The legend of the Land of Share
“Greetings, dear travellers from the future,
It is I who has the honour to tell you the legend of the first privatized country: The Land of Share.
Oh, how strange a land it was!
In the Land of Share, their meals were shared. In different places, all over the
city state, they cooked for dozens of people. Since they thought, it took less effort to cook one meal for ten, then for all ten, to cook one meal. So they ate together. And within each place, there were just a few meals to choose from. But with all those different places, there were so many meals to choose from. And they were happy.
In the Land of Share, bathing was shared. All over the city state, there were places to take a shower or a bath. And although you could take a shower or a bath with all the privacy you could want, still they were shared. Because, when one person left the bathroom, it was free for another. And everyday everything was cleaned. And they were happy.
Oh yes, there were even sleeping rooms, all over the city. In so many styles. With all the privacy they wanted. Rooms for singles, rooms for couples and rooms for families. And with enough rooms for everyone.
And so on and so on.
What a remarkable place it was. They were even television rooms, available for everyone. Some with privacy, some were open for everyone.
You probably can imagine how social it was. It was indeed. And simple. Simple lives. All but those who were too old, too young or unable, had their jobs. Some cooked, some cleaned the baths. Some cleaned the beds. And even jobs were often switched between them.
So very simple. They didn’t even get paid for their jobs. They just did them. For each other. Sure they were obligated to work. And complaints were made if the job was not well performed. But still, it is fair to say that they were content with living and working in the city mall.
Yes, the city mall, that’s how it was colloquially known. You see, it resembled a shopping mall. All these accommodations were inside one big building. With only a few buildings outside it. And surrounded by fields and forests.
And there were no houses. They all lived like this!
But sure enough, the Land of Share was not completely self-sufficient. So money needed to pour in. And it did!
You see, the Land of Share could also accommodate a descent amount of tourists and they came massively, for the experience of this peculiar life. The country even made a profit!
Quite remarkable it was. But perhaps it shouldn’t be that surprising. It was a very efficient way of living. There were fewer kitchens to invest in. Fewer baths, showers and televisions to maintain. One big energy efficient building. Less administrative work that was needed. No rich people who could take a big grab out of it.
So how, you might ask, how did it come to be?
Well, it is here that the legend begins. It was made possible with nothing more than crowd funding.
Calculations were made to find out how much it would cost to build this city. This amount was then divided by the number of habitants it would support, as to find out how much each habitant would have to pledge, in order to finance this massive project.
So a crowd funding project was launched, asking everyone to pledge this minimum amount of money. If the money was raised, those people had the chance to become the habitants. If the money was not raised, they received most of it back. And the project would have failed.
But let me tell you, it took no longer than a few months, to raise it all. It was the biggest crowd funding project till then.
And you all know how it continued, don’t you, dear travellers from the future?
Before the Land of Share was effectively built, many more projects were launched. Some similar to the Land of Share. Some quite different.
A few decades later, there were so many privatized countries, that most of them, became more public. With many people travelling between them. Many led an almost nomadic life. Oh what a world it has become!
But… what is this noise?
It seems to come from outside this world!
Could it be a giant alarm clock?”