Whuffie
A couple months ago I read Cory Doctorow’s 2003 novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (Buy it at Amazon, Download it for free). If you like scifi or Disneyworld at all, I highly recommend it.
One of the most interesting concepts in Down and Out is “Whuffie”. What’s Whuffie? Well, most people enjoy doing things for other people for free. Why? It gives them a sense of charity, goodwill, accomplishment, respect, props, karma, etc. You do something for someone else, and they owe you a favor. Over time, those favors zero out, making your investment come back to you equally. In the future, when all material wants and needs are taken care of free of charge, this is what gives people incentive. Why work as a bartender? Because patrons will give you Whuffie, in exchange for a drink. Why write a symphony? To receive Whuffie from appreciative listeners. Why create a free-of-charge community website? Whuffie.
And what good is Whuffie? Well, it’s of the same usefulness as reputation. It opens doors, it eases new social relationships, it gets you free stuff. In a world where everyone’s Whuffie, or rep, is currently, globally available, you know instantly whether each person you meet is worth your time. It may sound unfair, but it’s more fair than the bouncer who lets another guy into the club instead of you, just because the other guy slipped him a fifty.
In today’s economy, you can work hard all your life and still not make enough money to be able to afford that fifty dollar bribe. But in a reputation economy, that’s not the case. Anyone can give you Whuffie, freely, for your hard work, resulting in an even playing field. A globally available, freely given currency means prosperity for all, if you want it. As long as you can do something, anything worthy of respect, and as long as you have friends, you will never, ever be poor.
The world isn’t ready for a reputation economy like Whuffie just yet, but it is ready for an experiment. Many similar offline labor-based currencies, like Ithaca HOURs, Time Dollars, and LETSystems have proven successful, but it’s time for an online currency. We already have freely available music, photos, text, code, and courseware. Not to mention an army of bloggers, just begging for reputation, and usually game for new technologies, ideas, and experiments. All we need is a freely available, programmable, open system of a reputation currency.
Why am I ranting about this? For my own benefit, of course. This kind of stuff just fascinates me for some reason, and the Whuffie concept rang so true, that I decided to create yet another side project of mine: whuffie.net.
If this kind of stuff interestes you at all, feel free to come on over and take part in the discussion (once it starts). I love hearing others’ ideas on the subject. And if whuffie.net takes off (and even if it doesn’t), you’ll hear more from me about it here as well.
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