After the lecture by Cecelia, I started to develop some possible ideas for the project. I found it quite difficult to think of something that could be grounded in reality, within my life today. Something that would fit into the current structure of our society. It seemed like this project would be on the speculative side of design. I am fairly used to this by now, with the speculative practice project set a few weeks ago, so I started to speculate a future society with my currency.
I liked the idea of time as a currency. In my opinion, the number one consensus people have on what is important in life, is time. Whether someone is complaining about not having enough time to do something fun with their life, or time with a loved one before passing. It is a very important structural concept to our life.
So, I came up with the idea of 'time = living'.
There is already a well-known movie called 'In Time', released in 2011, set in a dystopian future, 2169. The film focuses on a new economic system that uses time as a currency. 'You stop aging at 25, but there's a catch: you're genetically-engineered to live only one more year, unless you can buy your way out of it.' (IMDb, 2018). Each person has a clock on their arm that counts down how long they have to live. People can gift time to someone, increasing their lifespan, and shortening theirs.
People are already adding, or removing, time from their life through their lifestyle. Whether somebody is a smoker, or very health conscious. These decisions cause lifetime consequences. This is the angle I could focus on , looking at the decisions an individual takes to prolong their life span.
Here is a quote I found during my research of time being a currency:
Money itself is not evil nor a problem. Money is simply a currency. What money does do is blinds us from a currency we have that we forget about most of our lives: the currency of time. (Zeigler, 2015)
I found this interesting as Zeigler argues time is the most important currency. It may not pay for your swimming lessons however, the fact you have swimming lessons in the first place is an example of how you are using your finite amount of time to learn/do something useful.
To better understand the purpose of my currency, I asked myself: What problem do I want my currency to solve? There are many issues surrounding our existence today. The constant threat global warming poses, the overpopulation of our planet, plastic disposal in our oceans, etc. This issue I am focusing on is...
Aim of my project: Changing the perception of time wasted, into something positive for the individual and those around them.
Maybe this is what I could focus on. A speculative system that could measure how an individual is spending their valuable time in their life. An app maybe? A small implanted computer chip? I decided to stick to an app for the time being. This would calculate the time they have wasted, possibly shown in a diagram from. For example: 56 wasted minutes in one day from commuting to and from work, sitting on public transport, listening to music - not doing anything practical. This would count as wasted time. The app allows them to take control of this wasted time and use it for something beneficial. 'Trade' it back into the currency. If they prove they do something fun in that equivalent amount of time. For example, a person spending time with their child at Disney Land. This currency can be used to lower prices in the real world, not replacing the pound sterling completely, but working alongside it. The holiday may cost £1000, but it is discounted by government bodies, such as the NHS - bodies who are trying to promote healthier individuals in leading a happier life - to say £700. This time currency promotes spending time on things that matter most, so wasted time is essentially turned into something positive and doesn’t need to be worked for unlike traditional currencies, you can only benefit from this currency, and you most likely are already accumulating it without realising.
Exchange within my currency
The brief requires the currency to incorporate a record of exchange, tradable objects or a market of favours. After giving this much thought, I have decided the element of exchange will be the user being able to trade their time wasted, TICKS, for tangible objects in the real world. These can be discounts on things like travel and holidays. Say a person has accumulated 76 TICKS, the exchange rate of 1 minute = 1 TICK and 1 TICK = £0.14 is used to discount these rewards.
Reference list:
IMDb. (2018). In Time (2011). Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1637688/ (Accessed: 8 November 2018).
Zeigler, D. (2015). The Currency of Time. Available at: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-currency-of-time_b_7091924 (Accessed: 8 November 2018).
Bibliography list:
Harvard Health Publishing. (2018). Tips for a longer life - Harvard Health. Available at: https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/tips-for-a-longer-life (Accessed: 8 November 2018).
Weisberg, J. (2014) Forget Bitcoins, what about time as currency? Available at: http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/2/9/forget-bitcoins-whatabouttimeascurrency.html (Accessed: 8 November 2018).
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