Fun thread, CM
Back in 1984, there was this marvelous little film called "The Gods Must Be Crazy". It portrayed an African village, where everyone shared common goals and everything else. There was no money involved with these people, since everything belonged to everybody.
What sets the story into motion is, this pilot throws a coke bottle out of the window of his small airplane. Well, one of the villagers finds it and it's like the most wonderful thing they've ever seen! It has millions of uses, and everybody starts squabbling among themselves for it. It gets so bad that our hero decides it's evil, and that it must be returned to the "Gods".
Anyway, these people had a non-monetary society, but without the incentive of economic gain, there is little progress in technology. (This coke bottle was the most hi-tech thing they'd ever seen! ) I suggest this film was a pretty good model of how things would be if the concept of money/barter wasn't around.
Socialistic systems don't seem to go anywhere. Or perhaps a little socialism can go a long way!
