THE FUTURE OF MONEY Bernard A. Lietaer - library.uniteddiversity ...

often make sense to use them in mixed payments (part conventional
national currency, part complementary currency).
A remarkable variety of non-conventional currencies have already
been spawned by current information technologies. Some have
become familiar, like the Frequent-Flyer Miles. Initially, they were a
simple marketing gimmick to build customer loyalty. However, as
they have become increasingly redeemable in a variety of services
besides airline tickets - such as long-distance phone calls, taxi
services, hotels, even magazines - they have developed into a
'corporate scrip', a private currency issued by airlines. Just as
significantly, non-conventional currencies include local community
currencies - still considered as marginal curiosities by most people
(e.g. LETS currencies, Time Dollars, Ithaca HOURS, etc.). They also
include the Japanese 'Caring Relationship Tickets' designed
specifically for elderly care, and a Brazilian garbage recycling
currency. All these non-traditional currencies are prototypes of the
emerging money revolution.
The future of money therefore lies not only with the further
computerization of our conventional currencies - such as dollars,
euros or yen via smart cards and other new information
technologies. Such changes will happen. But these same information
technologies also make it possible for new non-conventional
complementary currencies to enter the mainstream and provide new
tools for addressing some of our most pressing challenges, both
locally and globally.
However, Sustainable Abundance is only one of the possible
outcomes from the current transition period. It is a development that
is neither automatic nor preordained. It would require a shift in our
perception of our relationship to money, the first in centuries.