Below is an (imaginary) conversation with Tim Urban on co–management and co–ownership. This occurred to me after reading his book, What’s Ours Problem: A Self–Help Book for Society, ∇ (in one sitting).
Co–Management
What do you know about co–management?
What is it?
Co–management is pretty much what people call self–management today. We call it co–management because it refers to the work we do together. The corporation doesn’t manage itself, people co–manage it.
OK, got it.
Co–Ownership
Do you want me to explain co–ownership?
I think I know, but to make sure, tell me.
Well, instead of it being own by investors based on their capital, it is own by everybody who work at making it grow, based on the recognized contributions.
That’s very interesting. But, does it work? How?
There is an app for that…
That is so 2019…
But there is. The app lets every co–owner recognize the contributions of other co–owners.
So, you don’t need a manager for that!
We call them bosses. Anybody who has power over anybody else as a matter of their given title, we call them bosses.
OK. OK. So, I recognize your contributions…
… and other people recognize my contributions, too.
Right, I get it, but Where I was heading with that is that, OK, I recognize your contributions, but so what?
RADs
OK, then, to continue… every co–owner gets one RAD per day…
… RAD? For Radical
You are smiling, but that is the best we could up with.
OK, some unit. Like Green Stamps.
How… How do you know about those?
My mom had an album which she got from her dad. She said they gave them out at stores and you traded them for trinkets and stuff.
Yes, they did. Now, getting back to RADs, you get one per day…
… why?
Because your existence contributes to the creation and growth of things, wether you are [air quotes] ‘working’ or not.
OK, go on.
You get one RAD per day and at the end of, say, the monthly cycle, the app figures what percentage of your recognized contributions each co–owner got and gives each person that percentage of RADs. Later the RADs determine how much of the revenue you get, for example.
So you don’t get to keep the RADs! You give them to the other co–owners, right?
Nope. Right.
Then, what are the rules? What’s a legit recognized contribution?
There are no rules. Or put another way, you make up your own rules. You can even share yours, but people can always make up their own. It’s like voting, I may go waxing poetic about one candidate, but I pull the lever for another.
Transparency
OK. Wait. OK. But that is ripe for cheat… WAIT… are these grants transparent? can everybody see what is going on. I mean, there is no boss, right…
Right, they are transparent to the co–owners and to the world.
Holy shit!
That is by far the cleverest thing we came up with, by the way.
Holy shit! That means that any [exaggerated air quotes] ‘cheatin’’ will be caught by the co–…co–owners, is that what you call them?
Yes. And also by the app’s backend itself. It can constantly look for and flag irregularities. In the end, it is up to people to resolve the issue, if there is one. I’d have to say, you got this quickly…
Look, I spend six years thinking about all kind of things related to this kind of stuff, so this is not quite unexpected. I am pleasantly surprised that it can be done in a decentralized way.
My co-authors and I blush.
OK. OK.
ENDNOTES
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Tim Urban. What’s Our Problem: A Self-Help Book for Societies. February 2023. <https://a.co/bwKUp22>
Matt Perez. What’s Our Problem: A Self-Help Book for Societies. February 2023. <https://radicalcompanies.com/2023/02/22.what’s-our-problem>
