OK – let me put my cards on the table: I think a moneyless society is inevitable – and, if it were properly run, even desirable.
The desirable bit first . Money, when you think about it, is ugly and messy. You may experience orgasmic pleasure in looking at a bunch of tenners, but don’t forget you have to carry them around with you or store them in some safe space. Either option is uncomfortable – bulging pockets, worry if safe space really is safe space. Debit cards solve this problem – they’re slim and easy to carry. (Easy to lose too, but then so is money.)
People opposed to a cashless society point out how your every movement/purchase can be charted – the state peeking over your shoulder at every turn. True. But is the state not peeping over our shoulder already? CCTV cameras, info sucked up by websites you visit. your phone blabbing your location all the time. Frankly, I think they‘ve so much on me as things stand, it doesn’t matter that they know what I spend and where.
Besides, shouldn’t it be possible to tweak things so that your moneyless engagement is NOT stored by the powers that be? If they’ve the ingenuity to allow contactless payments, I’d be surprised if they hadn’t the ability to organise things so all records of your transaction are within seconds hidden from everyone but the people you’re paying/getting money from.
The reason I think it’s inevitable is that, given a choice between hard cash and contactless payment, the world and his/her mother, including me, prefer the contactless thing. It seems to hurt less, which of course could make it easier for you to overspend and fall into serious debt. But the answer to that is, you simply don’t overspend.
When I see early-morning workmen paying for their coffee and sandwich with a flick of a card, it’s clear they like the moneyless route. Quicker, cleaner, safer.
One other advantage: it takes the British monarch’s mug away. What’s not to like about that?
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