Do you really want an alternative to our current system? How about we try to work towards having a knowledge and resource based society. I have links to 2 of the other proposals for such a society and there are others as well.
The Resource and Knowledge Based Society AKA Socialized Democracy
1. All humans get a small house to live in regardless of the capacity to work and think.
2. All humans receive the nutrition they need to survive and thrive.
3. Money is no longer a needed commodity.
4. The more you contribute to the society the more you receive in honors, goods and services.
5. Jobs will no longer be indefinitely retained at the same place.
6. Every human has the right to higher learning for free.
7. Every human has the chance to be innovators without the need for income.
8. Robots will do most manual labor.
9. Exploration and conservation of our environment becomes key in the happiness and survival of the human race.
10. Energy is gleaned from sun, wind, ocean currants and wave action, harnessing the power in the magnetic field, and for space travel lightwave energy is harnessed.
11. Goods will be allocated based on when you signed up for a thing and the demand for such a thing. Bicycles are available for anyone to pick up and use in your home complex. Most people will be living in large spacious apartment complexes that come with all you should need including a fleet of cars and bicycles to get around with. No one owns them, they are for the use of all who live there.
12. Every home will have an interactive interface that connects you to the net with a holographic display for connecting with people and information anywhere you go in your home. a separate device in the form of glasses with audio/visual interactive capabilities for when you not home if you want it.
13. Transportation will be as easy as stepping into your vehicle, and telling it where you want to go. Based on distance the vehicle will decide whether to fly for long distances, use roadways for short distances, or a version of rail where your vehicle gets on a sort of maglev highway system.
14. Since our world has finite resources, the push to explore and seed other planets and galaxies takes off.
15. A space station is built on the moon and asteroids are mined for the materials needed to build spaceships capable of carrying 100,000 people each. Each station will have it's own recycling water source and a hydroponics farm in which to grow everything needed to survive. The light wave has been harnessed to allow for lightspeed travel, as well as the gravity wave for slower speeds. This makes reaching other galaxies attainable within a few generations. The initial crew and supports total 8,000 people with the 100 k capacity to allow for the growth of population over time. Everyone on board will be cross trained on at least 10 different jobs based on their capacity to learn them. Gravity is achieved through both rotation and artficially induced gravity which will be increased overtime to both allow for healthy bones and muscles as well as prepare for the possibility of finding a habitable world with a higher gravity than earth's.
16. Few real manual labor jobs remain and they are split up with the entire populace taking part to make things happen. For example lets say someone needs to ride on a garbage truck to keep an eye on what gets put out into the trash. Robots do most of the work but human eyes are still needed to make sure kids and animals don't get caught in the robotic arms. you may have to sign up for 5-10 hours per week for community service to do this job. There are no regular long work hours as there is a sign up to do certain things based on what it is you want for a good or service. So lets say you want the newest version of a piano for your own entertainment. You sign up to work at a factory to make this piano for your self and everyone else who is currently there who wants one. It could be as little as a few months assignment or as long as a 10 year assignment based or if you like doing this job or not. Most things can be made through 3 D printing but some assembly is required for those things that are created from different materials like it is for an instrument like a piano or guitar.
Buildings use extensive green technology and renewable resources. flouresing anaeorbic algae is housed in liquid filled columns that produce both hydrogen for heating and cooling as well as a soft light that allows for energy consumption reductions at night as no lights are needed to be able get around on the outer corridors of buildings. Windows serve as both an energy source as well as natural lighting. Opaque to clear solar cells are built into each window. also the heat from sunlight is converted into usable energy
Everyone has a say on new laws. The best term I can come up with for this is a Socialized Democracy.
rbe pt 2
Try to think of it like this: Each community sets up it's own labor needs and how many man hours are needed to get the things done that absolutely can't be let go, like trash collection, electrical grid upkeep, nursing, teaching, roadwork and other ongoing construction, water and sewer upkeep, food production and distribution, etc. That is where the number of hours of community service is created. Currently most cities have a relatively small number of people doing all those things. We are a society stuck on the accumulation of stuff. If everyone has enough of the basics and the stuff you want can be achieved through 3D printing or working in a factory for a short time to get the stuff you want or think you need, then most people would be free to pick what they truly want to do with their lives. You could choose to become a physicist if that was something that interested you or you could choose to be a full time garbage monitor if that is more what you would like to do. You could also choose to be a painter, farmer, scientist, mathematician, factory worker, teacher, doctor, nurse, or whatever strikes your fancy. The difference would be in that you would take the pursuit of income and profit out of the picture so you could be free to try new jobs or experiences out..
Everyone has a say on how laws are put forth and that would help create a more equal society over time but you would still need a central government and judicial system to make sure resources like food are grown and distributed evenly. Our current system is unfair to the majority of the population. A few have enough money to buy whatever they wish, while at the other end of the spectrum they have to buy what they can afford (if they can afford anything at all as some have been reduced to going back to hunter gathering) which is often unhealthy garbage.
That is where the number of hours of community service is created. . The difference would be in that you would take the pursuit of income and profit out of the picture so you could be free to try new jobs or experiences out..
Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea, like other communist countries are dictatorships. That is not what a resource based economy has to be. Here is how I think it could work. Ordinary citizens get to write the laws and the entire population gets to vote on them. You could have an equal power triumverate (3 elected people in charge of distribution of food and other goods along with the power to sign laws that the people want in place) that would either agree to sign the peoples will into law or not. The people can over ride the triumverate veto with an 80% vote. That should help ensure that minority interests are less likely to be infringed upon. Also you would still need a judicial branch to decide if laws are constitutional and that minorities were not over run and have their rights taken away by majorities. and to make sure laws are either followed or consequences are mete out.
Resource based economy replacement of money for goods and services.
Instead of a wage per hour, the new currency of sorts could just be based on the number of minutes or hours worked. If you invent something that helps humanity greatly (Like inventing a viable teleportation device) you could receive a bonus 1000 hours of work time added to your tally. This would be used for those things not provided for in the society as a whole. Since most basics are provided, it's not likely this "currency" would actually need to be used. Let's say though that some services would need to be paid for (like a having a personal trainer, chef, or massage therapist. You could then trade your hours worked for their labor to give you the service you want. They in turn could then turn around and get another service for themselves by paying for it with the hours worked pay out they have received. In this way there would still be an incentive to work for something you want but no one would be making massively more than anyone else.
http://www.youtube.com/... venus
http://www.youtube.com/... zeitgeist
Fri Feb 21, 2014 at 5:52 PM PT: If you have any ideas that you think would improve this, or if you have a question on how something might work, please let me know in the comments.
You may think of a problem or solution that I haven't addressed or that I may need to explore further. I am certain that if we can get the best minds to come together to offer solutions to problems instead of only complaints, we could make this a better world for everyone to live in.