Feces Standard Money (FSM)
We are facing problems from two of our great inventions: money and flushing the toilet.
We all use money, but we can be isolated from money at the same time. Without a doubt, money is one of the greatest human inventions, but it may also be one among the worst ever created.
In the present social, economic system, gold is the standard of money. Although gold is precious, and, as a standard, brings both universality and anonymity to money, it has nothing to do with anything that comes from human beings. While we can do many things with gold standard money in our modern societies, there are no significant connections between the money and ourselves. Thus, it can be hypothesized that whenever we use money, we are isolating ourselves from the world.
Flushing the toilet—a second great invention—also has both positive and negative aspects. While it deals effectively with issues of hygiene, when we flush the toilet we are flushing our excretion into the natural environment and this leads to severe problems.
Here’s an idea which could lead us to a new kind of artistic and scientific world: Can you think of a horizon in which we can both mitigate the problems while keeping the advantages of our current money system? Imagine a scientific method of making odorless powders from our feces, and replacing money with that powder as an alternative to our current system—i.e., “feces standard money (FSM).”
Every morning we can put our powder into reactors located in our village to supply food for the microorganisms that can produce various energies such as methane and biodiesel. We can receive a certain amount of FSM in exchange for the powdered feces, and use the FSM to obtain any equivalent value within a system. Feces, like gold, is limited and precious; nobody can make more than a certain limit, and it can be converted to energy.
Furthermore, everyone can make feces every day. Whenever we produce and use FSM, it will remind us of our being and existence from the bottom line connection between the FSM and the human being. Thus, FSM has meanings from perspectives of economy and minds of the human being.
FSM can automatically become “basic income,” as long as we put feces into the reactors on a daily basis instead of continuing to flush the toilet. We don’t have to argue the feasibility of the concept of basic income with the gold standard of money. We can use both money systems without conflicts.
FSM has similar characters to the local exchange trading system (LETS) but is different in various aspects, from the origin of value (i.e., from us) and the system with it. The FSM is different from other types of credit such as mileage, coupons, and online coins, because it is directly connected to our existence, free will, and intentions as a meaningful act, of not using the flushable toilet.
The dollar has been allocated to a certain quantity of gold. Similarly, FSM can be made out of a certain amount of feces powder. Everyone can earn money from their selection of the ecological toilet, and have meaningful moments as they use the FSM by being connected to both their free will with the selection and their subsequent purchases.
Suggestions: A system with FSM can be designed with an App or other similar ways. FSM can be used along with the present currency to buy something such as gas, coffee, foods, and to pay for other enjoyable activities. For example, take the case of street performers. We can enjoy their work and don't have to pay anything. Instead, the street performer can be offered some FSM with a designed IT system. Payment may not come directly from the audience. Neither the performers nor the audience have to be subject to the present payment system whenever FSM is available. Values depending on the production of energy or other equivalent products from the feces at a designated time or date can be distributed to the participants of the system. Of course, since this system with FSM can't provide everything that we need, conventional money also has to be used.
The proposed money system requires various technologies such as biological processes for energy production—and new industries as well such as “golden electronics” (compared to white electronics) for toilets to ecologically convert feces into powder.
