• Credits (Sci-Fi)
    15 replies, posted
In a number of science fiction settings, all currency has been replaced with electronic "credits". Credits can take on many forms depending on the fiction, but throughout their many instances there are common features: • Credits are stored on cards and, like modern credit cards, can be used to purchase things by swiping the card through a machine. • Credit cards can be also be used like cash, i.e. you can give someone a card with a certain number of credits on it as payment. • Credits can be transferred from one person's card to another (without using a machine to do so). I was wondering how such a system could be created. It's easy to come up with crazy solutions if you allow for science fictiony stuff, but I was trying to come up with a feasible, efficient, secure solution. So far, I've determined that credit cards would need to be able to have some sort of built in storage. Then each card could have its usual identifying information (which links it to your bank account) as well as "cash" storage which is not linked to a bank account. There would need to be some method of secure authentication in place that permits access to your bank account (biometrics, perhaps) so that you can give your card away (as cash) without worrying about the other person accessing your account. Alternatively, cards could be programmed such that the bank account information can be easily wiped if you want to give the card away. That allows for credit cards to be used like normal as well as like cash. We also want to be able to transfer credits between cards. This would require additional hardware (some sort of screen and interface) and, by necessity, would need to be unsecured. For example we would want it to be possible to transfer cash to a blank card and then for someone else to use that cash without needing authentication from the first person. There are two problems that I see with this. First of all, if cash transfers are unsecured it would be easier for someone to steal a large amount of money from the cash portion of someone's credit card. Secondly, it could be possible to make a machine that "creates" money and transfers it as cash to your credit card (counterfeiting). Both of these problems could be solved by associating a bank account (or some identifier) to chunks of cash on credit cards. Additionally each chunk of cash would be associated with a key generated by a complicated hash. So then if someone steals cash off your card, you can report that money as stolen. Then your credit company could flag cash on your account so that if someone tries to spend the cash they stole it doesn't work. The hash key associated with each chunk would prevent counterfeiting since then every cash transfer could be transparently authenticated by checking to see if the hash value is correct. I'm not entirely sure if that hashing method would work, but I have a feeling that some form of encryption could be used to prevent easy counterfeiting. Another difficulty is that if we group cash by its originating bank account, the cash on your card would become more and more fragmented the longer you use it. To help prevent this, there could be some method of "refreshing" your cash where all of the cash identifiers get wiped and all of it is re-associated with your account. However such a process would need to be [i]very[/i] secure since it would facilitate money laundering. Obviously there are still a number of failings of this system, but for the most part these failings are also present in our current system.
No different than if everyone used the Euro or the Dollar. But it's good to have an economy based on different currencies, so that economic growth varies in places and doesn't overgrow in others. A common currency kept on "Credit cards" as you describe it might work but the problems you have outlined are common across all systems and have no easy solution.
What I'd like to see is a future like Star Trek where money is abolished and everyone lives in a perfect Socialist Paradise. And then everyone apart from a few naive Starfleet high-ups uses the barter system or their own localised currencies.
[QUOTE=Capitulazyguy;29447303]What I'd like to see is a future like Star Trek where money is abolished and everyone lives in a perfect Socialist Paradise. And then everyone apart from a few naive Starfleet high-ups uses the barter system or their own localised currencies.[/QUOTE] that would require replicators and a lot more robots lots more
[QUOTE=Chickens!;29446799]No different than if everyone used the Euro or the Dollar. But it's good to have an economy based on different currencies, so that economic growth varies in places and doesn't overgrow in others. A common currency kept on "Credit cards" as you describe it might work but the problems you have outlined are common across all systems and have no easy solution.[/QUOTE] Well yeah, unified currency would be a prerequisite of such a system. And though it does share problems with our current system, I think the new advantages it offers would make it worthwhile (once technology has advanced far enough).
This will never work because nobody will ever agree on anything. Ever. Also, it would be dangerous to have a unified global economy.
[QUOTE=Matix;29455597]This will never work because nobody will ever agree on anything. Ever. Also, it would be dangerous to have a unified global economy.[/QUOTE] I believe this "Financial Expert", he provided us with such expert advice such as "Stop Saving".
[QUOTE=Matix;29455597]Also, it would be dangerous to have a unified global economy.[/QUOTE] Too late.
[QUOTE=RidingKeys;29455732]I believe this "Financial Expert", he provided us with such expert advice such as "Stop Saving".[/QUOTE] At least he made an effort to stick his neck out.
[QUOTE=RidingKeys;29455732]I believe this "Financial Expert", he provided us with such expert advice such as "Stop Saving".[/QUOTE] Yeah, clearly I'm wrong about that. Do you honestly think a unified global economy is safe? Just because I said some stupid shit, doesn't mean everything I say is stupid shit. Just imagine a recession on a global scale. It would be apocalyptic. The natural balance of economics would be compromised.
It wouldn't be too hard, really. It would just take a lot of organization. One way it could work is if smartphones had fingerprint scanners and ports for ATMs/store registers. You plug your phone in, connect to the bank online via the port, and OK the transaction. You could set up various credit card options and select which one you want to use whenever you go to pay for something. To add a layer of security, you could also use your PIN like you would with a normal credit card. And when you want to give someone else money, you physically connect your phones and do the same thing. of course it doesn't have to be phones, but if such a system existed every phone company would want their product to have the technology
I'm gonna say no right from the get-go because all sci-fi universes seem to suffer from some form of ultra-hyper inflation. I mean, it costs like 30000 credits to buy a meal in most sci-fis! It's as if the universe gets overtaken by Zimbabwe!
The book [img]http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176088100l/592089.jpg[/img] is basically the same idea as yours but its a bar code tattoo. Just thought I'll post that.
The benefit of virtual money is that you can make any amount of copies of it. Incredible redundancy in the system might make it more secure. Have multiple servers keep track of the same money in circulation and in case of disagreement between the servers, use some kind of majority voting and investigate the source of the error.
Not sure if you have heard of them but [url=http://www.bitcoin.org/]bitcoins[/url] are an attempt to solve some of the problems you listed.
How about no money at all?
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