Game History
The Preceeding Inspiration
This is a paper that was written by Joseph in November of 2008. It gives a History of the Circle Out! game concept.
Productivity as a Solution
In my quest to understand the current financial crisis I have become acquainted with some very interesting ideas that may be of value to people in the near future. Here are some of my insights.
The Value of a Sky Scraper
Particularly when I was a young boy, I loved to guess at and ask others how much the price or dollar amount is associated with sky scrapers, bridges, and other great architecture. However, somewhere along the way I altered my thinking about such things. Now, instead of wondering about the dollar amount, I wonder how much cement and steel was used in the creation of the skyscrapers, how much man power was required, and how difficult these buildings were to assemble. This is the real price of a skyscraper, that is, the resources used to construct it. Money does not constitute the skyscraper. At the most, money may provide the necessary motivation for its construction.
No Reason to Starve as Long as the Farmers are Still Planting
Possibly the greatest problem with a recession/depression is that people lose their jobs and productivity dramatically decreases. When there is no productivity there are no products. But as long as there are plenty of people still working, there will always be enough. It may be back to trading, but all of the necessary goods will still be there. It is a good idea to stay busy even if the situation is not ideal.
All About Productivity
Wealth is the product of productivity. There is food to buy because someone planted it. There is water to drink because someone pumped it from the well.
Resolving the problem of Distribution -Creating a New System-
Back in January of 2008, I began to worry about a financial crisis. What if there came a time when money was of no value? After all, our money is just paper!
My question was this: How will we be able to trade with each other? What if I am willing to trade apples for corn, and my neighbor is willing to trade his corn for potatoes but not for apples? At first that transaction may seem to be hopeless because my neighbor does not want to have anything to do with my apples. But then I realized that if I can somehow come up with the potatoes that this guy wants, then I can have his corn. The only things that I have to trade with are my apples, so I can now begin a search for someone that needs my apples and will trade me for his potatoes. Once I have the potatoes, then I can trade them for the corn that I really want. This is what I call “Circular Trading”. This is the very core of Circle Out Game History.
These three individuals…
Person #1 Has Apples and needs Corn
Person #2 Has Potatoes and needs Apples
Person #3 Has Corn and needs Potatoes
…can trade in a circular pattern. Each need matches someone else’s want. A “Trading Circle” can include as many people as are needed to complete the circle. It is possible to trade effectively this way. There is much more to it, however, than we have discussed here.
TRUE WEALTH – THERE IS A DIFFERENCE
Remember that money does not constitute the sky scraper – only the motivation to build it. Also, money does not constitute food. All of the money in the world does not guarantee you food if there isn’t any. However, more food than anyone can possibly eat does guarantee you some if you can’t make a trade.
The idea is that you can have money and be poor and hungry. In today’s world people spend more time trying to lay up a store of money than they do of food. That is because money is the medium of trade. However, if our system was different such that our medium of trade was our food and commodities (or at least something of value), then that would be a system of true wealth. Your wealth would be physically evident and available to you as the products you have created and not the hope of them through your money.
Oddly enough, the history of Circle Out! game has its place with economics. Like the game SET, Circle Out! history began by thinking about a topic seemingly irrelevant to fun and games.