[cap-talk] Capability accounting

[Ian G]

Hi Norman,

Norman Hardy wrote:

> I am extremely enthusiastic about introducing money into the system.
> DSR <http://cap-lore.com/Economics/DSR/> even includes a 32 bit
> money amount in most network packets.

DSR, that's a blast from the old days :)

Warning - all the below is quite "negative, cynical,
critical."



DSR almost certainly will not work.  I'd have to
read it in full to be clear, but here are a few
issues I spotted.

1. It has no security built in.  So it is in
effect an accounting system where everyone has
to participate and rely on everyone else.
2. Reputation doesn't cut it when it comes to
money, the defrauders are way smarter than that,
and can basically game any system.
3. there is no mechanism whereby DSR "arises";
it is a description of "there" without the route
map of how to get from "here" to "there".
4. It relies on everyone, but offers little
until everyone is on board - so it cannot grow.
5. it is only useful for a tiny area of transactions
(small amounts, ones of a special type).  This
assumes a supply before a supply, see 3. above.
6. no mechanism by which the money's value is
independently established.

Etc etc.

...


>>Money makes all those things come to the fore.  The accounting
>>people will say "oh, we don't need those costs, we'll just
>>run an accounting system," but the accounting system *hides*
>>the costs somewhere, rather than eliminates them.  So this
>>only works if you can find a place to hide them.
> 
> 
> Agreed!
> Trouble with most accounting systems is that they spend more on
> accounting transactions than on service.
> For quite some while some telcos spent more money remembering
> and providing you with a printed itemized listing of your calls, than  
> they
> spent to switch and carry the bits in the phone calls.


Yup.  The problem was they wanted to charge on time,
because this takes them closer -- in theory -- to the
consumer surplus.

But the consumer hated that, and the consumer wanted
to see why it was costing so much, and why the bill
was killing them at the end of the month.  So telcos
were forced into this "itemised billing" stuff which
added more complications, as it went from simple
digital to complicated auditing ... what happens
when the user didn't make that call ... support
problems ...

What the user wanted was a very easy management of
costs.  So when the pre-paid thing started (for another
market segment), lots and lots of "account users" switched
across.  Boom.  In one fell swoop, their mental costs --
cf Nick -- were converted from the end-of-month billing
nightmare into the pre-paid loadup.  Bliss.



iang