One purpose of the FDU design is to provide a comprehensive Information Age economic model that sustainably addresses extreme global poverty, over-use of natural resources, and unequal compensation in a globalized world. FDU as a virtual game is designed to improve the human and planetary condition by supporting individuals and humanitarian partners capable of cooperatively resolving issues related to lack of basic resources in health care, education, jobs, fair wages, food, water, and shelter.

The current economic model creates wealth out of thin air and then requires that one of two forms of substance pay the bill, the first is to extract it from Earths natural resources thereby upsetting our natural planetary cycles; the second source of substance for paying the debt is the labor of living people.

While poverty has always been a issue, it was only with the advent of the Industrial Age that extreme gaps in poverty developed along with the gap between the richest and the poorest.

An analysis of long-term trends since the approximate start of the Industrial Age indicates the distance between the richest and poorest countries has grown, causing extreme poverty to those who are on the loosing side of the equation.

· 3 to 1 in 1820
· 11 to 1 in 1913
· 35 to 1 in 1950
· 44 to 1 in 1973
· 72 to 1 in 1992

The result today is dire. A kindergarten class a second dies, that is 30,000 children a day under the age of five; Half the world — nearly three billion people — live on less than two dollars a day.

This is a direct result of the Industrial Age economic model where debt is created via the phenomenon of interest.

“The developing world now spends $13 on debt repayment for every $1 it receives in grants.” ~ Global Development Finance, World Bank

This continued cycle of poverty is based on the assumption of a competitive nature based economy. In return for new loans to poor countries, lenders in the 1980s and 1990s insisted on 'structural adjustment' to increase their chances of being paid back. This meant cutting government spending on things like health care and education - the very services on which poor people (and women and children in particular) rely. Many of these countries have ended up spending more on servicing their debts than on the basic needs of their citizens.



This will no longer remain the case in the Information Age:
“The technology of the Information Age makes it possible to create assets that are outside the reach of many forms of coercion. This new asymmetry between protection and extortion rests upon a fundamental truth of mathematics. It is easier to multiply than to divide.”

“Information technology will create equivalent opportunities for competitive choice in domiciling economic activities, but with important differences. One is that unlike the medieval frontier societies, cyberspace is likely to be in due course the richest of economic realms. It will therefore tend to be a growing rather than a receding frontier.”

The Free Digital Universe and it’s component parts hope this forum will help individuals and companies from around the globe to better respond to the dilemmas created by the Industrial Age. You may view the integrated Information Age Charity Plans at www.peaceportal.mobi , and get one of the founding Digital Soules before the birth of the Free Digital Universe.

With the help of the independent peer partners like Peace Portal, ManyOne, Worldwide Developers Foundation, and more than 100 other organizations; we hope to empower people everywhere with sustainable solutions that relieve pressure on families, communities, and governments. This starts with a viable means for earning into the global digital economy starting with nothing, not even a address or credi card.  To acheive this our partners provide each account with a currency and Cyber Mall to earn the currency by sharing in ad revenue, sharing affiliate products from stores like Amazon, auctioning physical items, and publishing music, art, software, and other digital products for personal profit.

“If you don’t like the way to the world is, you change it. You have an obligation to change it. You just do it one step at a time. ~ Marian Wright Edelman

“Today, peace means the ascent from simple coexistence to cooperation and common creativity among countries and nations.
~ Mikhail Gorbachev

Most succinctly, the purpose of the Free Digital Universe is to provide a viable starting point for experimenting with Information Age models of commerce which serve to free people by providing them with the tools to become locally self-sustainable.

PRO-ACTIVE MONEY
Expanding well on the ideas shared by FDU regarding the need for a Information Age model, is the article "Proactive money" written by New Civilizations Founder, Flemming Funch:

"I was just pondering how the concept of money can make sense at all in an information economy, and I've got some ideas.

Before the arrival of agricultural societies money wasn't needed. Hunters and gatherers would simply take what they needed or wanted, fight for it if necessary, and continuously move on to where they could find the resources they were seeking.

In "first wave" agricultural societies surpluses would be produced. The land would be worked to produce food stuff and what is produced is either stored up or it is traded. Trading would open the need for money as a means of exchange. Also, it suddenly became important what you HAVE, what you own. If you have land you can grow stuff and sell it. If you have produce you can sell it. Power and affluence is measured by how much you currently own.