A nut of meg - a dream.

I had a strange dream last night. I was visiting somewhere, sometime, in the future, and as I was whizzing around town, as you do, on my monowheel without an engine; A monowheel that was powered by will-power ... all you needed to do is, wiggle around in a certain way and wanting for it to go faster ... and off it went ... no brakes of course.

As I was whizzing around in a rather dangerous way, I decided to stop at a small stall selling nut of meg (commonly also known as nutmeg nuts) some of them already sprouting, others looking just like usual. I was enquiring about the price and the guy responded "20 cents each" ... and yes, surprisingly, we had metal coins to trade with.

Looking at the sprouted nut of meg, I decided to get the un-sprouted nut for 20 cents ... fair deal, I thought. Mind you, it was my first time in this "neck of the woods" somewhere, sometime, in the future, and I didn't know the customs too well. Handing over a 20 cent coin to the seller, I noticed his discomfort in accepting my 20 cents, as he was preparing to give me the change ... a couple of dollars as it seemed, in return. It was then, when I woke up ... and I thought ... what a strange dream ... not knowing what to make of it.

After getting up, going for a pee and washing my face with cold water ... and while I was having my first cup of coffee (with the obligatory mind altering herbal supplement), I started to think about it again. The mind sometimes gives you riddles to be solved, because the mind communicates with you mostly via moving images, feelings and the like ... rarely in clear spoken words.

So, here is what I think happened: In this place in the future, when someone asks you for a payment of 20 cents, he expects you to pay more than that ... a bit like 20 cents plus a certain amount of "good will", call it "respect" or what ever you like. If you then pay 20 cents plus the correct amount of respect (however much this is ... or more), no change will be given. However, if you don't pay enough respect, a certain amount of respect will be given back to you in return, sometimes even exceeding the initial asking price several times over ... a bit confusing ... right (?) This is where it gets interesting (!)

The exchange of money symbolises a exchange of respect. I respect your efforts, therefore I express this in coins, if I am able to ... it's a matter of honour. There is a build in incentive to give respect to others (coins) because the more respect you give, the more respect you will earn in the future, since every one else has lots of respect to give as well (!) If you happen to "run out of coins", you will be given lots of coins as change, when going shopping ... and in turn, you will be able to give back a lot more respect further down the line ... such a great idea (!)

To sum it up, a business transaction is a exchange of respect. When you contrast this future model of exchange with today's reality, where the people accumulating lots of money seem to be given lots of respect for doing so (by the rich and the poor), but they (the rich) rarely seem to have/give any respect to people with no or little money. In this world, the more ruthless, the more money accumulated ... 😀

Cheers, Horst.

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