Productive Economy, Contributory Economy. Genevieve Bouche

day, when she had joined the Fabrique du futur, I discovered that we had a “cybernetic futurologist” among us. I was surprised and amused by this name, which led to long debates between us on the difference between that and a futurist. Geneviève Bouché’s book is a perfect illustration of her approach as a cybernetic futurologist. It is a very accomplished work by which an “honest woman” of her time, passionate and committed, transmits to us a systemic vision of the situation of the world and gives us tracks of solution to face the future. Geneviève Bouché has an encyclopedic eye. She dives deep into the past to explain the present, and at the same time has a transdisciplinary approach to current problems that she deciphers with talent: history, geopolitics, science, technology, ecology, sociology, culture, etc. Her book sweeps through all the fields, putting them into perspective and crossing them to better bring out the connection and meaning. It also focuses on various issues that allow for a better understanding of the basic and emerging trends.

      But beyond the explanations of the world’s issues, and more particularly those of our old Europe, Productive Economy, Contributory Economy recommends ways to follow in order to return to a peaceful and tranquil progress, and to move towards a better tomorrow. Geneviève Bouché suggests balanced and, all in all, reasonable solutions.

However, this does not exclude original, even iconoclastic, proposals, such as those concerning the principle of commencement, those related to monetary biodiversity and smart currencies, to a new conception of digital technology based on the reappropriation by citizens of their personal data, or to the renewed concept of circular economy. But always, Geneviève Bouché takes care to elaborate holistic, boldly realistic and balanced approaches. Thus, her invitation to take a cue from the way nature behaves and evolves in a symbiotic and organic way is inspiring and rich in potential.

      Geneviève Bouché reminds us that we are all children of Gaia and that a posture of benevolence and a sense of “care” towards our planet is indispensable. Geneviève Bouché’s words exude a spirit, an almost spiritual quest to help her contemporaries escape from a world governed solely by the productive economy and move towards a contributory economy that focuses on the search for the common good. In this respect, Geneviève Bouché’s work is marked by a great deal of humanism, generosity and wisdom. For all these reasons, I consider Productive Economy, Contributory Economy to be a major work that should become an essential reference for all those who seek to build better futures.

      Éric SEULLIET

      President of La Fabrique du Futur

      Preface

      Streamlining the way we produce and consume is becoming a matter of course. This is becoming possible thanks to digital technology. But, as a result, the social pact, developed in Europe over time, must change radically. This requires us to take up three challenges:

       – the first concerns the restructuring of the “productive” economy, which is dedicated to the satisfaction of the primary needs of individuals;

       – the second is the recognition of the “contributory” economy, which is dedicated to the common good. We must reorient our value creation capacities towards contributory tasks such as the family, knowledge, the environment, democracy and spirituality. We must take up this challenge because developing the common good becomes a factor of competitiveness;

       – the third concerns the development of the new model of society that is taking shape and that recognizes several forms of value creation1. But its implementation will require a great deal of determination because the current model is marked by our “deep past” inherited from sedentarization. A huge effort of understanding and audacity is needed to develop our tools of governance, including the social pact and currencies. Imagine, model and experiment with a more complex, but more mature economy: let’s go for it!

      Read as you wish: start with the first or second part. The cross-references allow for a tour of the many facets of this change that everyone is talking about. To understand it, you have to go into the details, sometimes invisible or forgotten. Without this understanding, the cuttings to make our model evolve will not be effective.

       About the contributory economy

The concept was proposed by the author in the 2010s in a circle gathered around Michel Giran (Les Nains de Jardin), then reproposed in the CSOEC Sustainable Development Commission gathered around Muttiah Yogananthan, but finally deepened through other more informal circles and in reaction to Bernard Stiegler’s remarks who used the term by backing it up with a less precise concept: free contribution, presented by him as a social phenomenon.

       Acknowledgments

      Thanks to all those who exchanged with me, and provided reading recommendations and audiovisual documents, during the gestation of this publication starting in 2018 in Cameroon and finishing in 2021 in France.

      Special thanks to Claude Périgaud and our network of friends, to the members of Forum Atena, La Fabrique du Futur, MFRB (Mouvement français du revenu de base, French Basic Income Movement), FAIR, etc. and many other think tanks that opened their doors to me, as well as to those who listened to my lectures and read my work.

      February 2022

      1 1 Productive, contributing and empathetic.

PART 1 The Driving Facts of Change

      Introduction to Part 1

      Global warming, the spread of poverty, the appropriation of our data, etc. These signs that worry us mobilize the most militant and anger the most conservative. The power of their fear stimulates reflection and encourages innovation. A long journey of struggles and victories, which will last at least three generations, is beginning. For, as we shall see, even if more and more of the world’s citizens understand that we have reached the end of the civilization model, we do not have the tools, nor the institutions, to govern the world to come and prepare the generations to come.

      In a world that wants to be connected, we do not have any more effective means of cohesion than those of our elders when they felt the need to change their model of society. And yet, it is by bringing together ideas and the will to change that we will be able to move forward.

      Indeed, in order to equip ourselves with the institutions we will need, it is necessary to understand the causes of the change that is imposed on us. This change requires us to accept a more complex organization for people who are more mature, more demanding as well as more responsible and accountable.

      The 20th century began with the unraveling of European monarchies and the rise of a new form of governance, certainly inspired by ancient Rome, but which had yet to be discovered. The 21st century began with the realization that another form of governance must take over from the current one. It is not the one in place that will do the job, but the one that the rising generations will design with the help of the outgoing generations. Ideally, they will have to do this without exploding the current system and before it launches into multiform fratricidal wars (economic, cybernetic, military, etc.).

In particular, the most important measures are not spectacular, but they affect our way of seeing the world in depth. They concern our living together, locally and in synergy with our neighbors… the opposite of globalization, so to speak!

      As Valerie Bugault points out, globalization is a Dutch and English idea, promoted by an insular or quasi-insular culture. Europe is continental and so are most other countries. This has never stopped us from trading with the rest of the world,