Jonathan Ledgard - Interspecies Money (2022)
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“Interspecies money” is the brainchild of British futurist Jonathan Ledgard, who has built a reputation for throwing out imaginative, left-field solutions to the planet’s existential threats. He started with a few key observations. First, biodiversity tends to be high where people are poor. Second, technological advances such as drones, smartphones, genomics and data storage have made it easier and cheaper to track wildlife. And third, new software tools including cryptocurrencies, blockchain and artificial intelligence make it possible to create digital avatars with agency – including spending power – in the real world. If we can do that for humans, he thought, why can’t we do it for nonhumans, allowing them to trade with us for the things that matter to each?