The design principle that shapes every component of the system we are designing is flow. When all the individual components and mechanisms we design are combined, together they should be able to create a state of unrestricted flow, in which vital information and resources flow exactly where they are needed. This is what creates abundance and maximizes human well-being within planetary boundaries.

The optimum performance of any system should be found in the path of least resistance. When the system is perfectly engineered, the path of least resistance will illuminate to each individual the specific path and choices that will most benefit their community and themselves. Friction, resistance and obstruction are the opposite of flow and proof that we are acting against the interest of our community and ourselves. The more we violate our community, the more resistance we feel.

When our incentives are perfectly aligned, we know that that which profits us the most must also profit our community the most. In an ideal world, our own prosperity is not detached from everybody else’s, but proof that we are doing right by our community.

So, what does a world of abundance look like, and how on Earth can it be achieved on a finite planet with dwindling resources?

Simply put, in a world of abundance, everybody has access to everything. Basic wants and needs have been structurally addressed. When we need something extra, it is available with a push of a button. In a world of abundance, saving and hoarding make no sense, because everything is available at all times anyway. So how can this be achieved?

The first thing we need to do is redefine what prosperity actually means: you can feel wealthy and live a rich life without actually owning almost anything. The experience of prosperity is much easier to generate than increasing ownership on a population-wide basis. What the experience of prosperity comes down to ultimately is access.

When every door is open to you, you don’t have to own much. A big mansion, an expensive car and a swanky yacht, long the hallmarks of the rich, can be accessible even to the layman when they’re accessed on a daily or hourly basis at times when they would otherwise stand idle. Who owns something becomes less important than who has access.

By turning goods into services, access to previously off-limits goods could increase dramatically. A car is a good, but a ride is a service. Most of us know that we don’t actually need a car or a drill. What we need is a ride and a hole in the wall. We could start viewing the whole life span of products in terms of hours of service and maximize their shared use. This is how the supply of various resources goes up and the cost and scarcity goes down.

By creating social trust between strangers, we can widen access even further. People are more willing to lend and borrow personal items of value when they know the other party can be trusted. Verifying identities and providing insurance in case of damage is how apartment sharing sites get people to open up their houses to complete strangers. Trust is an invaluable asset in society. Any future system interested in the quality of life of its citizens should work hard to generate trust between them.

When we understand how an ideal economic system would function, we immediately notice the suboptimum results that our current economic system produces. Have you ever looked around and noticed how many valuable resources go to waste? Talented people who are unemployed; machines that stand idle; supplies that gather dust in warehouses? Whatever industry you work in, you can see this everywhere.

If we take the film industry as an example, there are amazing films that never get made despite the fact that all the necessary resources are standing unused, waiting for the day they would be hired for a project: great unproduced scripts, underemployed directors, unemployed actors, unused studio spaces, unused cameras and lighting equipment etc.

You can find idle resources wherever you look. They could be put to productive use, but there’s just one thing missing: money. They are all waiting for capital to come along and set them in motion. Only when an investor, who is willing to pay for all the goods and services, shows up will the resources be employed.

Every startup is presented with a similar dilemma. To get started, you need an investor who believes in your idea. But if you think about it, you don’t actually need the investors for anything. They are just a vehicle for you to get what your business really needs–great employees with a diverse set of talents: coders, designers, sales people, accountants etc. What if you could bypass the investors as an unnecessary detour and instead just commit your key personnel directly?

Money, or lack thereof, is a serious bottleneck preventing so many useful things from happening in society. In fact, nothing in the private sector happens unless somebody with money thinks that by doing it, they can somehow make more money. Needless to say, this is a terrible criterion for what should and what shouldn’t get done in our society.

But what would happen if the resources themselves could commit to a project without capital? What if there was nothing to obstruct idle resources from finding their optimal use? What if instead of getting paid upfront, the necessary people and resources waited until the project was complete and sold in the marketplace, and then the proceeds were split between them in direct proportion to their input? This is exactly the purpose we created the workshare for.

The reason that many great films don’t get made and promising startups don’t get off the ground is that most of us live paycheck to paycheck and can’t wait for the financial rewards of a finished product to materialize. Everybody has rent to pay and mouths to feed, so waiting to be paid is not an option for most people. We need the money upfront or at the end of the month at the latest. Normally this delayed payment would form an insurmountable bottleneck to the entrepreneurial spirit.

This is also a problem we have already solved. When everybody receives a UBI, no one is dependent on getting paid upfront any more. Since they already have their basics covered, everything extra they earn can be paid when the project is finished. In fact, one of the reasons UBI should be instituted is that such bottlenecks can be avoided altogether. People who oppose the idea of a basic income fear that it would make people lazy, when it is actually more likely to unleash a massive wave of new entrepreneurship.

By optimizing the circular flow of all the goods and services available we can maximize human well-being on the planet. The flow of our UBI exceeds the pace of physical reality. In fact, it takes a whole week for physical reality to catch up with the commands our UBI subscriptions have created in a blink of an eye.

If there is one predictable hindrance to the state of flow that we seek to create, it is the bureaucracy that weighs down all large human organizations. While all reliable systems need checks and balances and a certain amount of redundancy, there has to be a less costly way to achieve this. The way electronic systems can document, verify and approve our actions should provide the benefits of bureaucracy without its costly drawbacks. The self-policing effects of a reputation-based regulatory system will hopefully also help free us from unnecessary friction.