I look at a world that could potentially offer free time to literally anyone and I see children that are being cared for and nurtured by their parents and family members who aren not hindered by the shackles of modern employment. I see people pursuing niche areas of education they were previously denied entry to, I see the explosion of untapped pools of artists, craftswomen and men from all walks of life, with a chance to shape the entire world to their liking.
How many Michelangelo's or Pablo Picasso's have burned themselves out working a thankless job that barely keeps their heads above water, too time poor to even care for their children let alone pick up a paintbrush and change all of humanity?
If I were given the opportunity to pursue my own goals, my actual goals and desires, without the limitations of economics, my life would look much differently. As a matter of fact, as I look around my group of friends, I see heaps of potential being squandered through the pursuit of meaningless jobs rooted in the need to create some kind of elusive sense of economic stability.
What is the value of a person? Why is humanity so quick to single out person who is happy to sit on their patio all day and do nothing and call them lazy, yet laud a Big Business suit, who has harnessed the concept of cheap foreign labour, or has maliciously and deliberately mishandled the economic system and society to a breaking point?
What if a person sat on the patio for 43 years, and then created the Mona Lisa? Are they valuable then? What about a person was born into a family that couldn't afford a passable education, yet they were motivated enough to spend 50 hours of work being whipped at a packaging warehouse, to provide for their kids they barely get to see. Society will pat them on the back for having a good work ethic, yet realistically they’ve been forced into a situation where they have almost no choice. Are we trying to create a world were being forced into voluntary slavery is more appealing than pursuing your wildest dreams? Why would anyone choose to live in such a world?
If people are willing to work this hard to achieve rewards that allow them to keep their heads barely above water, then imagine how hard they would work in pursuing their wildest dreams. Imagine what you could achieve if you could put half the energy you put into sewing zippers onto designer jackets for some sweatshop located in Sri Lanka so the owner can make a 7000% percent profit on your 50cents an hour pay. If you could instead take that time and invest it into caring for your children, into practising new instruments, into gardening, into renovating your home, into community work, into exercising, into spending the short time you have with the people you care about.
While I am an optimist, I am also a blue collar realist. Everything I have, I worked for myself. I was born into communist Poland and my family lived off food stamps because that was the governmental system at that time. Sometimes we couldn't use all of our stamps because there was nothing to use them on. I’ve been born into a hard working middle class family who built what they have from nothing, who are all very charitable with their work and time and love, they are creative and musical and inquisitive. Every week is by no means a struggle compared to the blights of others but I’ve seen it first hand and lived it to an extent at times and I’m extremely empathetic to people and their myriad personal struggles. I realise that there’s tough jobs out there that people don’t want to do but do so simply to stay afloat economically. Simply because they need money to buy food for themselves and their children. I’ve slowly worn my body down doing some such jobs. It also means that I see the value in working smarter, not harder.
We as a species are by nature, oddly compelled to create. Everything there has ever been and will ever be is a ripple outwards, catalysed by our creativity. How many of us today are being denied the chance to spread our wings and foster this primal need within ourselves? Instead we’re on timed toilet breaks and quotas and deadlines.
While I do truly think a Universal Basic Income system is the answer to a lot of our modern day woes, I also think that realistically it’s a long way off. There are so many potentials to consider, mechanisms to flesh out, bumps in the road to navigate. But very few things are perfect straight out of the gate. The key is to start small, start off seemingly inconsequential. Build and evolve organically.
PoWH could very well be those humble beginnings. It’s a UBI model, and one that’s designed to be transparent and autonomous. The mechanisms are embedded into an immutable contract that cannot be altered by anyone.
When I try to explain smart contracts to my friends, I compare the technology to a vending machine. The machine is created, the rules of the vending machine are programmed in ($2.00 = 1 Can of coke) and it is set free to exist and interact within the boundaries of its contract. I arrive with my money, I read the rules of the vending machine (i.e. $2.00 in to the machine and it will give you 1 can of coke) and the obligations of the contract are enforced automatically. Our transaction is done.
Such is the structure of PoWH coin. The rules of the smart contract are stated, released and cannot be changed. There is no entity that can change the rules on a whim. They can’t increase or decrease any tax or leave with your money, because there simply is no centralised authority in charge of the contract. The contract just …is. You can audit it yourself right here if you wish.
I’m not going to proclaim PoWH to be some sort of world cure all potion for the masses but if there’s one thing I’ve always admired, it’s conceptualisation and creation, pursuit of change and betterment. The logic of a system that fairly benefits all of those that participate, rewards those that contribute, yet is permanently hardwired to nurture the smallest of fishes, is undeniably appealing.
I have no idea where all this will ultimately lead, but I don’t want to risk turning out to be the dinosaur shaking my fist at the clouds while PoWH is inside carving the statue of David 2.0.
In the interest of transparency, I own just over 11 P3D tokens, a meagre sum, but I like putting my limited money where my mouth is. The PoWH link - https://tinyurl.com/y84n8uvf - is my own masternode (you can have one too!)
Everything you need to know is laid out for all to see on the website: https://tinyurl.com/y84n8uvf
If you want to know more, or would like to contribute anything at all to the community, or if you just want to watch before you dip your toes in, join the Discord community.
