Social Clout Is Tomorrow’s Cash

What’s the Latest Development?

As the manufacturing economy that brought the U.S. to forefront of world dominance wanes, economies will be forced to value something besides tried-and-true goods and services. “In the future, rather than a mystified system in which networking and fame lead to wealth only indirectly, the top economies will directly pay people to network and become famous,” says the Economist. “Cash will become identical to social points, which is the ultimate point of the money system anyway.” Smartphone applications may then display social points publicly. 

What’s the Big Idea?

A digital, networked economy is the natural next step for our cash-based system. In the same way that cash replaced purely barter systems, economies that pay individuals to network and become famous will replace the current economy. “In an economy in which the provision of physical goods and services becomes an increasingly marginal sector, socioeconomic stresses will centre on the allocation of intellectual resources.” The Pirate party’s recent victory in Germany points to a new kind of intellectual politics.