Computer Programs and Money

The concept of money is deep and subtle. To quote the Encyclopaedia Britannica (XX): ???The subject of money has fascinated wise men from the time of Aristotle to the present day because it is so full of mystery and paradox. The piece of paper labelled one dollar or 100 francs or 10 kroner or 1,000 yen is little different, as paper, from a piece of the same size torn from a newspaper or magazine, yet it will enable its bearer to command some measure of food, drink, clothing, and the remaining goods of life while the other is fit only to light the fire. Whence the difference????

Money is a technology for promoting economic prosperity, and like any technology, it can, and should be improved. The technology of money has qualitatively advanced several times in history, and with each advance there has been a major increase in economic activity and prosperity. Each advance has involved money becoming more abstract. Money used to be hardware, gold coins and the like. Now money is now mostly software, data structures mostly located in banks.

The proposal is investigate the future of money as software.