Translate

If you create a good/service and you only allow people to use it if they give something in return, then that is a trade-based good/service.

Pretty much our entire world-wide society is based on trades. Communism, socialism, capitalism, fascism, or any other political/governing systems are/were implemented as a layer on top of this trade-based environment. You, your parents or kids, friends and everyone else has to trade time, energy, skills, stuff, data, attention and so forth in order to get access to what they need and want: healthcare, food, shelter, comfort, gadgets, etc.. Currencies like money, bitcoin or any cryptocurrencies, social credits and the like, are all representations of this simple process of trade. Jobs and citizenship are the most well known means to officially trade in this society.

In essence if you create a social network but you need people’s attention and/or data in order for users to use it, then that is a trade-based social network. An example of that is Facebook. (») A counter example, that of a trade-free social network, is Mastodon. (») A healthcare system that requires humans to give currency or their freedom (citizenship) in return for the service, is also a trade-based healthcare system. A counter example may be Doctors Without Borders who provide a trade-free healthcare service for those in need. (»)

While trade was a necessary tool for our societies to evolve, it also creates an imbalance of power between people.

Facebook is very inclined to collect more and more data from people, and trap as much of their attention as possible, since Facebook makes around 90% of their profits from advertising. (») “Data + Attention” = “More and Better Advertising” = “More Currency and Opportunities for Facebook”. Users trade their data and attention to Facebook in return for their social network’s features, and Facebook collects and trades all of that for currency. Thus the reason we see Facebook being more inclined to put their profits first (their trade advantages) and their users second. Same happens to Google and pretty much any other platform or service that relies on trades: from healthcare to food production and distribution, education, and so forth.

This imbalance of power pushes people to lie, exaggerate claims, bribe others, create poor goods and services, push consumerism to new heights, and so forth. On top of this, considering that we already have an abundance of goods and services in the world, trade is an obsolete means to distribute this abundance. (»)

Because it is the greatest form of charity and will lead to an abundance of goods and services in any domain of the society, if practiced by many and for long enough.

You help people but ask for nothing in return. You create software and share it with the world without asking for their data, attention, or currencies. You develop a healthcare system that caters for humans without asking for anything in return. You create and offer, and thus you help others and yourself. Others because they will get access to trade-free goods and services, and yourself because there will be no force dragging you into “unethical” and profit-oriented behaviors. By creating trade-free goods or services you are the utmost charitable creature there is.

A society where most of what people need and want is offered as trade-free, is a society void of most problems we see in the world today because there will be little to no incentive for people to create these problems in the first place.