Artist
Jonathon Keats
Jonathon Keats is an experimental philosopher, artist, and writer. He is a research associate at the University of Arizona, a visiting scholar at the University of Colorado, a lecturer at the University of Zurich, and a fellow at the Berggruen Institute, the Long Now Foundation, and the Smithsonian Institution.
Artwork
Legerdemain for the Invisible Hand: Alternative Currencies for Alternate Realities
When Adam Smith published "The Wealth of Nations" in 1776, he presented money as a simple "means of exchange", an idea that has dominated economics for two and a half centuries. As capitalism imperils ever more people and socialism fails repeatedly to meet the needs of the masses, it behooves us to ask: Could money do more for us? Festival attendees will have the opportunity to find out by trading in two alternative currencies invented by Jonathon Keats, both of which will be negotiable in the Forum. Internalizing externalities including climate change and individual neediness, the monies might just make the world a better place.