The future of money, such as the brain, is not written: it is built with curiosity, innovation and free thought.
They tell us “think”, but no one can think if there is no problem that arouses their attention. Thinking is to pause: move from the autopilot to the manual. Curiosity opens new routes, breaks with routine and allows you to create the different.
The old, automated, serves to save energy, but contains the risk of always repeating the same. When we find a passion or special interest, we can stop the automatic jump, stop and think something new. Thus we go from curiosity to astonishment, and the astonishment of innovation.
The future does not exist: we must invent it.
Newton and the Creative Pause
That happened to Newton. He rested under a tree when an apple fell on his head. The linear time stopped for a moment and the law of gravity was born. Humanity took 17 centuries to leave the Aristotle autopilot.
Thinking different always implies stopping.
In its origins, humanity exchanged what it produced through bartering. To simplify, symbolic equivalents appeared: stones, salt, skins, wood. Then the metal coins arose and, centuries later, the paper.
In 1406 the first bank was born in Italy. His innovation was to register transfers between accounts, first internal and then between institutions. Thus was born the banking circulation of money, a new form of power.
Technology brought promissory notes, checks, cards and electronic wallets. Each advance reduced times, but multiplied costs and commissions for the benefit of financial intermediaries and political regulators.
The great break came in 2008 with the Bitcoinwhich allowed to register safe transactions in decentralized networks, without banks. Thus, digital money was born that could exceed the dollar and open the way to an algorithmic economy.
Today the states experience with their own digital currencies, seeking to recover control. But the most transformative is the Tokenizationwhich allows anyone – even with few resources – participate in global projects and access assets previously reserved for large investors.
The money was born as a means of exchange, but many times it became an end in itself. The Legend of King Midas shows it with crudeness: he turned everything he touched, including his daughter into gold, and died of hunger. Excess specialization in money as an end ends in tragedy.
The current paradox is clear: there is a lot to do, but little employment. He Job He was born in the industrial revolution: work for others in exchange for salary. He Work Instead it is what we do for pleasure, although few manage to live on it.
Artificial intelligence accelerates the erosion of traditional employment: there is more with fewer people. Companies outsourly, demociate and precarize. The fidelity employer-employed fades. Who identifies only with his job, by losing him, feels he loses his identity.
The crisis is aggravated with retirement. The contempt for older adults wasted a capital of immense experience. The solution is to make work more flexible, promote multigenerational teams and promote continuous learning. The crystallized intelligence of the elderly can be key if it is trained.
Before monetary crises, communities created alternative coins: rabbit tails in Texas (1936), wooden shells or discs in California (1933). Today the Wir system in Switzerland brings together 100,000 people who exchange billions without using conventional currency.
These cooperative currencies do not distribute the cake: they enlarge it. They create wealth by association, not by competition.
80 years ago, Argentina was a rich country and poor Finland. The opposite occurs today. The difference: Finland turned education into its central policy. A poor boy receives the same training as a rich one, and teachers are prestigious figures. Equal opportunities changed the fate of the country.
If robots will do physical work, education must focus on training human skills: creativity, critical thinking, emotions management. Do not compete with machines, but direct them.
- Thinking is pausar: Leaving the autopil open new paths.
- The brain and economy evolve the same: From bartering to algorithm, each advance arises from a break.
- Money must be medium, not end: Midas’s tragedy is still in force.
- Stable employment fades: We need to redefine work as a personal fulfillment.
- Longevity is opportunity: Take advantage of the intelligence of the elderly requires continuous learning.
- Complementary currencies show that there are alternatives: Cooperation and social capital against financial monopoly.
- Education is the strategic key: The countries that prioritize it ensure its future.
The future of money, such as the brain, is not written: it is built with curiosity, innovation and free thought.
