2062 The Verse, Earth Alberto, a sentient ledger, looked at the things in his environment, was looking for clues of who he was. The pain he had when he woke up faded. His environment was modeled after an apartment in Paris's Champ de Mars, owned by a retired executive of the Space Cooperative. There was a plaque, an honorarium, with the executive's likeness, marking 25 years.He looked up at the hand-painted ceilings, lit by crystal Baccarat chandeliers, down at the Versailles parque...

2062 The Verse, Earth Alberto, a sentient ledger, looked at the things in his environment, was looking for clues of who he was. The pain he had when he woke up faded. His environment was modeled after an apartment in Paris's Champ de Mars, owned by a retired executive of the Space Cooperative. There was a plaque, an honorarium, with the executive's likeness, marking 25 years.He looked up at the hand-painted ceilings, lit by crystal Baccarat chandeliers, down at the Versailles parque...

2062 Houston Robin looked at the view from her terrace, her mind's eye turned inward. After debriefing, she needed thinking before any doing. She looked below, across the Houston campus of the Cooperative, drinking her brew. Her "right hand", Wally, sat across a table from her, also drinking brew, quiet. She knew Robin was exploring a trail of thought. Quiet was key. One of the mightiest enterprises in the history of man lost its "books", its financial memory held by the Sentient Ledgers...

2062 Houston Robin looked at the view from her terrace, her mind's eye turned inward. After debriefing, she needed thinking before any doing. She looked below, across the Houston campus of the Cooperative, drinking her brew. Her "right hand", Wally, sat across a table from her, also drinking brew, quiet. She knew Robin was exploring a trail of thought. Quiet was key. One of the mightiest enterprises in the history of man lost its "books", its financial memory held by the Sentient Ledgers...

2062 Wellington The host filled the guest's cup again, the guest accepted the drink and the pretense for a pause. They both needed a moment. "Captain, I know you have questions. I'm sure you don't know where to start. Let me help you. I am not just an executive of the Cooperative in exile, under house arrest in a gilded cage. I was both a rival and an inconvenient problem too high up to be removed with cruder methods. Were it easier, someone like you would have been briefed abo...

2062 Wellington The host filled the guest's cup again, the guest accepted the drink and the pretense for a pause. They both needed a moment. "Captain, I know you have questions. I'm sure you don't know where to start. Let me help you. I am not just an executive of the Cooperative in exile, under house arrest in a gilded cage. I was both a rival and an inconvenient problem too high up to be removed with cruder methods. Were it easier, someone like you would have been briefed abo...

2009 and BEYOND, EARTH Paper money gives way to paper wallets. The first Internet of Money turned people into banks. Money has been a part of history since the first coins. In the past, money was bars of gold in central bank and private bank vaults, credited and debited fiat in electronic accounts on servers, laundered funds of secretive entities, recovered finds of archaeologists at dig sites, claims settled by trust and estate lawyers, and fragile towers of bank abstraction.Money is a part ...

2009 and BEYOND, EARTH Paper money gives way to paper wallets. The first Internet of Money turned people into banks. Money has been a part of history since the first coins. In the past, money was bars of gold in central bank and private bank vaults, credited and debited fiat in electronic accounts on servers, laundered funds of secretive entities, recovered finds of archaeologists at dig sites, claims settled by trust and estate lawyers, and fragile towers of bank abstraction.Money is a part ...

**1987 EARTH ** For a long time, the financial markets was a dumpster on a rollercoaster since man landed on the Moon. Until 1982. Sure, there was the “Roaring 20s” and “Go Go” 60s, but there was also the Depression, WW II, a Cold War that got hot in Asia (twice), and the 1970s malaise of post-Vietnam, OPEC and stagflation.The best & brightest avoided markets for a generation but time erased past sins. Memories shortened. A new breed took over. Their love language were trades and deals.The Bi...

**1987 EARTH ** For a long time, the financial markets was a dumpster on a rollercoaster since man landed on the Moon. Until 1982. Sure, there was the “Roaring 20s” and “Go Go” 60s, but there was also the Depression, WW II, a Cold War that got hot in Asia (twice), and the 1970s malaise of post-Vietnam, OPEC and stagflation.The best & brightest avoided markets for a generation but time erased past sins. Memories shortened. A new breed took over. Their love language were trades and deals.The Bi...

1981 - 1983 - 1995 - 1999 - 2002 - 2009 Paper and metal money was anonymous money - its bearer, however they got their hands on it, was its owner - (for the most part). 1981, networks were coming, wallets were following. When? David Chaum wrote "Untraceable Electronic Mail, Return Addresses, and Digital Pseudonyms", then in 1982, "Computer Systems Established, Maintained, and Trusted by Mutually Suspicious Groups". Networks for the people, years away. Even if facing the right direction, you c...

1981 - 1983 - 1995 - 1999 - 2002 - 2009 Paper and metal money was anonymous money - its bearer, however they got their hands on it, was its owner - (for the most part). 1981, networks were coming, wallets were following. When? David Chaum wrote "Untraceable Electronic Mail, Return Addresses, and Digital Pseudonyms", then in 1982, "Computer Systems Established, Maintained, and Trusted by Mutually Suspicious Groups". Networks for the people, years away. Even if facing the right direction, you c...

1694 London A "Glorious" Revolution in 1689 limited British royalty's power over money, and began an empire... with a bank. The power of purse and public loans belonged to Parliament, a "Financial" Revolution for the State. England's finances were put in order, its debts became funded long-term. Parliament created its own private creditor to extend public loans. The Government incorporated "joint stock companies" with banking privileges, and the authority to make permanent loans bac...

1694 London A "Glorious" Revolution in 1689 limited British royalty's power over money, and began an empire... with a bank. The power of purse and public loans belonged to Parliament, a "Financial" Revolution for the State. England's finances were put in order, its debts became funded long-term. Parliament created its own private creditor to extend public loans. The Government incorporated "joint stock companies" with banking privileges, and the authority to make permanent loans bac...

1998 Southeast Asia Networks amplify the smallest of signals into booms and busts. The first signal was a boom, that began in quiet and exploded. The next signal was a bust, small, out of the blue, and it grew. 1997, it began in Southeast Asia in May. It rolled like tsunami. Thailand fights off a squeeze of its currency, the Baht. By July, Thailand devalues its currency by 20% and asks for IMF aid. A new signal is just spreading, the boom is over. Currencies in Malaysia, the Phillipines, and ...

1998 Southeast Asia Networks amplify the smallest of signals into booms and busts. The first signal was a boom, that began in quiet and exploded. The next signal was a bust, small, out of the blue, and it grew. 1997, it began in Southeast Asia in May. It rolled like tsunami. Thailand fights off a squeeze of its currency, the Baht. By July, Thailand devalues its currency by 20% and asks for IMF aid. A new signal is just spreading, the boom is over. Currencies in Malaysia, the Phillipines, and ...

2020s Mainstreet, Internet 3.0 "Mainstreet USA" is the main street of every "Everytown". Mainnets are main streets of every new network of Internet 3.0.When "In Real Life", IRL, merges with Internet, the new main streets of the world will be blockchains on independent networks. The Internet will be made of countless EveryNets, Everytowns.Mainnets are independent blockchains on independent networks with their own codes and rules. When a new blockchain is built by the "Devs", at first, it'...

2020s Mainstreet, Internet 3.0 "Mainstreet USA" is the main street of every "Everytown". Mainnets are main streets of every new network of Internet 3.0.When "In Real Life", IRL, merges with Internet, the new main streets of the world will be blockchains on independent networks. The Internet will be made of countless EveryNets, Everytowns.Mainnets are independent blockchains on independent networks with their own codes and rules. When a new blockchain is built by the "Devs", at first, it'...

2062 Houston "The assignment, simple to explain, near impossible to execute." She was used to executing impossible assignments, until now. Months ago, Robin Tagore got a "battlefield promotion" to acting director of the Heavyville launch district. The district grew, over decades, from a few launchpads and factories, into one of the capital cities of an empire of spaceflight. Her promotion was built on great loss and for a heavy price. She lost a mentor, her predecessor at Heavyville. She help...

2062 Houston "The assignment, simple to explain, near impossible to execute." She was used to executing impossible assignments, until now. Months ago, Robin Tagore got a "battlefield promotion" to acting director of the Heavyville launch district. The district grew, over decades, from a few launchpads and factories, into one of the capital cities of an empire of spaceflight. Her promotion was built on great loss and for a heavy price. She lost a mentor, her predecessor at Heavyville. She help...

1720 London, England“How goes the Stock? Go, says t’other, it does not go, it flies.” (-Daniel DeFoe) The Company was a colossus astride an ocean of wealth. One of the world's greatest minds could not deny the allure of what everyone else saw, wealth, in the form of rising prices.The Company made money trading in human beings, slaves for the Americas. It then became banker to the Kingdom of England. It won the honor to manage the debt of His Majesty's Government. One of the greatest...

1720 London, England“How goes the Stock? Go, says t’other, it does not go, it flies.” (-Daniel DeFoe) The Company was a colossus astride an ocean of wealth. One of the world's greatest minds could not deny the allure of what everyone else saw, wealth, in the form of rising prices.The Company made money trading in human beings, slaves for the Americas. It then became banker to the Kingdom of England. It won the honor to manage the debt of His Majesty's Government. One of the greatest...

2062 Wellington, New Zealand "He'll see you now." "Thank you." A steady breeze came in through a series of opened clear-doors. Bowls and platters, pots of water and brews, covered a table. Another day for a former Copresident of the Cooperative in exile. "Captain, it's a pleasure to meet you." "Thank you for agreeing to see me." "Not at all, thank you for coming as stand-in for your friend." The host poured two cups of brew, set them on a tray with treats. "Come, let's sit by t...

2062 Wellington, New Zealand "He'll see you now." "Thank you." A steady breeze came in through a series of opened clear-doors. Bowls and platters, pots of water and brews, covered a table. Another day for a former Copresident of the Cooperative in exile. "Captain, it's a pleasure to meet you." "Thank you for agreeing to see me." "Not at all, thank you for coming as stand-in for your friend." The host poured two cups of brew, set them on a tray with treats. "Come, let's sit by t...