The Currency of Currency

Warner Brothers to Rent Movies Through Facebook

"I hope, hope, hope, that when I'm old I won't look back at this...and say "Oh yeah... that was the first time I heard of Facebook Credits. What was it we used when we were young? Doggars? Thollars? Something like that."--"SamSam", via BoingBoing

Recently I finished reading two absolutely top-notch high-tech thrillers: Daemon and its sequel Freedom^tm, by Daniel Suarez. In these two novels, which are essentially one long story, the death of a 'mad genius' software designer triggers a self-replicating process with enormously far-reaching implications. Through the first book, I found myself rooting against this utterly inhuman process, which seeks nothing less than the complete overthrow of civilization; in the second, understanding of the Daemon's end goals flooded in and I switched sides so instantly and so completely as to be absolutely pining for the world the Daemon creates; I actually found myself viewing the millions of deaths attendant to the destruction of the old order to be regrettable, but necessary.
In order to overthrow civilization, Suarez reforms its currency. The casual reader may not realize that private currencies are fundamentally legal in the United States so long as they are convertible to the U.S. dollar. In the story, the Daemon electronically skims off the top of thousands of corporations to back its system of credits (and it thoroughly liquidates the financial assets of anyone or anything that attempts to fight it). The virtual "darknet" credits are very similar to something called Whuffie, a reputation-based currency "coined" by Cory Doctorow. Do something 'good' and your virtual account is credited; do something 'bad' and you'll be debited: bad enough and you'll be destitute. Since public opinion serves as a bank, a comprehensive virtual network is required for such a system to function.

We're getting there. Facebook has well over half a billion users, after all. It's easy to see the average person's actual and virtual lives integrating: taking a long view, I'd go so far as to suggest a reputation-based virtual currency is inevitable. It may take ten years or it may take a hundred, but...we're getting there.