NU: A Global Ecosystem that Mimics the Flow of Water
When the United States adopted the motto “E Pluribus Unum,” meaning “out of many, one,” it was in reference to the joining together of 13 colonies to form a cohesive, single nation. Each single state is a collection of many cities, each city is a collection of many people, and each person is a collection of many needs. If you look at the way those things break down, you will see that the hierarchical structure, that is used to roll up to levels where representation of those needs take place, is broken. Broad categories based on location are used to group people in an attempt to represent their needs, which only works if every person has the exact same set of needs as the person that is sitting next to them on the bus, at a football game, at a political rally, or at work. That simply isn’t the case. Even the United Nations was established as another level within this broken, representative hierarchy.
In order for collective decisions to incorporate equal input from individuals, there has to be an infrastructure in place to support that requirement. If that infrastructure is not able to meet those requirements for collective decision-making, any governance model that is designed around that infrastructure will only work for the requirements that the infrastructure supports. All unsupported components will not function as expected, requiring continual workarounds and changes that incrementally increase the chaos within the model. Therefore, a tightly integrated governance model and operating model — consisting of people, processes, and technology, — is required to enable collective decision-making at the global level, while operating at the individual level. The infrastructure and governance model that supports the United People, rather than United Nations, is called Nu.
Nu is a global ecosystem that is capable of operating alongside the governing institutions that exist within each country, consisting of producers, consumers, and decomposers that create a water-like flow within the system. Unlike the ecosystems that you see in nature, the roles are not restricted by disjunctive logic (either/or), but rather by conjunctive logic (and). A single individual, as well as the technology, fills the roles of producer, consumer, and decomposer in an asynchronous way, allowing a person to receive and provide services at the same time while maintaining a clean work environment. The driving force behind Nu is a set of operating rules that frees the ecosystem of roadblocks that limit or hinder the interaction between producers and consumers. Those operating rules are created and managed by the governance layer of Nu.
The focus of the institutions that make up that governance layer is on individual needs of individual people. This is made possible because individual inputs are at the need level, enabling proper weighting and representation for individuals as things roll up to the global level. It is critical to start at the needs level, because each individual is made up of a cluster of needs. If you start at the individual level and cluster from that point, you run into the same issue of people being grouped together that are not exact replicas. When people in a group are not exactly the same, then the broader group is forced to create its own attributes. Unless an individual person matches the attributes of the group exactly, his/her complete set of needs is not going to be weighted fully as they continue to level up in the decision-making hierarchy. However, if clustering happens at the need level, there is a one-to-one relationship that allows for proper matching to ensure that equal weight is given to each individual in the decision-making process, regardless of the level in the hierarchy.
Each need is entered into Nu by the consumers, and the needs are serviced by the producers. From the consumer standpoint, similar needs pool together and bubble up within the decision-making hierarchy. The hierarchy is able to track and visualize those needs at individual, local, city, state, regional, national, and global levels, while applying local rules at each level. From the producer standpoint, individuals are matched with needs that they are best able to service. As a need cluster starts to grow in size on the consumer side, the cluster of service providers will continue to grow on the producer side in an attempt to meet that need. As clusters grow in size, the need associated with that cluster is prioritized in a queue for the governing institution to examine the operating rules in Nu, determining what change, if any, is needed to enable that need to be met. Once met, the technology decomposes the need within the ecosystem, removing it in the same way that a row in Tetris disappears once the correct block fills the remaining gap(s).
The governing institutions that address these growing need-based clusters must be agile enough to change with the constantly evolving needs that surface and replicate within the ecosystem. Therefore, the institutions themselves will simply be placeholders in the structure where providers can assemble, convene, and disseminate based on the needs that arise and the time that it takes to meet those needs. The team of producers that assemble within the institution will have a slightly different focus than the producers that failed to service the need, as a new system-based need is established around problem-solving. The producers within the governance model are clustered together to form an optimal team based on the skills required to identify, create, and implement a rule change that removes the gap between producers and consumers, thereby allowing the cluster of providers in the system to service the need of the consumer cluster. Since each situation is different and requires different skills, the providers that make up the governing body are constantly evolving. Once the need has been met and is decomposed, the cluster of producers that made up that governing body is decomposed as well, freeing up space for a new institution to form in an optimal way to address the next need cluster in the queue.
Needs-Based Representation
Global issues, like environmental damage, overpopulation, poverty, and politically motivated violence, are issues because every individual person has a need to protect themselves against those things. People have a need for a clean environment so that they can breathe clean air and drink clean water. People have a need to curb overpopulation so that they can obtain the proper amount of resources they need to live. People have a need for enough money so they can meet the most basic requirements of life. People have a need to avoid politically motivated violence so they can go about their life without dying as a result of that violence.
The current methods for representing people’s needs on a global scale are done through national representation. This type of segmentation simply doesn’t work because it incorporates the needs of non-living things, like governments, political parties, religions, or businesses, such as a gun company, oil conglomerate, or tobacco manufacturer. Not only are these non-living entities receiving a voice, but their voice is weighted significantly more than the voice of the people who are being represented. As those people are segmented and represented at broader levels — whether it be a city, state, or national level — the weight assigned to a single person is directly related to the number of his/her needs that managed to roll all the way up to that broad, segment level for representation.
In order to address this issue and assign equal weight and representation for every single person, while eliminating needs for non-living entities, single needs are entered into the system to be addressed. The totality of the needs that are entered by an individual are the complete digital representation of that person in Nu. Since all of the needs are being managed and addressed within the system, every person who has entered their needs is being fully represented.
Core Principles
Nu is guided by a set of principles that will change the way that we operate and interact as a society. Just as cultures within different countries and cities have grown out of the values of the people that came before us, these values will be the foundation of a new global culture that our children and future generations will inherit.
Self-Management: Nu supports a decentralized community of people, while providing each person with an operational tool to assist their navigation through that decentralized community. As a result, people realize a higher level of independence and a greater sense of control over their own lives.
Wholeness: Nu supports an environment where people are free to be themselves, releasing people from predefined roles that they struggled to fit into. The renewed energy and creativity that results leads to greater innovation and exploration, bringing forward new solutions to needs that have long gone unmet.
Purpose: Nu allows people to perform the tasks and provide the services that they are most capable of delivering. When people are able to provide meaningful services to others, and those services are ones that an individual is best suited to provide, then a greater sense of purpose is realized in the larger world.
Community: Nu creates a global community of people working together to meet each other’s needs, regardless of race, nationality, sex, religion, or other segment that might once have divided them. People within the community are matched with needs that they are most capable of servicing, and Nu’s ability to expand the consideration set of service providers to a global level allows matches that would otherwise not have happened. When people start working together to help each other, bonds between those members of the community start to develop.
Participation: Nu is based on an expectation that all members in the community will participate. Participation does not necessarily have to be constant, but it does have to be consistent. People provide what they are able to provide at a time that suits them, while also receiving assistance when it is needed. Nu allows these things to happen asynchronously, meaning needs can be met by a person at the same time that person is servicing another person’s need.
Civic Responsibility: Nu brings people together within the community, leveraging public spaces and services to allow people to work and collaborate. As such, Nu provides the governance and guidelines for the people operating within these spaces, implementing rules to ensure that public spaces are safe and undamaged, including the environment.
Agility: Nu is based on an agile methodology, meaning that needs are introduced at a granular level to allow for quick and deliberate service delivery. The agile foundation of Nu is what allows the system to quickly evolve, shift focus, and meet needs in a deliberate and effective manner. The shape of Nu is an Icosahedron, which represents the movement, flow, and change that is observed in water.
Roles
Nu is a global, needs-based ecosystem where people and technology fill three different roles to maintain a constant flow throughout the ecosystem: consumers, producers, and decomposers. Unlike the ecosystem in nature, people fill the roles of both consumer and producer, depending on circumstance, while also filling the role of decomposer to eliminate waste from the environment. The technology that supports Nu is the only non-living, non-human in the ecosystem that is capable of filling the roles of consumer, producer, and decomposer.
Consumer: Consumers are the people who have needs and require assistance from the community to meet those needs. Needs are entered into Nu individually, and those needs are addressed individually by the community. When a need bubbles up and becomes a system need, the technology behind Nu also becomes a consumer. The technology does this by creating a system need to help address a problem in the governance layer, which is then met by producers that serve as system administrators.
Producer: Producers are the people who are providing a service to meet the need of a consumer. Producers are matched with the needs that they are most capable of satisfying for a consumer. Producers can service needs at the individual level or within a group of producers, depending on individual skillsets and the complexity of the service that is required. The technology behind Nu can also play the role of producer, able to meet the need of clustering people together, forming ideal sets of people to work on problems, and establishing governing bodies in an ad-hoc fashion.
Decomposer: Decomposers are responsible for keeping Nu clear of clutter and litter. The technology behind Nu serves as a decomposer through the removal of needs that have already been met. The removal of these needs is critical, as it allows Nu to maintain the agility necessary to constantly evolve and meet new needs. In the same way that a row of blocks in Tetris disappears from the foundation upon completion, Nu removes completed needs from the growing queue of needs that are rising to the top. Similarly, the technology also serves to decompose the different governing bodies and clusters of individuals that are being created in an ad-hoc manner to meet needs. These things rise up and take shape like a wave in the ocean, but those waves come crashing back down upon the servicing of needs, rejoining the natural flow of the larger body of water. People also play the role of decomposer outside of the technology, removing waste and litter from the environment to leave it a better place than they found it.
Producer Skills
Producers are matched with consumers based on the skills and qualifications that they possess in relation to the skills and qualifications required to service the need. This is made possible through profiles for each individual that contain granular skill and qualification declarations. As people go throughout life and gain new skills, those skills are captured in Nu, allowing the producer to enter into the consideration set for servicing needs that require those new skills. The Blockchain technology within Nu provides a means of transparency and skill validation to create trust in the system.
Consumer Needs
Consumers are tasked with entering their needs into Nu, which will then break down the needs into the most granular components possible. By breaking the needs down into granular components, Nu expands the consideration set for producers that are able to service a need. As needs remain unmet, either because a producer has been unable to meet the need or because a producer has not been found to match with the need, they will start to cluster together with replica needs that other consumers have entered into Nu. As that need cluster continues to grow, Nu will continue trying to find a match on the producer side to meet the need.
Maslow Alignment
The types of needs that Nu aims to address are needs that directly align with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. By aligning consumer needs with key stages of deficiency needs within the hierarchy, Nu is able to remain free of clutter that will slow the system and limit agility. The deficiency need categories will remain static, while the sub-categories will remain flexible to evolve over time. Nu is designed in a way that the deficiency need levels in Maslow’s Hierarchy are consistently being addressed in an agile and efficient way, speeding up the process by which a person will reach the self-actualization stage. Once people self-actualize, people are more likely to enter a state of self-transcendence, where they start to do things for the greater good.
Physiological Needs: Physiological needs include food, water, clean air, shelter, clothing, and, in the digital age, internet. These needs, when entered into Nu, will at times appear at a much more granular level, but they will, nonetheless, align with these topic areas.
Safety Needs: Security needs include protections of body/health, employment, resources, family, and property. Again, these need categories are too high a level for Nu, but any need associated with receiving health care, earning a living wage, having sufficient resources, or being safe from war or violence will be aligned with this level in the hierarchy.
Belonging Needs: Belonging Needs are less likely than Physiological and Safety Needs to be directly addressed in Nu. Nonetheless, Nu is created in a way that it establishes a global community of people working together, and many of the benefits of being a consumer and producer in Nu will directly lead to needs being fulfilled in this category.
Esteem Needs: Similar to Belonging Needs, Esteem Needs are unlikely to be direct inputs into Nu. Rather, people will start to gain confidence, respect, and a sense of achievement by participating as a producer and consumer in Nu.
Clustering / Pooling
A single need of a single consumer should be viewed like a drop of water. As more of the same need appears in Nu, those drops start to cluster and pool together. At the same time, there is a producer-provided service that can meet that need of a consumer, which should be viewed like another drop of water. Depending on the total demand, which is determined by the size of the need pool on the consumer side, the same clustering and pooling exercise will take place on the producer side in an attempt to create a supply pool that is equal to or greater than the size of the demand pool.
Both the demand pool and the supply pool are meant to be a part of the same plumbing system that is in place for the specific need that was surfaced by the consumer. As the two growing pools are attempting to come together and cluster together as a single pool, any gap that exists between the two pools serves as an air pocket in the pressurized plumbing system. When a pocket of air appears in the plumbing system, the pressure is impacted and the water starts to chug and knock against the pipes, rather than maintaining a constant flow.
In order to fix the water pressure problem and regain a constant flow, a new need surfaces to remove the air pocket. This need is created on behalf of the system, rather than on behalf of a consumer, and, as such, this is the type of need that is addressed and met within the governance layer. Once the air pocket is removed, the consumer pool and the producer pool will be able to cluster together to create a constant flow through the system. In other words, the consistent flow of the water through the pressurized system is reflective of the consumer “need” pools clustering with producer “service” pools without issues. When air pockets arrive in the system and the water pressure is impacted, the governance layer plays the role of plumber by removing the air pocket(s).
When a need arises at the governance level on behalf of the system, it is addressed by producers who are brought together using the same clustering logic. The only difference is that the producers in the governance layer are being clustered based on their ability to generate solutions to problems that have created air pockets, as opposed to directly servicing a need that was presented by a consumer in the system.
Governing Institutions
Nu includes governing institutions with differing focus areas, like legal or security, but they are not static like the institutions that you see in today’s world. Instead, Nu provides containers in the system where governing institutions can cluster together and operate, like drops of water pooling together and taking the shape of the container around them. This type of flexibility is critical to maintaining the proper balance of agility that is required to keep Nu functioning at an optimal level. This type of flexibility allows the governance to go with the flow of the needs that are pooling together underneath, constantly evolving to meet the next issue that surfaces.
While there are no institutions that remain static and fill a container permanently, there are certainly differences in the duration that one institution may need to operate within a container versus another. For instance, from a security standpoint, a team of producers working together on issues related to cyber-security, which is necessary to protect the technology and the anonymity of the people operating within Nu, will likely require more constant attention than a similar institution that is focused on legal disputes. Even though it might be more consistent, in terms of how often that institution is being leveraged from a governance standpoint, the makeup of the institution will remain agile and constantly changing depending on the current need that the institution is addressing.
Constantly changing the makeup of the institutions not only allows the system to quickly adapt and meet the evolving set of needs that must be addressed, but it also provides a protection against outside influence from governments and special interests. Since producers are being pulled in and out of these institutions to meet needs in an unpredictable manner due to the always changing needs of the people operating in Nu, it becomes hard to find individuals that are susceptible to influence. And since needs are being addressed in a very granular way, it is just as easy to undo a change in the system as it is to implement a change.
Regulation & Transparency
The flow in Nu is driven by the rules that are applied by administrators of the technology, or, rather, the producers that are working to meet the system needs, which arise in the governance layer. As solutions are generated, they are translated into rules that are applied in the technology to maintain a constant flow, as described in the plumber analogy. The underlying foundation that the clustering application functions on top of is blockchain, which allows for rules to be enforced, while also providing transparency into the application of the rule and the effect that rule has within the system.
As consumer needs pool together and move throughout the blockchain to cluster with producers who are providing a service to meet the needs, the rules within the blockchain regulate how that service agreement is made and completed. These rules are not meant to be restrictive at the global level, but rather used to enable consumers to have their needs met by producers within the ecosystem. By focusing on enablement rather than restrictions, people are able to solve problems for each other, rather than placing that burden on the governance layer. When that burden falls on the governance layer, that layer becomes less agile, limiting its ability to quickly adapt and meet system needs as they arise.
While the role of the governance layer within Nu is focused on enablement, it is understood that local, state, or national governments have differing agendas, some of which will focus on restrictions or regulations. As such, producers and consumers will still have to act in accordance with the rules that are applied and enforced by their governing body where the participants reside. Nu leverages location-based knowledge of its participants to apply those local rules in the blockchain to shape the decision-making logic behind the clustering of consumers and producers, while also using those rules to shape the way in which that service is delivered. These agreements come with full transparency to ensure that local and national rules have been applied, providing a level of trust between Nu and the different governing bodies around the world. Any rule that is made in Nu’s governance layer to enable producers and consumers will be in full compliance with the local regulations that are already a part of the cluster, serving as requirements that any new rule must meet.
Producers in the Governance Layer
The producers that are working to meet system needs are no different than the producers that are meeting consumer needs, but the importance of their role in Nu requires that they are accountable for the rules that they are making within the system. Given that accountability, there is a higher standard that must be met from a skill and qualification level. Just as rules are able to be applied in the blockchain for service providers, rules are applied that enable a person to enter into the consideration set to be placed in the role of provider within the governance layer. At the same time, providers at this level are subject to greater transparency and must contractually agree to comply with the global rules in the system that are in place to ensure security, limit corruption, and enforce accountability.
Financial System
The financial system in Nu is driven by a crypto-currency that is backed by value in “needs fulfillment.” This currency is meant to supplement the currency that already exists in each nation, providing a secondary form of income that people can spend or earn depending on their role as consumer or producer. By having this additional currency that is explicitly tied to needs, people will be able to live at a level above the poverty line, regardless of their financial standing in their national system.
A financial component is required so that producers have incentive to meet consumer needs, while also forcing consumers to prioritize the needs that they are entering into Nu. This financial component is also critical to matching consumers with producers, as consumers are able to provide a willingness to pay and producers are able to provide a cost for procurement. Once a match is made that satisfies both ends of the financial equation, consumers and producers can enter into a contractual agreement that is enforced and made visible in the blockchain.
Over time, a need may surface for more currency to be released in the system. Such a need would cluster and gain in size just as any other need in Nu. Once it moves high enough in priority to be addressed in the governance layer, a team of producers will examine the issue and determine how much, if any, of the crypto-currency needs to be added into the system and distributed amongst the population.
As of right now, the exchange of crypto-currency is not subject to taxation by different governments, so long as the exchange is not a direct exchange for national, or non-crypto, currencies. It is understood that this may change as the concept of crypto-currency evolves, but, just as Nu incorporates local regulations into the rules when clustering needs, any changes in taxation at a local level would be included in the requirements for solving the problem once it becomes a big enough issue that a producer in the governance layer is tasked with solving the problem.
Incentives
In order to drive change at the individual level, particularly when it comes to enforcement of rules that may be entered into the system to encourage adoption of practices in support of something like green initiatives, Nu allows for incentives to be introduced instead of outright enforcement. For instance, rules can be entered to encourage recycling, and those rules can be enforced through the blockchain. However, forcing compliance may not always be the best way of achieving results. Instead, there can be an award of crypto-currency tied to the rules for those who comply, and a penalty through reduction of crypto-currency for those who don’t comply. The agreement, in either situation, is enforceable and transparent in the blockchain, and the incentive is a part of the rule that is created in the governance layer.
There are also incentives for people to work as producers in the governance layer, making it so the best possible people are working to solve the largest governance problems in Nu. Since consumers need to enter a willingness or ability to pay with their need, and the needs that require solving at the governance level are the largest clusters or pools of needs, then the compensation for solving needs at that level will return a consolidated payment across the cluster. While the payment is significant, there is also incentive for the provider in the governance layer to be calculated and considerate in the rule change that is applied in Nu. That incentive, however, comes in the form of a large penalty for someone who breaks Nu or creates large levels of chaos with a rule change that was not carefully considered.
Public Services
Nu helps to remove some of the burden on governments to provide critical public services. This does not have to be an all-or-nothing thing, as the ideal scenario would involve cooperation between governments and Nu to ensure the proper delivery of services. Regardless, Nu gives people the power to start improving public services so that they meet their needs, rather than sitting back and hoping that governments will make the necessary adjustments. Given the agile and flexible nature of Nu, improvements will occur at a much faster rate if people start to peel back some of the layers for self-management.
Education, for instance, could see major advancements at an accelerated rate with Nu. Consumers could create a need to have a centralized database for shared digital asset management, and that need could be met by producers around the globe. Consumers could then create a need for educational content to be created, reviewed, approved and stored at different levels of proficiency and in different languages, which could also be met by producers around the globe. Personalized learning technologies could then be placed on top of that database, allowing people across the globe to have access to a lifelong repository of educational materials, which could be used to learn new skills and expand a person’s ability to meet more needs in Nu. It would certainly be helpful if governments assisted with the funding to support this creation, but the reality is that the creation, expansion and management of such a tool would be completely driven by the needs of consumers — clustered together — and the ability of producers to service those needs.
Healthcare is another area that can start to be unwound and stripped back a little form the government to make progress possible. If a consumer needs a checkup by a doctor and a doctor in the role of a producer is able to examine that consumer, then that need can be handled in Nu, which would eliminate the cost from being transferred to an insurance provider. There will undoubtedly be many needs, like having to receive treatment from a costly machine through a company, where a national currency will be required, at least in the near term. However, there is a lot of opportunity to pull some very basic services into Nu, where a producer can easily meet the need of a consumer, allowing for a foundation to be established where future needs for more advanced healthcare can start to be solved in Nu.
Other services, like welfare and access to food, can also start to shift into management by the people. Since the goal of welfare is to provide a minimal level of resources to meet a person’s needs, those needs will start to be addressed in Nu. A person on welfare is provided a new, secondary opportunity for employment within Nu, so long as that person participates both as a consumer and as a producer. Participation in both roles will allow that person the means to pull themselves above the poverty line by meeting their most basic needs, which gives them the opportunity for continued growth outside of Nu.
The Role of Governments
Nu operates independently of governments and does not require the governments to play a role, although Nu does respect the rules and regulations of local governments and incorporates those into the logic used for matching producers and consumers at a local level. While there is no expectation for governments to do anything in order to enable usage of Nu by citizens, there are a few things that governments can focus on to help realize benefits of cooperation and increase the amount of needs that citizens are able to address.
Internet & Computer Access: As we move into the digital age, access to computers and the internet is critical. Since Nu is a technology, people need a way to access the tool in order to actively participate as both a consumer and producer. While many needs can be met offline, the entry of needs into Nu and the matching of consumers and producers take place via the technology’s interface. There are ways in which needs can be entered into Nu through representatives, kiosks, or tablets in the field, but the most optimal performance occurs in a truly connected world. Until internet connection is provided for all people, even if it occurs through public computer access points, it will be considered an automatic need in Nu for anyone who is unable to connect and enter the need themselves.
Public Transportation: The ability for people to work together and meet needs is driven by their ability to connect, and there are lots of needs that may require in-person connection. In order to expand the consideration set for producers that can meet a need, reliable means of public transportation should be available. The absence of public transportation will not make it so Nu is unusable, but the presence of reliable transportation increases its efficiency and effectiveness.
Public Workspace: Public workspaces provide a place for people to convene and work together in a community. Having designated places where people feel safe to work and meet needs goes a long way towards increasing participation in Nu, particularly for users who do not have the luxury of consistent shelter.
The Benefit of Government Co-Existence
Nu helps to shift a lot of responsibility onto the public so that they can start to manage their own lives and meet needs for each other. As a result, the reliance on government for services and support is greatly reduced. In fact, governments will start to see a lot of burdensome tasks taken off their plates, as the expectation of meeting those needs will shift from the government to the community. This shift in expectations will allow the government to focus time and energy on higher priority issues.
One topic that keeps being raised as a concern around the world is Universal Basic Income. Nu actually decreases that need substantially, as the system is designed to help bring people to a minimal standard of living. As people begin to pull themselves up through participation as both consumers and producers, the gap that the government is trying to fill with Universal Basic Income will start to shrink.
Lastly, Nu provides rules and transparency that ensure local government regulations are being applied. By handling these things in the blockchain, regulation and enforcement of rules actually becomes easier. Nu provides a level of comfort for local governments around activities that would otherwise require a lot more oversight from those local governments.
A Recap of the Model
The governance model supported by Nu starts with representation at the individual level, however that representation comes in the form of each need that the individual needs met. Similar needs cluster together as they continue to go unmet, requiring community participation on the producer side to continually try and meet the need in the cluster. If needs are unable to be met in the community, they turn into system needs that need to be met in order to re-establish a constant flow in Nu. System needs require attention by producers in the governance layer in able to adjust rules that will enable consumer needs to be met by producers in the community.
The clustering of producers in the governance layer to solve problems leads to the creation of a specialized governing institution that will convene to address the issue in the system. The need will determine which type of governing institution is established, whether it be a legal body, a security body, an economic body, a technical body, an environmental body, or another specialized body. The governing body will take shape, convene, make decisions, and implement a solution in the form of new rules in Nu. Once completed, the temporary institution will dissolve, allowing a new institution to take its place with new members and a new need to meet. By having the ability to adjust and meet any kind of need, Nu is built to address any current or future need.
The scope of the model is limited to needs management, which allows the model to operate independently and not obstruct with national or local governments. By limiting responsibilities to one need at a time, scope is reduced so decisions and rules can be reversed as quickly as they were implemented. Responsibilities are handled by those most capable of handling them, and Nu enforces strict guidelines on who can be assigned key responsibilities through rules in the blockchain. By leveraging blockchain technology, Nu also creates a level of transparency into what rules were changed and by whom. The transparency allows for a level of accountability that comes with steep penalties for those who intentionally break the flow in the system.
Core Values
Nu is designed to assign equal value and weight to each individual across the globe. The system is able to accomplish this level of equality by focusing on individual needs rather than individuals. There are simply too many differences between one person and the next to cluster people together as complete individuals. Equal weighting becomes impossible as whole individuals. However, by using needs as the primary input, Nu is able to break people down upon entry into the system and then cluster all of those needs back together on the output as a complete representation of an individual. Think of this as the Big Bang Theory in reverse, where a person starts as a set of particles and then those particles come together to make up a whole person, who is then brought together to form a global society. Another way to think about this would be single drops of water, or needs, coming together to form a pool, or person, which then combines with other pools to create an ocean, or society.
The focus of Nu is to keep a constant flow where individual needs are continually being met in the system. As such, any decisions or rule changes require that all humankind is considered. Since all humankind is included in the system, through representation of each person’s individual needs, or drops of water, the flow in the system would be severely impacted if every person isn’t considered when new rules are applied. This core value of Nu is tightly enforced through transparency and accountability; and the agile nature in which rules are applied in focused, granular pieces, allows for the system to quickly revert any changes that jeopardize the core value of equality.
Decision-Making Capacity
Nu provides a very fluid and agile method of formulating governing bodies, convening producers, solving problems, and implementing solutions. By simply providing a container in the technology for these bodies to formulate in an ad-hoc manner, prioritized needs are addressed as they surface to the top. The granularity of each need makes it so that the complexity of each problem is minimized, thereby reducing the time in which that governing body moves from inception to implementation.
The ability for Nu to create a new governing body is only restricted by the supply of producers in the system that is qualified and capable of solving certain needs. Therefore, the system is always functioning in an optimized manner allowing for the most needs to be met at one time. Since needs are addressed at a granular level, there is no dependency between one governing body and the next, other than potential resource constraints. As such, governing bodies are able to operate simultaneously and independently to address needs in an asynchronous manner.
Effectiveness
Even the largest global needs can be addressed in Nu through both a bottom-up and top-down approach. The bottom-up approach includes granular needs that align with the larger global needs being addressed constantly by producers in the community. The top-down approach allows for incentives and rules to be implemented in Nu and pushed down through the Blockchain for consumers and producers to follow. The easiest way to visualize the manner in which Nu addresses global challenges would be to look at a few of them individually.
Climate Change: Climate change can be addressed in the form of needs that arise from consumers in Nu. For example, a person could have a need for litter to be cleaned up in their neighborhood, and producers could then meet that need. At the same time, rules and incentives can be created in the governance layer so that they are enforced through the blockchain as decisions are being made. For example, the system could provide an incentive of a pre-defined amount of the crypto-currency, which could be earned by producers or consumers who comply with a rule, such as recycling or use of public transportation, while also being negatively applied for consumers or producers who are not in compliance with the green standard.
Poverty: Poverty is a key focus of Nu, and a foundational reason why the system is referred to as a “needs management” tool. Nu provides a secondary method for people to start working and earning a living wage, which will help to pull people up above the poverty line. People are no longer dependent on businesses to provide jobs or on governments to provide welfare. Instead, anyone who actively participates in Nu will have a new way to address their financial issues. The goal of Nu is not to create an environment where people become rich (although the means are certainly there to do so), but rather an environment where people are not poor. Once a person is able to meet the minimal standards for living, he/she is more able to engage in the world outside of Nu, where additional income streams can be achieved. Over time, those worlds are expected to become one in the same — once the infrastructure provided by Nu is fully functioning and properly scaled.
War/Violence: War and politically-motivated violence are often the result of non-living entities, as opposed to individual people. By removing those entities from the system, Nu provides a way for people to work together and have needs met. As people work together, they start to become more understanding and accepting of each other. When people’s needs are met, they move closer to a point of self-actualization, followed by self-transcendence. The goal of Nu is to expedite the timeline that both of those things happen, establishing a world where people are more accepting of each other. The reality, however, is that that individual progress does not have to be met before we can start curbing violence. Nu allows people to enter in needs, and security needs are some of the most prevalent needs in the system. As things start to happen that do not allow those needs to be met, people will rise up and provide full financial backing to help address that roadblock…that pocket of air that is causing the water to reduce flow and make that chugging, knocking sound in the plumbing system.
Overpopulation: Overpopulation is the product of several factors, most of which can be addressed in Nu. Nu creates transparency into supply and demand, so people can see what needs are being met and what needs are not being met. If resources are being limited, then people will start to take the right steps to ensure that enough resources are present to meet their needs. One way of doing that is through slowing reproduction. However, people need a way to come to that conclusion. Nu provides a way of incentivizing people with crypto-currency through rules in the system that encourage the slowing of reproduction. At the same time, Nu provides the educational means for a person to learn, in the right medium and in the right language, how to slow that reproduction and the non-monetary benefits of that reduction. Lastly, Nu provides a way for people to pull themselves out of poverty, which is a key driver of overpopulation.
Resources and Financing
Once Nu is up and operating, the financial and human resources required are all internal. This is because the human resources required to operate Nu are producers and consumers within the system. The operating requirements are simply system-generated needs that are addressed by producers in the governance layer. Nu allows for educational resources to be created and leveraged across the community, providing a means for new skills to be learned throughout life. As producers in the system become more skilled and qualified, there is a constant stream of new producers that are made available as resources in the governance layer.
The financial resources are provided through the financial system that is a part of Nu. Nu encourages the best and brightest people in the global community to participate as producers in the governance layer because those people will be the largest beneficiaries in terms of finances. Each individual has to assign a willingness to pay (in the form of a crypto-currency backed by a value in “needs fulfillment”) to every need that is entered in Nu. Only needs that have clustered together and reached critical mass are being addressed at the global governance level. Therefore, anyone who is producing at the governance level is going to receive payment associated with the willingness to pay for everyone in the need cluster.
The initial requirement for human and financial resources, outside of Nu, comes with the development of the technology. In order to build the minimal viable product from a technology standpoint so Nu can be fully functional, a team of engineers will need to be financed. The time and resources to scale a blockchain infrastructure, like Ethereum, as well as building the application that sits on top of the blockchain, will be dependent on the financing that is available for implementation. Since the application has already been designed and leverages key pieces of technology that already exist today, the expectation is that a team of skilled engineers could have a minimal viable product, from an application standpoint, up and running in under a year. The progression and scaling of the underlying blockchain infrastructure does not have to occur at the same rate, as the application is designed to put less stress on that infrastructure in the early stages of adoption. The initial flow built out in the application layer enables every other flow to be built out by a completely decentralized workforce around the world. The only limiting factor in the rate at which this can be built is money.
Trust and Insight
Nu leverages blockchain technology in its infrastructure below the application layer. The benefit of leveraging this technology is not only for application of rules, but also to increase transparency. When changes are made to rules and when agreements are made, those things are recorded and stored in the blockchain. Not only is there transparency to increase trust and limit corruption, but there are binding contractual agreements that are enforced by rules to increase accountability.
The security and anonymity that protect individual profiles are there to instill trust in Nu. People are able to operate freely without concerns that users can be identified and corrupted, while also maintaining security of mind that the needs in the system are actually the needs of a person and not a non-living entity. The only point at which anonymity is sacrificed is when a dispute happens and the blockchain is required to provide insight into an agreement that was made. Even then, the data is anonymized, but it can be tied back at the profile level for enforcement, providing a proper balance between trust and insight.
Flexibility
Nu is created to be very liquid in its approach to problem solving and meeting needs. Needs are addressed at a very granular level to ensure that any rule changes in the system are also granular. The granularity removes the fluff and padding that limit flexibility. By being narrowly focused in scope, rules are created and applied in small segments. This allows for a segment to be removed quickly and painlessly, while also allowing for new rules to be created and added in small segments.
Furthermore, Nu is extremely flexible in that the institutions and the people that make up those institutions are not static. As soon as a need is met, the institution dissolves and another one is created to meet the next need in the queue. Institutions can be created and operating at the same time, allowing for needs to be met in an asynchronous manner. As long as there are producers available with the skillset and qualifications to solve a need in the governance layer, new governing bodies can keep forming to meet the next need in line.
Protection against the Abuse of Power
Nu provides several protections against abuses of power. First, by aligning needs with Maslow’s Hierarchy, there is a low likelihood that interference in nation states would be a solution that is meeting a need in Nu. To further lessen that likelihood, the system has inputs for rules of nation-states, ensuring that local rules are applied by the decision-engine when clustering consumers and producers. That ensures compliance with nation-state laws. The focus of Nu is to manage and address the needs of people, so the only way in which interference would happen is if the governing body in the nation-state intentionally tried to intervene and disrupt Nu.
Nu is particularly focused on keeping the system free of special interests and corruption. Governments, businesses, and other groups do not explicitly have a place in Nu, as the system is designed only for individual people across the globe — people who make up those groups, governments, or businesses when clustered together. Since the system is clustering people together in an anonymized way to meet needs, it would be extremely difficult to game the system and create desired clusters. And since there are no static governing bodies, special interest groups would have to properly influence every individual in the system, as opposed to a small, elected group of officials. Furthermore, Nu protects against corruption by assigning individuals to governing bodies in an ad-hoc manner, and that governing body dissolves as soon as the need is met. Therefore, the ability to identify decision-makers ahead of time is not possible, and the duration of time in which that anonymous person holds their position is extremely limited by the granular need that is being addressed.
Lastly, the monetary exchanges, decisions, rule changes, and agreements are all documented in the blockchain. By tracking these transactions in that manner and storing the information, there is a level of transparency that makes corruption easier to track down. Since every individual in Nu has skin in the game, Nu leverages an open-source approach that keeps the greater community not only engaged, but also overly attentive to things that might disrupt the flow.
Accountability
Accountability in Nu is driven through blockchain technology. The contractual nature of agreements in the system are stored and made transparent for everyone to see if questions arise. Should a person implement a rule that disrupts the flow in the system and creates chaos, then that person is required to take responsibility for the problems that arose. Just as that person received payment to perform as a producer in the governance layer, he/she will be charged back by the system in an extreme way as punishment for incompetence. With the power to make rule changes comes a heightened level of accountability and Nu leverages the blockchain to store information about rule changes and agreements to ensure that the right people are held accountable.
There are likely to be disputes that need to be met through legal channels when accountability is enforced through Nu. The agile nature in which Nu is able to create governing institutions in an ad-hoc manner ensures that these disputes can be addressed as they surface. A big part of accountability is the enforcement that goes along with it, and Nu provides the means of not only tracking who is accountable, but also providing a swift manner for enforcing any punishments that an accountable party must endure.