So this is weird and kind of cool

[East Coast Hustle]

I'm not entirely sure specifically how I feel about it yet but I find it incredibly intriguing.

http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/crowdsourcing-the-future/Content?oid=11668474

[Junkenstein]

Nice find. Can't say exactly how I feel about it either at the moment. I've got "BAD" going around in my head but I can't yet get out why.

[Reginald Ret]

Aw fuck they are really doing it.

(...)a civilization in which every individual is formed into a legal corporation at birth, and spends many years trying to attain control over their own life by getting a majority of his or her own shares.

If people have to take fiction as a guide to the future then why can't they use Walden Two or something more positive for that? Oh well, it will be better than the current trend towards combining 1984 with Brave New World.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

WTF

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Community... monetized! A Libertarian's wet dream! Now every person's intrinsic value can be judged by the price of their stock.

[Junkenstein]

Community... monetized! A Libertarian's wet dream! Now every person's intrinsic value can be judged by the price of their stock.

THIS. This is what is fucking wrong with this.

Project this forward and you've got a value from birth that can be constantly tracked. Who owns 100% of you from birth? Well it won't be you, parents if you're lucky and you can bet the state will get a chunk to ensure school attendance etc.

The concept opens up worlds of horror, I've been thinking about this a lot today and it's giving me serious fucking chills.

[The Wizard Joseph]

A fascinating concept, it gives me the  but it all went to  when it occurred to me that if publicly traded the dude might just lose his majority holdings in himself to a shareholder with a willingness to sue over profitability. Kinda like Rockefeller vs. Hughes but even more absurd and just maybe able to set an even worse precedent. Hughes went bankrupt trying to fight the suit and ultimately lost control of his airline. Slavery a piece at a time, except you are selling yourself into it.

[Bu🤠ns]

OOOoooo we could then tie it in to Facebook "Likes"

[Reginald Ret]

OOOoooo we could then tie it in to Facebook "Likes"

Not the same thing, the point here is that the owners of shares in you would be interested only in the value of their stock so would only vote for things that increase your monetairy value.
Monetizing the value of a person is horrible enough, but assuming that people are independent actors with rational self-interest is so mindbogglingly stupid only an economist could believe it.

I am trying to imagine the long term psychological effects of never being expected to think about your future in this particular way or being allowed to make your own choices and i can't really get a clear picture. All I know is that it will be horrible.

[East Coast Hustle]

See, you guys are all taking it in a direction I wasn't even thinking. I was looking at it more from a "personal choice vs. the wisdom of the collective" angle, which makes a little more sense given that in the article it's specified that these guys are deciding what they even want to put up for a "board vote" in the first place.

[Junkenstein]

I hate to pull it, but the slippery slope argument has got to apply here. The more of "you" you sell, the less choice you'll have in the decisions, and even the decisions that get to be decided on. Mainly because some other guy will be out there hunting for fame and offering to go that little bit further. Fuck, if it catches on employers would want to "own" a certain degree to force your attendance and work. Values fluctuate on performance.

Ask enough assholes, you'll get a general consensus of the best thing to do. I see no need to relate a financial value or stake to such things and doing so seems like the start of capitalism on crack. When a human has a literal value the world's become a pretty fucking worthless place.

[The Wizard Joseph]

See, you guys are all taking it in a direction I wasn't even thinking. I was looking at it more from a "personal choice vs. the wisdom of the collective" angle, which makes a little more sense given that in the article it's specified that these guys are deciding what they even want to put up for a "board vote" in the first place.

I think I get what you're getting at then. A person could do a lot of growing being essentially required to hear out a board on any topic they (or the board ftm) put up for vote. Especially if the folks on the board have a  relatively impersonal stake. They may give a bit of objectivity to the decisions being made. Seems an over-complicated, paperwork intensive, and legally nebulous way to do it, but if those don't matter it could be a bunch of fun! Sounds like these guys are pretty stoked.

When I have a personal choice problem I try to fix it simple and cheap. Coin toss or other randomizer.  Not to make the decision per se and not often. That would be silly. I look at the result and think like it's final. If this result still bother's be emotionally or I suddenly see a flaw I might have missed I go the other way or wait on making the choice for a bit longer.

[Salty]

We make most of our decisions based on some kind of social pressure or larger societal obligation as it is.

Giving up control like that, and following through is probably as good for people as it is difficult. An interesting idea.

I would wager the end results would leave people as satisfied, if not moreso, with their lives as when they make their own choices. Plus, if it goes wrong, you have a clear path to lay the blame.

I am very indecisive, myself. Often doing things that limit my options leave me happier because I make the most of what I got. When a whole universe of options are available I freeze up.

[whenhellfreezes]

We make most of our decisions based on some kind of social pressure or larger societal obligation as it is.

Giving up control like that, and following through is probably as good for people as it is difficult. An interesting idea.

I would wager the end results would leave people as satisfied, if not moreso, with their lives as when they make their own choices. Plus, if it goes wrong, you have a clear path to lay the blame.

I am very indecisive, myself. Often doing things that limit my options leave me happier because I make the most of what I got. When a whole universe of options are available I freeze up.

Yea I agree here though you always need to leave open the option to look for more options.

[East Coast Hustle]

The more I think about this, the more I realize that not only were the alarmists absolutely right, but that these guys just created the future, right now, and it's actually far simpler, far more elegant, and FAR FAR FAR more horrifying than anything I ever thought the future could be.

Shit.