I started my career as a software
designer and developer that had its
consequences it also severely affected
my thinking I have a tendency to look at
every challenge like it’s a software
design problem now you cannot apply that
to everything matters of the heart
require a distinctly different approach
don’t try to rewrite the system software
of your partner or friends it does not
work but there are quite a few things
that can be approached from a software
design angle today I want to talk about
one of them money money is the killer
app with seven and a half billion users
when you design software you’re also
designed the way people will use it and
that has an influence on their behavior
great games for example are designed to
be addictive if you got the feeling you
can take on the game’s challenge you get
instant rewards when you succeed you’re
likely to be sucked in just one more
level honey or take Facebook one more
post one more last one really the way
you design software influences the
behavior of the people using it now one
of the defining properties of software
is that it is 100% man-made there are no
fields where software has grown or mines
where it is dug up this is something it
has in common with money as the saying
goes money doesn’t grow on trees just
like software it is 100% man-made money
is kind of like software everyone uses
now money is a strange thing isn’t it we
use it almost every day
which we hardly ever think about its
nature always your relationship with
money when you grew up
I took it for granted just like it doing
the existence of air for granted now I
was lucky enough to grow up in a fairly
wealthy middle-class family and money
was never really a problem but yet I
still got the message that what you have
should not be shared that didn’t really
sit well with me go when I went to
university I was the first of my friends
to have a car it quickly became a shared
car I also paid for drinks a little bit
more than my friends did because I could
and that’s been a theme throughout my
life it makes me feel good when I can
share something be it my car my house or
by paying for a dinner and according to
research that joy of sharing is part of
human nature
it wasn’t until I inherited my family’s
wealth that I was brutally confronted
with what money can do to a person I
inherited enough to share with others in
my family and still have plenty left for
myself
and yet was it reluctance in sharing I
have not felt before because you see
when you have a lot of money
it easily attracts more money just like
having a lot of debt easily gets you
into more debt give money when it’s gone
together with its power to attract more
money the pool was Anja ball more this
was my first hand experience with her
money affects someone’s thinking in
actions and not just mine
the presence of all that money costs
strife in the family
the design of money influences our
behavior just like the design of
software does and science Baxter’s up I
read an article in the June 2016 issue
of Scientific American where they
researched our behavior after we handled
money the conclusion after handling
money we become less willing to share
and less willing to help others this
kind of behavior starts at the age of
three
the way you design software influences
the behavior of the people using it
everyone uses the money app now this is
not how it became now this is not how I
came to spend most of my time working in
monetary systems that started back in
2012 when I was wondering why is it so
hard to solve our climate change problem
we knew what was going on
we knew what had to be done and we had
the technology to do it or from a
software design angle we identified the
problem programmed the solution and all
we had to do is run the program but
that’s still not really happening why
money it is just not enough money to do
what needs to be done I could hurt the
economy but money is 100% man-made
that’s kind of like saying we don’t have
enough pokemons in order to end poverty
so I started looking at money the way I
do at software how is it designed for
most people very badly for one there are
only a limited number of sources namely
the banks now some of you will be
thinking work but work does not create
money it transfers money from the
employer to the employee it’s a
distribution system banks they create
money every time someone takes out a
loan now the first time I read that I
thought I had landed on some conspiracy
theory side because to me this was just
too ridiculous to be true after some
digging I found the same statement in a
document published by the central bank
of England now these guys should know
what you’re talking about right so there
you have it money is created by banks
which makes them the source of money but
they are Finn’s sources you cannot just
walk into a bank and say can have some
money and expect them to give it to you
unless you’re a bank robber of course
but that strategy doesn’t always work
either
banks will only create money fear if you
can bring back more than you took out
that’s called interest just let that
sink in a bank will create money for you
if you bring back more than they created
but how are we supposed to pay for that
interest if money is created by banks
through loans
who the hell created this app I can
imagine most people are not very willing
to share their money can I have some
money sorry no can do you have to bring
it back to the bank but money is 100%
man-made that means the app can be
rewritten and that opens up a lot of
possibilities software design always
starts with a goal what do we use money
for exchanging value now some of you
will be thinking saving for a rainy day
true but you’ll want to trade it in for
something else eventually having the
money has no value in itself for no one
is willing to give you something for it
just try buy a coffee with an unknown
foreign currency and you’ll see what I
mean it’s when money exchanges hands
when it moves that valley is created so
basically we want to use money to
exchange value now what if we could
design the money app in such a way that
we also get rid of poverty and the
things like education health care and
taking care of the environment don’t
have budget problems anymore now would
create a better world wouldn’t it this
is easier than you think when you’re
creating the money app since we choose
how the app works we can just create
money for the things we need we simply
create money for education health care
and the environment for everything that
helps build a better society poverty can
be solved by creating a steady income
stream for every living person on the
planet basic income without the
financing problems all debt
and yes we can do this because this is
software and we are writing it we also
have to destroy money continuously
creating it will just make it lose its
value and freak out every single
economist on the planet
they call it inflation it’s an easy
problem to solve their excessive
hoarding creates a rampant inequality we
can witness today if we tackle that by
implementing attacks on money hoarding
and we destroy the money collected from
that tax we don’t only take care of
inflation we also get rid of extreme
inequality now that means there is a
limit to what you can hold on to but
remember the security of savings has now
been replaced by the security of a
never-ending income stream currently
even in Belgium where I’m from and which
is a rich country where all means almost
a quarter of the population is
struggling to make ends meet
I believe we can create an economy where
everyone can thrive so do the people I
work with we have dubbed it hapana me
reprogramming our monetary system just
might be the fastest way to create a
fairer happier world a world where we
can move from making a living to having
your life the monetary system
I just described and which I have named
see me make sure no one ever has to work
has to worry about making ends meet
everything that is needed to build a
well-functioning society will always
have adequate funding and businesses
sittin on sittin on stashes of cash
will have an incentive to invest it
because of the hoarding tax that same
hoarding tax make sure money moves there
by guaranteeing a working economy and
increasing accessibility to money for
everyone
accessibility for the poor for budding
entrepreneurs for research for the
environment for artists the list
goes on I want to live in a fair world a
world where everyone has a fair chance
to thrive no matter where they are born
the way our money is designed today
stands in the way of that it should and
can support our well-being instead of
hindering it all we have to do is write
a software and run the program it is
that easy what do we really want to keep
running the planet and badly designed
software now I know there will be those
who say it cannot be done there were
also people who said man would never fly
or that woman’s voting rights were a
pipe dream or that people of color would
never sit in the same section of the bus
as white people too let alone become
president of the United States history
as shown the impossible does happen we
can make it happen again we can write a
new money app when we unite there is no
stopping us thank you
[Applause]
designer and developer that had its
consequences it also severely affected
my thinking I have a tendency to look at
every challenge like it’s a software
design problem now you cannot apply that
to everything matters of the heart
require a distinctly different approach
don’t try to rewrite the system software
of your partner or friends it does not
work but there are quite a few things
that can be approached from a software
design angle today I want to talk about
one of them money money is the killer
app with seven and a half billion users
when you design software you’re also
designed the way people will use it and
that has an influence on their behavior
great games for example are designed to
be addictive if you got the feeling you
can take on the game’s challenge you get
instant rewards when you succeed you’re
likely to be sucked in just one more
level honey or take Facebook one more
post one more last one really the way
you design software influences the
behavior of the people using it now one
of the defining properties of software
is that it is 100% man-made there are no
fields where software has grown or mines
where it is dug up this is something it
has in common with money as the saying
goes money doesn’t grow on trees just
like software it is 100% man-made money
is kind of like software everyone uses
now money is a strange thing isn’t it we
use it almost every day
which we hardly ever think about its
nature always your relationship with
money when you grew up
I took it for granted just like it doing
the existence of air for granted now I
was lucky enough to grow up in a fairly
wealthy middle-class family and money
was never really a problem but yet I
still got the message that what you have
should not be shared that didn’t really
sit well with me go when I went to
university I was the first of my friends
to have a car it quickly became a shared
car I also paid for drinks a little bit
more than my friends did because I could
and that’s been a theme throughout my
life it makes me feel good when I can
share something be it my car my house or
by paying for a dinner and according to
research that joy of sharing is part of
human nature
it wasn’t until I inherited my family’s
wealth that I was brutally confronted
with what money can do to a person I
inherited enough to share with others in
my family and still have plenty left for
myself
and yet was it reluctance in sharing I
have not felt before because you see
when you have a lot of money
it easily attracts more money just like
having a lot of debt easily gets you
into more debt give money when it’s gone
together with its power to attract more
money the pool was Anja ball more this
was my first hand experience with her
money affects someone’s thinking in
actions and not just mine
the presence of all that money costs
strife in the family
the design of money influences our
behavior just like the design of
software does and science Baxter’s up I
read an article in the June 2016 issue
of Scientific American where they
researched our behavior after we handled
money the conclusion after handling
money we become less willing to share
and less willing to help others this
kind of behavior starts at the age of
three
the way you design software influences
the behavior of the people using it
everyone uses the money app now this is
not how it became now this is not how I
came to spend most of my time working in
monetary systems that started back in
2012 when I was wondering why is it so
hard to solve our climate change problem
we knew what was going on
we knew what had to be done and we had
the technology to do it or from a
software design angle we identified the
problem programmed the solution and all
we had to do is run the program but
that’s still not really happening why
money it is just not enough money to do
what needs to be done I could hurt the
economy but money is 100% man-made
that’s kind of like saying we don’t have
enough pokemons in order to end poverty
so I started looking at money the way I
do at software how is it designed for
most people very badly for one there are
only a limited number of sources namely
the banks now some of you will be
thinking work but work does not create
money it transfers money from the
employer to the employee it’s a
distribution system banks they create
money every time someone takes out a
loan now the first time I read that I
thought I had landed on some conspiracy
theory side because to me this was just
too ridiculous to be true after some
digging I found the same statement in a
document published by the central bank
of England now these guys should know
what you’re talking about right so there
you have it money is created by banks
which makes them the source of money but
they are Finn’s sources you cannot just
walk into a bank and say can have some
money and expect them to give it to you
unless you’re a bank robber of course
but that strategy doesn’t always work
either
banks will only create money fear if you
can bring back more than you took out
that’s called interest just let that
sink in a bank will create money for you
if you bring back more than they created
but how are we supposed to pay for that
interest if money is created by banks
through loans
who the hell created this app I can
imagine most people are not very willing
to share their money can I have some
money sorry no can do you have to bring
it back to the bank but money is 100%
man-made that means the app can be
rewritten and that opens up a lot of
possibilities software design always
starts with a goal what do we use money
for exchanging value now some of you
will be thinking saving for a rainy day
true but you’ll want to trade it in for
something else eventually having the
money has no value in itself for no one
is willing to give you something for it
just try buy a coffee with an unknown
foreign currency and you’ll see what I
mean it’s when money exchanges hands
when it moves that valley is created so
basically we want to use money to
exchange value now what if we could
design the money app in such a way that
we also get rid of poverty and the
things like education health care and
taking care of the environment don’t
have budget problems anymore now would
create a better world wouldn’t it this
is easier than you think when you’re
creating the money app since we choose
how the app works we can just create
money for the things we need we simply
create money for education health care
and the environment for everything that
helps build a better society poverty can
be solved by creating a steady income
stream for every living person on the
planet basic income without the
financing problems all debt
and yes we can do this because this is
software and we are writing it we also
have to destroy money continuously
creating it will just make it lose its
value and freak out every single
economist on the planet
they call it inflation it’s an easy
problem to solve their excessive
hoarding creates a rampant inequality we
can witness today if we tackle that by
implementing attacks on money hoarding
and we destroy the money collected from
that tax we don’t only take care of
inflation we also get rid of extreme
inequality now that means there is a
limit to what you can hold on to but
remember the security of savings has now
been replaced by the security of a
never-ending income stream currently
even in Belgium where I’m from and which
is a rich country where all means almost
a quarter of the population is
struggling to make ends meet
I believe we can create an economy where
everyone can thrive so do the people I
work with we have dubbed it hapana me
reprogramming our monetary system just
might be the fastest way to create a
fairer happier world a world where we
can move from making a living to having
your life the monetary system
I just described and which I have named
see me make sure no one ever has to work
has to worry about making ends meet
everything that is needed to build a
well-functioning society will always
have adequate funding and businesses
sittin on sittin on stashes of cash
will have an incentive to invest it
because of the hoarding tax that same
hoarding tax make sure money moves there
by guaranteeing a working economy and
increasing accessibility to money for
everyone
accessibility for the poor for budding
entrepreneurs for research for the
environment for artists the list
goes on I want to live in a fair world a
world where everyone has a fair chance
to thrive no matter where they are born
the way our money is designed today
stands in the way of that it should and
can support our well-being instead of
hindering it all we have to do is write
a software and run the program it is
that easy what do we really want to keep
running the planet and badly designed
software now I know there will be those
who say it cannot be done there were
also people who said man would never fly
or that woman’s voting rights were a
pipe dream or that people of color would
never sit in the same section of the bus
as white people too let alone become
president of the United States history
as shown the impossible does happen we
can make it happen again we can write a
new money app when we unite there is no
stopping us thank you
[Applause]
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