but you have already started down that long path of societal evolution.”
This was a lot to absorb but I felt like I was keeping up.
“So how would an economy based on respect work?” I asked.
“Let us say I am a bicycle specialist and I am in demand because I am good at it. I can only make and/or design so many bicycles at a time and maybe I have decided that I want to devote three days a week to it. So how do I decide who to help with bicycles and who to turn down? I would look at their reputations.
“If one of my requests comes from a highly respected homebuilder for example, I would probably give him or her priority. Why? Because I might want him or her to build me a home some day or more likely I would want their recommendation because it would carry more weight than a lot of others.”
“That doesn’t sound very fair,” I said.
“In your existing social media, professional websites are set-up to highlight the recommendation of the CEO of a well-known company, for example, because it is more impressive than the recommendation of your brother who is jobless – is that fair or unfair? If I have earned the respect of a good man is it fair for you to prevent others from knowing it? Is that not kind of like stealing from me?
“The real problem with understanding this concept of respect as money is that your controllers have indoctrinated your society to think that the word ‘fair’ means equal. It does not; in all advanced languages it means equitable, which is very different. Besides, who should decide if something is fair or not? Fairness is subjective. Do you really want to give that type of power over your lives to a small group of people again?
“So let us address your real concern; what happens if my reputation is not good enough for the bicycle maker I want? Well, first of all this might be great incentive t
o improve my work and service to others so I do not run into these issues in the future, but for now there are four options: 1) I can wait as long as it takes for the bicycle maker I want to fit me in, 2) I can find a bicycle maker that is not in such high demand, 3) I can research the issue and do it myself, or 4) I could decide that I do not really need a bicycle anyway - after all, there is no sense in wasting resources if I did not really want it that badly to begin with.
“No matter how powerful I might be in my society I can never deny anyone anything except my own personal labor or expertise that I have earned by my own experience or hard work, and I would suggest that this is the ultimate fairness.”
This led to an interesting thought. “Jaki, on our world our courts have found it necessary to require restaurants, for example, to not discriminate in who they serve. This prevents bigotry and discrimination. I think if we tried to implement your philosophies our society might tear itself apart.”
Here Comes Earth: Emergence Page 10