My year of living without money | Carolien Hoogland | TEDxErasmusUniversity
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- Опубліковано 22 бер 2014
- Carolien Hoogland is an Action Researcher, meaning she co-operates with communities to facilitate problem solving of these communities. Her training was in Environmental Studies, using the social sciences to understand sustainable behaviour. Her PhD in Environmental Psychology (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), using classical research methods, boosted her motivation to understand change through new methods such as participatory research. In 2008 she joined the Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (DRIFT) at the Erasmus University. Inspired by the people and way of thinking at the institute, Carolien embarked on a personal experiment: in 2010 she lived outside the monetary system, gaining food and other needs through bartering. The year turned out very fruitful with many serendipical lessons about her life and work, our economy, and societal dynamics. Carolien lives in Rotterdam. She is the mother of Max (2006) and Maya (2012) and wife to Erwin. She currently conducts a research project on the energy transition, working with home owners's associations.
I think what you said at the end of your talk was fundamental to understand the entire meaning of this speech. Human beings are scared of challenges and prefer to kill their soul in a meaningless job rather than experiencing life taking risks. The more securities we have and the more we feel insecure. Your experience was great and challenging, however I always wish deep down inside myself to find an alternative to money. Motivation in our society should start from our passion and heart rather than our fears. Sometimes expensive bills and the loss of a job can push people to suicide. It shouldn't be like that. We should have a society based on mutual respect and acceptance rather than fear and death. That connection that you managed to create in Rotterdam should be replicated worldwide with everybody and not just people we know. We must learn to open our hearts!
Indeed
I kept expecting her to realise how privileged she was to be able to do that but that part never happened.
She is blessed to be so social. And there is a huge advantage to be starting from a middle or higher socioeconomic class--because she has friends who have resources that they can afford to lend her or give her. Add to that advanced education. She can approach a grocery with details about her project. And she was not homeless. Still and all, an interesting talk and there is definitely a lot to think about here.
This trivializes the experience of those who have truly nothing,, and no network of support composed by other wealthy people who usually have more than what they need and can afford giving it away. It is like telling those who are born in countries that have been ravaged by war, or by foreign powers, that they do not have what they need because they do not try hard enough, or because of their wrong attitudes. This is an experiment about being dependable in the developed world, not in the world at large.
To me, the few times she gave up really just prove briliantly the points she made and the validity of the experiment itself. She did not do it for a Guinness record or anythiing.
I would be so much happier if I had more relations like she had in my everyday life.
That's not a year without money, the title is misleading. That's a year FUNDED BY her university, and whatever results she had are completely skewed. She even asked her power company to provide service for the whole year... for FREE! (and they did it!) She even got the food for free, what the hell.
LOL. I thought the same thing. Try and get SCE here in California to give you free power. She was just living off her friends for a year. There is a famous place out near the Salton Sea called Slab City you can live for free year round. You don't have to pay for utilities because there aren't any. I don't think she would much like it, temp gets to 124 F in the summer. And there are Meth Heads there than she would be comfortable with. But even they use money. Drug dealers don't work for free.
+Brandon Shukuri money is a means for trade.. you "barter" for money and then use the money to "barter" for goods you want. this lady is insane.
Didn't you listen? She worked for the power company in exchange for her energy supply. She also WORKED for everything she was given. None of it was "free"!
CraftyJane shes full of dodo
You know as an American expat living in Copenhagen Denmark who has long since run out of money let me suggest that aside from being a place holder for the fear of starvation on one level (anthropologically) it is a marker for the flow of energy. Somehow ridding ourselves of our fear of scarcity is a huge spiritual step that we must take before we can build a humane civilization. Anyway if you are open then the cosmos conspires to assist you . Also eventually we will dispense with money .
Without the romance and makeup, it was a social experiment to live in a first world country depending on friends' generosity (ultimately their money) until it wasn't fun anymore.
She did nothing to help save the environment. She consumed and traveled, and somehow gotbher chold a bike. Theonly thing she did diffrrently was that she begged for it, and packaged it in such a way that it looked like an amazing social and economic experiment. If anything she is shrewd and knew how to market herself, but her endeavor was not much more than a free pass for a year.
De La Luna Maybe, but would you dare do it? I know I would freak out the moment I sealed my wallet!
Yep. She did nothing but extend her fantasy world in way to make it appear that she is clever enough to survive with nothing when in reality she never ever lived outside of her cushy middle-class lifestyle!! It is similar to when upper middle-class people go camping with expensive campers, satellite tv, running water, packaged food, etc, etc and them brag about how they have the ability to "rough it" and that they could live off the land if they ever needed to......hahahaha such a fuckin joke but it aint even funny!!
Ok cool, so what do you do?
@lil min For me, it would be more a mental thing. I don't know about her, but I would feel completely helpless!
This could only work if you have a support network, fellow instructors, and companies you have supported financially in the past (i.e. a dance studio) who know that you are doing this for a limited time. They realize you will pay after a year and that you are "experimenting" because you are dependent on them. As evidenced by her "break" from her experiment, having a choice is very different from being poor and having NO MONEY. This is another example of a rich person "slumming" for a year - when it's comfortable to do so (i.e. taking a break when you want) and networking with other financially comfortable people who will enable your experiment.
trainingstar I totally agree and while I think her heart is in a good place, what I got out of this talk is that she was finally able to find a direction in life that would enable her to "save the world" as a profession. This is about as privileged as it gets. Not to say that people of poorer backgrounds wouldn't be able to accomplish truly helping their communities professionally (which many often do), but for her this was mainly more or less an intellectual exercise, knowing in theory that she can pull the plug on her "experiment" at any time she wanted to. People in far poorer socioeconomic classes have no such luxury. Good for her for gaining some insight into what she can do in her life to feel good, but this was perhaps one of the most egregious exercises in clueless privilege I've seen. This experiment certainly didn't help in figuring out how to overturn systems oppressive to people who inherently don't have any power or have had their power violently taken away or suppressed. Which is what we first desperately must figure out to do.
trainingstar exactly
A bit brain washed against the monetary system which is understandable when money is virtually the root of all that is bad...BUT what is the alternative?
Sarah Lovell Alternatives would be going back to barter, but its not really efficient. Theoretically speaking some sort of communism if done right and without corruption... could work. There are also other ideas for utopian societies such the Venus Project, they are interesting to learn about but ultimately very hard or impossible to be put into practice.
Tim O'Brien
Her friends who gave her things did work and needed banks, they used them in her stead, plus she still used electricity and other commodities that are tied to polluting companies and banks. What she did accomplished zero.
Easy to have "an adventure" when you have all covered either by yourself or others.
This requires a lot of preparation, planning, trust, and consistency and I respect that. Even if it's not practical or possible for everyone, I do think we need to leverage the economy of relationships in a more robust way so that friends who are suffering, especially in times like these, don't have to burden ppl who may also be struggling but can provide needed value.
"relying on my network" is key. you cant live without money without that network.
Of course! We are social beings. We cannot survive on our own, for thousands of years now. If you need to get a job, you certainly need a network, references etc. Money exchange or not, we need network! Have you noticed how people with social skills have the most high-end jobs?
Most people don't understand that money is just " a middleman" in people interactions. Networking skill is a key factor we're lacking of. Internet is a tool but not a skill that she had used in her experiment. I like her approach.
That's what money stops us from having. It makes artificial relationships, through work or people that work. Instead we could be bartering with people we like who don't have an upper agenda. We are missing out on so much. The reason she had to revert back to money is because nobody else wants to join in the concept. Everyone else clings to money and won't let go not even for a week let alone a year.
How did she live? I'm in the US; I was forced into a year off due to job layoff, and took advantage of it to do noble work for very little pay (min wage). I found only one person willing to barter, I wiped out my savings, and now no one will hire me because I'm not employed in my usual line of work. I have to sell my house, move my family hundreds of miles away (or leave them behind) to move in with a family member whose house is for sale, so and may no longer be available for me to live rent-free in a few months. Try her experiment at age 50, willingly or by chance, and you're screwed!
Unfortunately, this society forces us to be useful in ways others arent. If you do the same thing but someone will do it for cheaper, they get the job. I havent had a job since i graduated college but still make more money than most of my friends by trying to - be helpful in a unique or better way -
She is talking about the recession. Quite a lot of educated people got unemployed in Europe, like her friends as she tells at the beginning. Quite many have survived it somehow, maybe having to do similar things as you. She decided to try out something different, and she should because she has an phd in environmental issues. And Netherlands is not US. They are more community type of people (for example the taxpayer community pays for university education for anyone smart and hardworking enough who qualify the entry criteria).
But as she quotes in the end, the Economy should serve people and not the other way around. Clearly the Economy has failed to take care of your needs because you got laid off. And even you are a professional, you can't now get a job, simply because you were laid off without it being your fault.
Life is unfair and the rock bottom can hit anyone. She was making an experiment to simulate hitting and surviving a rock bottom in the Netherlands. Maybe she will have to go to US to experiment some more. Or some other country, where it is even more worse off. Come on, if you despise her, make your experiences into a documented project on how to survive in the US. Tell us your story so we, as a global community, would understand you. I would like to hear your story too.
+Heidi Karinen very well said. i keep scrolling through all these baseless comments because people are comparing her situation to their own without factoring in all these differences. i live in portugal and even tho as being european we might be in similar circumstances portugal and the Netherlands are still quite different. thanks for posting such a well thought comment. it appears that most people are in need of some critical thinking classes this days
This woman only rambled on about how ingenious she was to come up with such a fantastic social concept and in between all the "me, me, me's and I, I, I's" she plugged her over educated, institutionalised privileged life. If this is what saving the planet looks like, humanity is doomed.
There is nothing ingenious or even remotely clever about this or likely ANYthing she has ever done or ever will do!! Upper middle class privelege at its ignorant and embarrassingly clueless worst
well, in Netherlands it is the community that pays the education. The tax payer community that is. That is quite a fantastic social concept. So anyone who has the brains and is hardworking can get an education and study for a pHd.
@@heidikarinen563 To me thats not considered a community because it is not a true representation of a community.
The comments make it so worth it to hace watched this ♡♡
I admire what this lady did, and the reason she did it. But I don't understand why this is material for a TED talk. When most people see the words "living without money for a year" we think of the way this normally comes about: the involuntary loss of a job (or other source of income). It might be very helpful to hear how a person overcame that situation. But maneuvering your life so that you have sponsors to subsidize rent, and friends to take care of your other needs... that is not even remotely similar to involuntary deprivation.
For me, this talk highlights the difference between members of the highly educated middle-class, who are well-connected and can generate income doing exactly what they want to do, and the vast ocean of people who must work part-time low-wage jobs and who struggle all their lives to pay basic expenses. I think most of those people (the ones who struggle) would be offended by this woman's "experiment. "
holland pays for the education,they want smart citizens!
Perhaps ....
I applaud her ambition to TRY something new but I have a problem because she really does have what is behind money. She has some marketable skill. She basically just bartered for her needs using her skill - still interesting but not really what I was expecting when she wrote "A year without money". "How I bartered my way through a year of living" would have been a better title. Shit i guess a homeless person could talk about the former: "What it's really like to be homeless" - next ted talk?
Amen
She is talking about her experience, "without money" but perhaps this video may help us that money is not everything, and love of money is the essence of what was talked about.
Bartering is not money exchange. Money is just a means to exchange goods. Before money people exchanged goods. Then came money and our society made it into 'wrong' being able to change goods for goods/services etc. Then people became money crazy because are focused on the wrong value of money.
hour4hour.timebanks.org/
Yes, we agree all your titles and such, but get past that a look critically. Don't worry about arguing what you want her to title her talk, focus on what is important, the knowledge, this is a important experiment. And it has everything to do with using no money. Both titles would work, yours and hers but that is not the critical knowledge she conveyed with her experiment. Bartering with resources is what using no money is.
She mentioned the central bank and its fake bank notes. She mentioned she wants to save the world! She mentioned she and others like you and me, can get by without money, without that limitation. She mentioned money is debt, a resistance to our dreams. She is enlightened bro, she told us not to allow the limits of money, to go outside the limitation and ignore the monetary system. That will save the world, and that is what she wants to do. She got what she wanted, she got work she wanted to do, boosted her confidence for her dream of saving the world. Regardless of money she did what she really wanted to do and work with people only of her choice and inspiration, money was not a limiter, she didn't allow it to limit her. Important experiment, and needed lessons for contribution to save the world..
She mentioned that if you do what you truly want to do, your economy serves you not the other way around, instead of you serving the economy. We will then get the things we say want, we will create new things in an economy that serves us.
Feel the same way about this TedTalk. Dissapointing to me.
That is not living without money, it is just a very well structured project from a well-educated person in a developed country. Too much 1st world problems.
And it was not like if she needed she would not have money or where to run for it, or for food or for any basic necessity. She was paying for health care, used money in Berlin (by the way how did she get there without money?), she already had a house, probably many firends to "fund" her crazy exmperiment with shelter, food, etc.
@@arielgoldfarb4118 That's violent and misogynistic
Thanks for putting that out cz I couldn't understand why I couldn't relate to her story
@@franciscofrancesconi8134 Yeah ok but it was an experiment worth trying. How many can say they did that? How many have consciously stopped using money for any length of time?
@@user-mo6dt9lw7g Nothing is violent when it's just words on a screen. Get a grip. There needs to be a distinction between talking and getting physically abused. If one has a mouth, speak to the misstep not attack the person. That's pretty basic in critical thinking, it's called "ad hominen"
Title should be "My Year of Living Without MY OWN Money". What I see is that she lived on behalf of other peoples money.
Thank you ! I hate these liberal do gooders ! they think they know whats best for you and how to live your life ! and are constantly pushing there agendas on us !
She had another point, you can get the information as a whole if u hear till the end
There is something wrong with me. Every time I listen to a TEDx presentation, I have this problem. I want the speaker to come to some conclusions somewhat early on without prattling on and on.
I'm still waiting for the part of the story where she goes after her childhood dream and become a comedian
Monie Muse: You mean this wasn't a joke?
Sometimes being funny is better when it’s not a job.
Very good. This helps me think outside of the box!
"My own tiny economy of relationships had given me this feeling of existential security."
And that "tiny economy of relationships" would not stretch so far in a non-european country, that's for sure.
My year of living without spending MY money. This talk is all over the place. It could have been better.
she did not explain how she paid for rent without money
She has a boyfriend))
yes she did... she said that she set up 7 barters including one for rent.
no she did say how.. saying she did barter is not the same as the details of how.. and she didn't say for how many months. if u heard her say this.. give the time in the video where she said it and post so i can see too.
There are many places where you can work for lodging, like cleaning/reception/nanny/teacher, house-sitting and many more, that do not translate first to money and then rent. Tax free too!
I have no idea. But, i, personally lived in an abandoned restaurant (needed to build my own solar based security system for peace of mind though) lived in my car (again, a solar based power monitoring and delivery system) i lived with blind friends whom owned a home, in which i noticed their living conditions needed correcting since they couldn't see the risks. I replaced their entire bathroom, remodeled their kitchen and rebuilt their patio deck and built a network to utilize their audio collection throughout the home. Another, older couple offered me space with no stipulation, but i returned the favor by clearing four acres, giving them access to a barn on their property and installing a long ranged perimeter monitoring security system (the weekend after i left, the roommate that took my place, passed in a car wreck just infront of their house) since then I've been staying with my parents as their health has been declining. Ive been officially unemployed for 4 years. I've received 4 checks for projects other have asked me to assist with remotely over the past year.
Admirable but to be honestly her connections, knowledge, and friends she relied on in that year were the result of the money transactions she or her parents did in the past. Money isnt the problem its monopoly of necessity management that turn ppl to slaves of the system. This is still food for thought tho
I love such talks. They are so damn eye opening in their experience !
I am surprised to find that there are people who are willing to experiment with life also.👍💯⛺🤠
This is exactly what I call Inspirational. Much respect :)
Not a year without money! This was a year of mostly prearranged barter, at best!
I really liked the idea of spending a week doing whatever you are passionate about!!! A week I can spend without money ando help some organization.. I plan to do so!!
This method is only useful if you have something that you can actually barter with another party. If you have nothing that the other party needs or wants - then you hit a brick wall. Also this an experiment for one year - and you have chosen to do this and you have a job to return. Often people don't get to choose - it is forced upon them.. Also not every power company is prepared to barter labour or a piece of writing to receive one year of electricity.
Wonderful. A very deep experience and powerful example. Thank you.
so you claimed to live a year without money but really didn't
yeah ok
***** Right... with health insurance paid and energy from the corporate world? That's not living one year without money...
Sure, right. I'm sure if I'll go to the energy companies and ask them to give me electricity in exchange for anything but money they'll be more than willingly to deliver...Get to your senses. This talk is pure crap. There is nothing genuine about it. Even her appearance is studied to the hell and back...
What a fantastic and inspiring story! Amazing how creative you are. It really opens wide the possibilities. Thank you so much for sharing!
Sometimes all we need, in order to realise truths, is to get out of our comfort zone for a while.
Lambros Rousodimos you sir see this for what it is and I am proud of you.
But she really didn't get out of her comfort zone, did she? There is nothing about what she did that says she struggled like those who actually don't have money do everyday, especially psychologically.
Brilliant. Love it. Well done. Bravo. You're an inspiration.
" i gave up choosing my own perfume"
It reminded me how the young (male) heirs of landowners with noble titles and the young American "New Rich", with tons of money but desiring the nobility they lacked, took a sabbatical in Italy and Southern France to experience life as "poor bohemians" writing or painting, or in farms, to learn to "live off the land", for the sake of adventure and insight... That usually meant to bring a servant who would do all the heavy work for them, while they languished on the green, taking in the sea breeze and the sun, as they reflected on the human condition and moaned about how fortunate the country folk were, in their innocence and lack of education, but in contact with the earth... It's quite ludicrous. I, myself, lived on very little money for 4 years, going far out of my comfort zone and forcing myself into new social environments, where, unfortunately, it was difficult to find any support when I got seriously ill and ended up in a hospital (I had to pay the bill out-of-pocket, and thank god I did have the money, because the insurance refused to take responsibility, but I would have appreciated having some moral support and somebody who would allow me to stay with them, while I was convalescent). What she did is far more comfortable than what most people around the world have to do on daily basis, with no back up plan or safety net if things go sour. It;s great she discovered how to live a more frugal life, and though her experience may have seem challenging to her, it is by no means exceptional. And it has not taught her to look outside her own world, think of others. Regarding the Tex Talks, nowadays is harder to separate the grain from the chaff, and I have found myself avoiding most of their programs altogether.
Carolien thank you... tremendous Blessings.j
I agree with the idea of challenging and questioning the social system where we depends on money sacrificing somone and something. There should be a better, constructive, and practical approach to let ourselves be more free and independent from disadvantages of money. For example friends and family do things to each other without direct payments by money. It can also depends on which social class you belong to. Hard to start bartering without resorces to begin with except for their own life.
Beautiful impressive amazing n courageous . Great soul. Thank you, bless you. All your dreams come true.
I found this video at such an incredible time in my life, i have a lot of struggles going on, and ive wanted to explore my passions and what inspires me, i wanted to do something similar to do this, but involving travel (and a hell of a lot of walking), and i felt crazy, but, i really think im going to now. thank you
So what if she kept up on bills. To me it was a barter feasibility study. To her it was about adventure, personal relationships, and freedom to do what she wanted to do. The realization that one can create all the economy they need.
She is going in the right direction and at least had the courage to try this especially with a 3 year old in tow. For those who feel she is just bartering have a look at Mark Boyle,..... He itries to avoid bartering and has really got it right. He has certainly inspired me to move towards another way.
There are so millions of poverty stricken people in this world who live without money because there isnt any, nor is there a system that helps them out. You never hear them pontificating on the virtues of a moneyless existence. This person speaks from a position of relative wealth. She survived without money for only one year in a country where she would never have been ignored had she got herself into trouble. Essentially she was begging and dependent on wealthy patrons to support her experiment. I dont knock her experiment or her perspectives. Many more of us could also try this way of life and benefit the planet, our social relationships and ourselves, but there is no doubt that some of us can afford to be poor because we have the advantage of privilege. I express a degree of skepticism that comes from the experience of being genuinely and voluntarily 'poor' for a long time in a country that is rich and has a welfare system that will not support me and my family without removing the right of choice to work in a job of my own choosing and making me a part of a moneyed economy that i know is failing the planet. In the end, living without money is about the kind of resourcefulness most of us will never have.
She did not survive with money. She had money, and friends to help her.
I wasted 6 minutes of my life I probably won't get back
My father often tells me that he remembers how his father back in the days build their house.. a biiig stone and wood house... the walls are like 60 cm big..
they build it in a few months together... he often helped..
now if you want to buy a house you will work a whole lifetime... you will never be free even...
that system is totally wrong... we have to change it...
Arjuna1:And where did the wood and stone come from? If you say from his own land explain how people who don't own land get building supplies. If he took it from someone else's land that would be stealing. My grandfather also built his family's house out of wood and stone (without knowing how to built a house. He guessed a lot.) while his family of six people lived in a two room shack. My mother was 15 years old by the time they could move into the house. He was a farmer who dug wells, water and gas, and worked in a steel mill. I suppose he got what he needed off his land except for nails, tar paper, shingles and plumbing. I have no idea how he got those.
All of the people who bartered with her were motivated by one of two things: Some kind of charitable impulse or getting something in return that had an equivalent value to them (even if only entertainment value) to what they were providing her. Those are exactly the same motives that cause people to pay other people money.
All she did was increase the transaction cost for both sides, since each barter had to be personally negotiated at a significant investment of time and creative thought. Since time and the energy for creative thought are in limited supply for all of us, what she accomplished was to make everything she got over that year more expensive for her to receive and more expensive for the barter partner to give.
Congratulations. But hardly a solution to the financial crisis.
Matthew 6:33 has a principle that you applied. It includes how you sought to do what you wanted to accomplish by a without question giving attitude in sincerely and loving generosity to others with what ever you could share within your means. So that the end result was...everything you needed was taken care of. Yes, " all these things will be added to you" - a promise from that scriptural quote that was fulfilled. Thank you for sharing your story.
I came here to write my first negative comment ever on UA-cam, but noticed you guys did a good job already.
So yes, I will just say that I second the opinions stating that this was a very arrogant speech... that she has no idea how it is to truly be broke and on your own... that she very effectively made me feel sad and angry at the same time for the sincerely moneyless, homeless and helpless... oh, and that she did absolutely nothing to help save the environment
+Karyll Hyacinthe Ouch ..
+dontpKaniC have a good day :)
Yes, is just another clueless and ignorant yet somehow arrogant upper middle class fool
+Karyll Hyacinthe If you want to know how to actually do something like this you should read 'into the wild'
Elizabeth Photog I enjoyed the movie. How was the book?
I like the idea of using a barter system and I do think it’s something that’s been lost as we’ve become less community oriented (at least here in the U.S) and something that conversely adds to a sense of community when you trade abilities and access to resources as it fits on a case by case situation.
But you cannot live totally free while depending on someone else. I am not a particularly affluent or impoverished person either way, but I do find myself cringing that this nice lady could equate her having marketable skills, education, societal respect, a child, being a generally like able, attractive person asking for resources of others for a temporary passion project with being a person with little to no skill or resources, homeless or transient, asking others to allow them free housing, food, work space, etc on a permanent basis.
This is obviously something that can’t be done sustainably by all people otherwise all people, especially homeless people, would be a part of a big altruistic passion project where no one got left out. It’s a lovely idea if you can break in and out of this cycle as you’re ready or wanting to, but that is impossible to ask of people in general, and unlikely to be successful for people who actually struggle with financial security.
This type of arrangement would only work for a specific type of person - ie young. Being attractive, naive and having a cute 3 year old son would also help people be more inclined to go along with her young person’s wide-eyed idealism, & to humour her ‘kooky’ ideas. Try asking for those kind favours at almost any other stage of life - and you’d be smartly kicked out of the place and given directions to the nearest homeless shelter.
All you guys who are banging on about how she wasn't living without money are confusing the point. Before a set of relatively universal currencies was slowly introduced across the world there were communities which only used direct swaps as their trading policies (these are barter economies). Then, upon realising that certain foodstuffs (generally grains) were widely needed and provided a relatively easy to transport easily swappable 'currency' they moved to having an intermediary step. However in each area of the world this then became different metals and then promisary notes, it doesn't matter. The convenience of the intermediary step as opposed to the direct swap method is currency, (money). Therefore, if all her transactions were direct swap transactions then she herself was living without money. No matter whether she was still living in an economy which dealt with money, her transactions did not. If there were some economy out there based purely on bartering, she would have been able to swap directly into it by bartering her services for goods and services. Payment in kind, if it forms all of your transactions is living without money. Fair enough she made an exception of health care, who wants to gamble with that when they have a child. What you're really having a go at her about is that she has a wide social pool from which to draw and is attractive, what she is showing you is that this would stay the same whether or not she used money as her means of performing transactions. From what she said about her negotiations that I picked out is actually that one person said she couldn't afford to employ anyone at the standard rate and they came up with a more affordable solution. She sold herself at a lower than standard price for certain transactions. If these people were really getting such a raw deal as you think out of the barter transactions, they could have said no or negotiated better. She lived without money, but that does not equate to living outside of an economy.
Exactly, she might have missed the target describing what she discovered : reciprocity.
I like that idea that if we all search out the work we love that there will still be Dr, scientist, laborers,etc... to make our world run. I want to follow my passions and not just work for money!
I think about this from time to time and it always starts out as me getting excited and imagining travel and leisure. Then I realise there would be no pilots to fly the planes, no teachers or trainers to show me how to do what I need, there's no incentive for farmers etc. Without paying for our living, we have no incentive to actually work, so another form of currency/trade would take place
Tiger Lily Why do you need "incentives" to do what you want ?
Joe Smith We need 'incentives' so your computer will turn on and your water works and someone is picking your garbage up tomorrow. No one loves being a dishwasher in a shitty restaurant, and without incentive...no one would do any of the shit jobs.
Patrick Kilduff Exactly, society is made up of shit jobs that no one would do without incentives. What does that tell you about our fucked up society?
But that's different from what I asked: why do you need incentives to do "what you want"?
Joe Smith you're not getting it. What I want involves other people's participation/assistance. I'd want someone to teach me things, but they would be busy doing what they want, ergo I'd have to offer incentive, "If you show me how to do this, I'll show you this," and so on. Whether they deem my offer worth while is up to them, but I am offering them incentive, just not a monetary one. With money in place, there is a clear incentive that everyone values, it's just a matter of pricing from that point. I don't need incentive to do what I want, others need incentive to help me get there. Do you understand now?
Rae Amelia
Makes no sense. Otherwise, there would be no such thing as volunteer work.
Barter has always been an option many tradesmen in the USA do barter to get there homes built and repaired.
she made a connection around the community and got herself a job. Good for you. i hear no struggles. GG.
Just imagine what the world would be like if money didn't exist. We would probably have cures for all sorts of diseases (more than we already do) because we wouldn't have to pay people to work (they would simply work because they were passionate about what they were doing), and we could give things to people in other countries without needing to fundraise or donate money! People could do incredible things by not being held back by finances!!!
The real title should have been: How to Take a Sabbatical Leave Without Touching Your Emergency Fund
I only go look at TEDx videos just to see the comments about how the talk just should've have happened
It's possible living without money. The knowledge is simple. practicing and getting used to is fulfilling. usually if you practice that, you'll have stuff u can trade for money if you need to get stuff you fancy. no problem with that. one doesn't have to be bitter about excercising a lifestyle that is rewarding and fulfilling like this.
I'd love to speak with this woman over dinner, it would certainly be an experience.
I didn't know those two activities were mutually exclusive. I probably would , but how many women do you know who are this interesting?
This person has no idea what it's like to live without money, hope she had fun playing at poverty!
maybe it was not about poverty but without money. And maybe she does not think poverty as poverty as she is an environmentalist. I think her message was that she was rich because she had a community around her that she was able to contribute to with her work.
It seemed mockery to those who actually are jobless, homeless, or broke. Their struggle is real.
Why is there poverty?
@@laineygann7713 - Nope, not really. It was a practical challenge based on a conceptual idea: Can one survive cashless in this world, bartering skills and relying on interdependence through building meaningful connections? It is a thought-provoking experiment. It had nothing to do with coping with poverty, which many just assumed was the focus.
money is a technology. It's a medium of value. the world can't function without money.
You, you have inspired me...
Actually, it is not about how to live without money, it’s about how to live without job. I think, the most important lesson is you can choose to base you social relations on money or not. However, you don’t need to spend a year without job if you really want to know how to put money in the second place when you’re living in society. Just don’t let that money becomes in the most important priority in your life.
Mark Boyle lived for a year without money properly. 🙂 This woman should read his book:- "The Moneyless Man". 👍👍
jär about that healthinsurance thing, that is exactly what is in the way.
all other things I know how to do without money. And to some extand I do.
I'm not exactly clear on what services she offered as her part of the barter and how we'd evaluate if she received a market rate for those services, or if people would give her a lot just for doing a little (to help her).
I am so confused. It sounds like she didn't do anything to save the planet at all, but just the fact that she is on a Ted Talk means she did something worth sharing at a super expensive conference. Yet she tied it back around to that point. Maybe she just sucks at giving speeches? I don't know. It didn't sound like she really struggled of helped anyone at all during this. And it kind of sounds mockish. I hope that she did something good though.
Envy is just an excuse for laziness ("SHE could do it because she is rich bla bla but I couldn´t because I am poor, etc...")
I think that she makes three very important points here:
1. You can start from where you are: she didn´t go live in a trailer in the woods somewhere, she just adapted the life she already had;
2. For basic needs it is good to develop a support network;
3. Use time and skills as a means of exchange, instead of money...(It´s good to have skills!) In view of the economic collapse, I think these are three very good basic ideas, and she proved that they could work...
Well done, well said!
I took a lot from this. Thank you.
Wow...great idea!!!
Here in the usa it is illegal to barter without paying taxes (govt fiat currency) to the government based on the equivalent value of the item or service. For example if her work for the electric company was worth the price of the electricity she got, she would then have to come up with 20%-45% of that number to pay the social security, medicaid, and income taxes. For anything she got in return, she'd have to pay sales tax also.
So adding up the total numbers for her year, she'd still need close to half as much fiat currency as a normal year, just to pay the taxes. This is how the government enslaves us and keeps complete control of us, with jail time if you don't obey. Once you are a prisoner, slavery is legal again and they can make you work for 15 cents an hr if they want. Read the 13th amendment to our constitution to find that slavery is still legal in the usa. "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
(Being convicted of a crime includes not paying your taxes) "Any person who willfully attempts in any manner to evade or defeat any taximposed by this title or the payment thereof shall, in addition to other penalties provided by law, be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $100,000 ($500,000 in the case of a corporation), or imprisoned ..."
That is an amazing experience
The 3rd last sentence in the video description: Is "serendipical" an English word? I can't find it in any dictionary.
There is a guy named Daniel Suelo that lives in a cave and has been for most of last twenty years, he gets food out of dumpsters and eats road kill, and whatever plants are growing he can find. There are videos about him.
Absolutely gorgeous
As much as you want to live without money it's pretty hard to live without it, but I have learned to live with very little money , just have f to do without certain things and once you get to be 50 living with little is possible
I'm finding it interesting to compare Mark Boyle's talk with this one and compare the comments below each. I wonder why people have so much more positive response to Mark than Carolien? They both have similar experiences to share, so what is the crucial difference?
Seems like some of you didn't understand her point. She said she is an environmentalist. So it only means that for producing money, you need natural resources. And because we are humans who are not content to making countless money papers and coins we actually deplete the recources needed to make money. So in order to live a “money-free" life, she's doing a barter method. She needs something from someone, she replaces it with her skills to repay that someone, like trading of course without the use of money. Just like in ancient times where money wasn't invented yet. In that case we would prevent the depletion of natural resources where money was made of.
She didn't live without money - she lived with other people's money!
This is painful to watch
She's obviously well-intentioned, but even very intelligent people can be naive especially in experiments that have a definite end point when she can go back to comfortable middle-class lifestyle. She'd have been better watching Mark Boyle-The Moneyless Man on TEDxO'Porto first.
How about if her friends had no money to support her ? This is not living without money ! When the kid needed a bike, she found someone to give it to him. This is trading. She traded services, like consulting, etc. for things, instead of getting the money to get the things she needed. And I do not see how this experiment helps saving the planet. I was disappointed...
If Carolien had got behind Unconditional Basic Income for all, that would have removed the self absorbed element from her "little experiment".
Wolf in sheep's clothing spring's to mind!
Next she'll be running the FTSE 100.
Experiment paid for and no lessons learned about how desperate people live.
Look! I've found out how all those poor people are surviving!!!
In Many countries around the world a lot of people work without money, and it’s nothing positive in that for them. I know how it is, Nobody will cares about you, of course unless your friends and boyfriend knows that you are actually wealthy person with Phd who have some temporary crazy idea 💡 only for the year, just because it’s boring to live in a totally safety world for you.
Mooi verhaal Carolien!
Unorthodox life style awesome. Back in the 1800s nobody had money. It can be done. People nowadays worship material wealth
This still includes accountable trade/barter. How do you live in a society without accountable trade? No expectation of getting for giving.
where do you get information about living without money uk, having any money
i would love to email someone for information to live with out money
What part of "without money" comes with ingredients to cook, free giveaways, a free place to live, paid health insurance, atm ice cream exception and all the privliges of the society you live in? This is insulting to people who are actually living with low or no money.
What a wack attempt to get attention and copying how people who actually experimented speak. Shame
How an earth does she insult anyone who is living without money? At the beginning she tells that many people she knew got unemployed because of the recession. U think she did the experiment to insult those people too?
Heidi Karinen: No one said she did this to deliberately try and insult anyone. She is too deluded to realize she is insulting the people who don't choose to be moneyless. She had money for anything she couldn't barter to get and if she had some sort of an emergency she had money in her savings if she needed it whereas 65% of the people in the USA cannot cover a $400 emergency. They are living paycheck to paycheck with no such choices. Millions of people cannot get hospitalization. She chose to have it. What would she have done if she really had no money?
I would like to see how I survived one year without food or money with no support system.
Truth hurts! T-love.
She's beautiful
This is how people lived before men began ruling over other men with money. A man was worth his word, and it was his currency. Society breaks down because people are dishonest so everything develops into being tracked and recorded with tangible representations of energy in motion (money).
wow! inspiring! thx so much! so interesting how u used barter and community to replace your fiat currency! thx for sharing! i'm impressed how great of a TED talk this one is! it like in my top 5 list of the year!
@@tinkletink1403 no thanks. barter is a fair trade. if it's not fair then why is the party to whom it is unfair even trading? *shrug*