Economic Cooperative Systems #

I am reflecting on the potential of AI and what has to be build.

I am taking a procurement process as the baseline for a cooperative system. The perspective of the buying model:

1. Identifying Needs: The whole process starts with a need. This need can be identified by a model itself recognizing that it might not be the best to solve the problem itself.
2. Supplier Research and Selection: reach out to a marketplace / exchange and fin potential suppliers based on something like a request for Proposal/Quotation (RFP/RFQ). The offered prices in conjunction with a vendor self assessed confidence for a response are received as a bid in the exchange.
3. Approval / PO issuance: The buying model can now pick it’s supplier based on it’s configuration of price & quality. (There might be more than one quality metric.)
4. Assign the task to the model identified.
5. Receipt and Inspection: the buying model can now assess the quality of the response or might leave this assessment to the user.
6. Payment: a payment can be disputed if the response is of a objective quality below a certain measure. (There might be quality assurance / audit models within the system to ensure orderly conduct of business.) If the objective measures are ok, a payment has to be made. Feedback can be given, that yields future decisions, blacklisting of models etc.
7. Keeping and Audit: Given experience, there must be a record for each transaction with all it’s parameters. This allows for further
8. Performance Review and Relationship Management: The supplier’s performance is reviewed, and feedback is provided. This step also involves maintaining and managing the relationship with the supplier for future transactions.and auditing.

It is easy to derive the vendor perspective from the above.

More important is that the overall autonomous system allows for checks and balances.

Checks and balances in a free economy operate through a combination of market forces, regulatory frameworks, and organizational structures, ensuring that no single entity has unchecked power and that the market operates efficiently and fairly. Here’s how they work:

1. Market Competition: In a free economy, competition acts as a natural check and balance. Multiple businesses competing for customers helps prevent monopolies and ensures that companies must innovate and offer good value to survive.

   This central component is realized in the exchange protocol.

2. Consumer Choice: Consumers have the power to choose between products and services, which forces businesses to maintain high standards, fair prices, and good customer service. This central component is realized in the exchange protocol.

3. Regulatory Bodies: Governments establish regulatory agencies to oversee specific sectors (like finance, health, environment) to ensure that businesses operate within the law, protect consumer rights, and do not engage in unfair practices. This element remains the same as it is in the open economy.

4. Legal System: The legal system provides a framework for resolving disputes, protecting intellectual property, enforcing contracts, and penalizing illegal activities. This upholds the rule of law in business operations. The legal system in itself is too slow for the world of autonomous systems. However it will work for escalations. It must be enriched with aspect, to keep things in order fundamentally. As auditors are used to increase trust, certifications and audit reviews by other autonomous systems for a small fee might be a good choice.

5. Financial Markets and Institutions: These play a role in regulating the economy by determining interest rates, controlling inflation, and managing monetary policies. They also provide oversight in areas like banking and stock markets. The payment system must support micro payments at extraordinary speed. Working with a check like system that gives a creditor the ability to claim the money from a debtor at the end of a defined period allows to reduce individual transactions in the payment system and can integrate into existing systems.

   1. creditor assigns cost
   2. deptor cyryptographically signs check
   3. ceditor can get a check payed.
   4. For this system it would be important that the goods are delivered before a payment is made, which naturally leads to less fraud in the system.

6. Media and Public Opinion: Free press and an informed public can act as a check on businesses and government, highlighting unethical practices or policy issues and influencing public opinion and policy decisions.

   1. There must be processes observing and governing normal vs abnormal behavior that can rank services by trust and create like rating agencies do, rating systems defined by nore or less objective measures.

7. Corporate Governance: Within organizations, checks and balances are maintained through structures like boards of directors, audits, and compliance departments to ensure ethical behavior, financial accuracy, and adherence to laws and policies.

   1. see above

8. International Trade and Relations: International agreements, trade deals, and economic partnerships can provide external checks and balances, promoting fair trade practices and economic cooperation.

9. Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Watchdog Groups: These entities often monitor and report on the social, environmental, and ethical implications of business activities, holding companies accountable.

10. Ethical and Social Responsibility Movements: Growing consumer and investor interest in corporate social responsibility encourages businesses to act ethically and sustainably.

These checks and balances are essential for a healthy free economy, as they help to prevent abuses of power, encourage fair practices, and maintain consumer and investor confidence.