Explanation

Currently, Karma Currency can only win you art gifts produced by Stereomedia, and cannot be used as real currency. But if you think about it, here are a few unique points to be made: 1. It's all-original. just like art, Karma is original. Karma Currency is printed on fine paper from old books that are no longer in circulation. This is to frighten the old-timers who think that we are going to trash all of the books. Folks like Ray Bradbury. Forget it, Ray. We're not going to burn all the books. We recognize that books are valuable. That's why we initiate the concept of Karma Currency. Therefore it begins to become easy to explain as it starts to surface in circulation. What if only organic food could only be bought with Karma Currency? That would be an interesting scenario. Who would have access to this? Certainly not the rich, G. They'd have us digging a ditch until the time that we're 60. Poetry. That's Karma Currency. It's the poetic justice for all deeds served. The disappearance of all of the reserves and banks. If the internet crashed tomorrow, I would be able to rebuild this sandcastle. Theirs, on the other hand, would not hold the strategic advantages that I've engineered. Simple advances in strategy of engineering: things need to last a long time, and we're not really learning that lesson very well right at the moment. We used to know it in the 50's, but then the people increased. What we don't realize is that quality of life does decrease for all when the population is higher. Don't be a targeted part of the population. That's the name of the game. So hereby I recognize that this strategy is quite fitting. Therefore I must disclaim that Karma is an official source of currency like the US Treasury Bonds. The question is, who do you trust more- them, or me? [phiction]

Additional Reference
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Read below for Lit Theory (related to the project) { a-f }

{a-----}
a. Structure

The last chapter (14) lays out the system of how a currency based on karma would work. It emphasizes that every last point of currency is only a percent of the entire world's wealth. So one unit of karma is not its own separate entity- it's actually a percent, or a part of the total fraction. Where the entire economic system's value equals one, and all units of currency become structured as part of the same system by relating as fractions to the whole.

There's several complicated hurdles to overcome, and I've become sort of a Jackie Joyner-Kersee of literature to piece this plot together. Regardless of how little sense it makes, however, it will always make more sense than the current economic system. And that's been something that I've found very liberating about this whole project. If the global market made any sense at all, this would a difficult book to write. But writing a book about good will and karma, essentially, made much sense to scribe.

Anyway, back to structure.

The first 10 chapters are traditional character-based third-person storylines about different characters who fall into the different societies referred to in chapter [14]. Each society is a different economic class of people, and the stories both reflect their own personal takes on:

a. The entire financial system
b. How it effects them
c. How it effects others (other societies).

The definition of a society is a class of people with certain boundaries. These boundaries can either be considered as you might say, social; the homebum does not go out on dates at fancy restaurants. They're also determined by economics, although not exclusively. There are certain characteristics of human life that cross all paths, and the entire concept of separating these chapters by socioeconomic themes provides the structure for a very large elaborate venn diagram; a sort of cross-sectional piece of American society.

After chapter 10, the book digresses into a different kind of literature in which there are options, choices, and decisions to be made by the reader. Certain historians whom I've discussed the American Revolution with, such as Uconn history professor and author Dick Brown, for example, tend to disagree with me when I say that both the Civil War and the American Revolution were both wars fought for and with the establishment of renegade financial systems. That's part of chapter 11, but all of these chapters after the first 10 describe currency in more of a theoretical sense and give way to less real-world activity.

{reference topic list}


{-b----}
b. Format

The paragraphs are not indented. A paragraph is separated by other paragraphs by a space in between them, written in hypertext as <BR>. Characters, such as Ryan, may be highlighted in color but not linked to anything. Whenever a character is mentioned, the thoughts are included as parentheticals, but they can also end up inside of a queue where a conversation is happening.

Author: This is a conversation.
Ryan: Why is this happening?
Author: I'm trying to tell a story.
Ryan: Why is it written like a play?

"Because," said the author, "It's easier to follow a dialogue when it's written like a dialogue."
Ryan said, "But I like the more traditional format of quotations and commas and all that."
"I do too, but it's also easier to tell the difference between narrative and conversation when you utilize the dialogue format," said the author, as he quietly walked away from the conversation.

Ryan is from chapter 4.
He and Kathryn are names of people from other places in my past.
They are actually written to represent two other people they don't know.

That having been said, I'm quite fond of all of the people in my past, and many of the stories are based on people that I know, or shall I say, knew.

send all spelling errors to brokenlinks@stereomedia.org
{reference topic list}

{--c---}
c. Motivation

I was most motivated to write this piece during the financial crisis at the end of the Bush Administration. I honestly felt that the market was positioned to crash because there was not enough real-world productivity to justify the market inflation. Also what called this to my attention was the OPEC oil price fixing that was causing more of a disturbance to the value of life than anything.

Zeitgeist, the movie, was a huge factor in helping me organize my opinion about global finances. People generally don't believe in conspiracies, but then again, the world seems out of control to most people because they're in positions of financial obligation. Without that obligation, the strategy of survival changes drastically.
{back to reference topic list }

{----d--}
d. How it all began

I was traveling down the street, walking by a beggar, begging for change. He looked mildly deranged, and in a very sad state. I can honestly say he was not OK. And I wondered how he got that way.

For lack of a better explanation, he lacked in karma. He was unabatedly stumbling through life with an empty bank account of good will in his pocket. There is no good luck left for people who have given up on the world, but this holds true for even those with wealth in their pockets. Even those with millions, or I'll bet even billions, in their bank accounts.

I got fed up with this system. It was upsetting to me, to see the inequity that we faced on a daily basis. We need homeostasis, I kept thinking, as I walked by, looking into the beggar's faces. How did it become this fast paced race into nothing but wastefulness? Lesson learned, I thought. Good karma is earned.

a. What is Currency?

Is it arbitrary? Hardly... Imagine the economic system of the world is entierly contrived.
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{----e-}
e. Publishing

Am I looking for a publisher?
It would be great to find someone who would publish my books. But it would be even better if I had my own printing press, because there would be less overhead and I would be more responsible for the decision making process.

But you can't beat the network. And that's something that is hard to understand.

The work is written in hypertext. The strategy for publishing is as follows:
An incomplete version of the work will be available online, where chapters are parsed.
Complete chapters and indexes could potentially be scattered by people online, but we'll use the Flood Strategy to wash away all of the pirates.

The book would come both printed on paper, with a disk also included which would make it possible for the reader to view the web page it was originally written in, with annotations, links, and much more. I'm going to attempt to also write some Ruby script that makes it impossible to copy the disc onto anything. Anything connected online, or on a mac, i guess.

So that's it. Maybe I might even make an album. Who knows?
{back}

{-----f}
f. Thanks
I want to thank the following people for helping me make this work.

First, and foremost, Yo La Tengo for providing me with the soundtrack that I listened to for the first four chapters. And then to Coldplay for Parachutes. "November Rain" was on repeat for a few occasions.

I want to thank Ben Bernanke for proving that money is a game of lost and found.
Also, let's give a big shout out to Adam Smith, and Karl Marx for defining both capitalism and communism.

But let's also recognize the WTO, shall we? This one is for you.
{read the story}