For centuries, the monetary system has been treated as inevitable.
Not perfect, not fair, not even particularly rational — but unavoidable.
Every serious discussion about climate change, inequality, war, sustainability, or wellbeing eventually reaches the same unspoken conclusion:
We are sorry, but we have to continue with the system we have.
The question that is almost never asked — or answered — is the most fundamental one:
What system comes after the monetary system?
Because, clearly, we need a change.
But to answer that, we need to stop arguing inside the current framework and instead look at systems themselves: how they arise, how they function, and how they evolve.
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Three systems, clearly distinguished
Humanity currently operates at the intersection of three fundamentally different systems. Understanding their nature is the key to understanding what comes next.
1. The Monetary system — an artificial system
The monetary system is not natural.
It is a symbolic coordination system invented by humans.
Its defining characteristics are:
• money as a proxy for value
• prices as signals
• growth as success
• scarcity(with abundance for a few) as a requirement
• competition as a driver
It does not measure wellbeing, ecological health, or long-term balance.
It measures monetary activity.
This is the one thing it does very well.
That does not make it evil — but it does make it blind.
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2. The Planetary system — a natural system
The Planetary system is the opposite.
It is Earth’s biophysical reality:
• ecosystems
• climate
• soil
• oceans
• biodiversity
• feedback loops
It operates without money, ownership, prices, or growth imperatives.
Its defining features are:
• balance
• regeneration
• circular flows
• natural limits
• real, physical feedback
The planetary system does not negotiate.
It responds.
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3. The Humanitary system — a natural system with humans consciously included
The Humanitary system represents a qualitative shift.
It is also a natural system, but one where humans no longer act as an external, extractive force. Instead, human activity becomes consciously integrated with planetary reality.
In this system:
• wellbeing replaces profit as the primary measure
• contribution replaces competition
• access and stewardship replaces ownership
• regeneration replaces extraction
This is not ideology.
It is systems alignment.
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The key shift: the ecosystem becomes the economic system
Today, the word ecosystem almost exclusively refers to ecological systems.
In the Humanitary system, the meaning expands:
The ecosystem becomes the economic system.
Not metaphorically.
Literally.
Human resource flows begin to behave like natural ecosystems:
• resources circulate like nutrients
• waste becomes input
• diversity creates resilience
• balance replaces growth
• feedback is immediate and real
The economy stops being an abstract overlay and starts behaving like a living system.
Once this is seen, it becomes difficult to unsee.
The next system will not be communism, socialism or capitalism. It won’t even be the monetary system.
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The Natural Exchange System (NES)
If the ecosystem is the economic system, how does exchange actually work?
This is where the Natural Exchange System (NES) comes in.
NES is neither a market nor a centrally planned economy.
It is applied ecology.
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Exchange without trade
One of the deepest assumptions of the monetary system is that exchange requires trade — that value must be priced, negotiated, balanced, or repaid.
Nature shows us otherwise.
In a natural ecosystem:
• nothing is traded
• nothing is paid back
• nothing is accounted
• nothing is owed
Yet everything that needs to happen, happens.
Plants produce oxygen without expecting carbon dioxide in return.
Animals and humans already do the same only opposite. Breathing in oxygen and out CO2.
Bees pollinate without invoices.
Trees share nutrients through fungal networks without bookkeeping.
Predators regulate populations without moral judgment.
Exchange exists — but not as transaction.
Not as trade.
It exists as participation.
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NES as human participation in a living system
The Natural Exchange System follows the same principle.
In NES:
• humans contribute based on interest, ability, curiosity, and context
• fulfillment comes from the activity itself, not from reward
• resources flow according to real needs, not purchasing power
Technology help where it is needed
• coordination emerges from awareness, not accounting
People do what they are naturally drawn to do —
because doing it is meaningful, satisfying, or joyful.
This is not hypothetical.
It already happens wherever money is absent:
• parenting
• caregiving
• art
• open-source software
• community help
• volunteering
• emergency response
NES simply removes the artificial constraints that prevent this logic from scaling.
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No accounting needed
Accounting exists to manage scarcity, distrust, and misalignment.
In a functioning ecosystem:
• scarcity is physical, not artificial
• trust is implicit in interdependence
• alignment is enforced by feedback, not punishment
In NES:
• resource availability is sensed directly
• needs are visible, not hidden behind prices
• overuse is corrected by real-world signals
• contribution is self-regulating, not coerced
Just as no forest needs a ledger,
a mature human ecosystem does not require accounts, balances, or reciprocal payment.
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Motivation without reward
A common concern is: “Why would anyone do anything?”
Nature answers this clearly.
Species act because:
• it is their nature
• it sustains the system they depend on
• it feels right within their role
Humans are no different — when freed from survival anxiety and artificial scarcity.
In NES:
• work is not forced
• contribution is not moralized
• rest is not punished
• creativity is not secondary
People choose what they contribute —
and are fulfilled by the contribution itself, not by compensation.
That fulfillment is the signal.
The ecosystem responds accordingly.
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Exchange as flow
The core shift is simple:
• Monetary system → exchange as transaction and trade
• Natural Exchange System → exchange as flow
Nothing is traded.
Nothing is paid back.
Everything moves.
Resources circulate like nutrients.
Skills circulate like energy.
Care circulates like water.
Once exchange is understood this way, the question is no longer
“How do we replace money?”
but rather
“Why did we ever need it in the first place?”
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A system of systems
The Humanitary world is not a single mechanism.
It is an interconnected system of systems, all behaving ecosystem-like:
• Resource systems — food, energy, materials
• Information systems — sensing, feedback, coordination
• Social systems — care, creativity, contribution
• Governance systems — councils, transparency, resonance
Each system:
• adapts locally
• cooperates globally
• responds to real-world signals
No growth mandate.
No artificial scarcity.
No central authority.
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Why the monetary system cannot evolve into this
The monetary system cannot simply be “fixed” into an ecosystem because it violates ecosystem logic at its core:
• it rewards accumulation
• it requires scarcity
• it externalizes damage
• it measures symbols instead of reality
In nature, any subsystem that behaves this way is eventually corrected.
What we are witnessing today — ecological breakdown, social stress, political fragmentation — is not a failure of humanity.
It is a system mismatch.
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What comes after the monetary system
The answer is not another ideology.
It is not socialism, communism, or a greener version of capitalism.
What comes after the monetary system is a living system — one that behaves like nature itself.
A Humanitary system, where the ecosystem is the economic system, and exchange follows natural laws rather than artificial symbols.
When that happens, humans stop being a disruptive force on Earth —
and become a regenerative one.
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If this resonates and you would like to read an inspirational story about a contemporary man who wakes up in a world like this, the novel Waking Up – A journey towards a new dawn for humanity is for you.