On Wed, Jun 11, 2008 at 6:49 PM, Ed Murphy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > avpx wrote: > >> On Wed, Jun 11, 2008 at 9:59 AM, Ed Murphy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>> avpx wrote: >>> >>>> My idea is an official currency, the Napier, abbreviated Np, which is >>>> the base-10 log of its worth. 2 Np is worth 10x as much as 1 Np which >>>> is worth 10x as much as 0 Np. One can transfer, for example, 1 Np to a >>>> person who has 2 Np, and, assuming no tax, the recipient will have >>>> 2.041 Np, which is log(10^2+10^1). Taxes are easy in this system, as >>>> one just adds log(1-N) to the amount being sent to get the amount >>>> received, where N is the tax rate. >>>> >>>> An office could be set up, the Treasuror, or an existing office (maybe >>>> that one already exists?) could manage the amount of Np people have. >>>> If person A transfers 2 Np to person B, then person B only receives >>>> 2+log(1-N) Np, and the remaining 2+log(N) Np would go into the >>>> Treasury, which is managed by the Treasuror. This could be used to pay >>>> salaries for people who hold offices and complete their reports on >>>> time, among many other things. >>>> >>>> IMO, a good, though slightly confusing currency is just what Agora >>>> needs. Tell me what you all think, and how this would fit in with >>>> current Agoran rules and offices. >>> Ugh, I just had a flashback to >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:AntiochCollege >>> >>> What about having holdings and transfers work normally, but charging >>> along the lines of "you can buy 1 widget for 90% of your Np"? But the >>> real problem is that, however you express it, this seems to penalize >>> log-rolling. > >> I don't think this would work. After all, then what's the point of >> having any amount of Np? If everything just costs a percentage of your >> money, then it doesn't matter how much you have, because you can still >> afford everything! > > (Please don't top-post. Fixed.) > > Let's see: > > avpx-notation Murphy-notation > > Alice has 2 Alice has 100 > Bob has 1 Bob has 1 > > Alice transfers 1 to Bob Alice transfers 10 to Bob > > Alice has ~1.954 Alice has 90 > Bob has ~1.301 Bob has 20 > > So far, as Zefram points out, this is just an isomorphic way of talking > about how currency normally works. The interesting and not-yet-clear > part is: > > Alice pays ? to do X Alice pays ? to do X > Bob pays ? to do X Bob pays ? to do X > >
Well, I don't really care, guys. I know it's just an abstraction to a linear currency system, but I was discussing it with a few friends, and they all seemed to think it was sort of interesting in the way it worked. I just thought the mode of operation of this currency was sort of cool and a little confusing, which I found intriguing. We could go with a linear currency system and it'd work just fine, and I'd be more than happy to craft that bit up. Whatever suits Agora. avpx
