A free essay, as at http://www.yoga6d.org/procash {feel free to redistribute when whole and unchanged} PRO CASH: ELEMENTS OF TRUE LUXURY IN A 21ST-CENTURY SHOP Suppose you are an aware, intelligent, and possibly rich citizen. What would you naturally demand of the stores you buy your things in, in addition to cleanliness etc? Would you not expect privacy of various kinds? --With added notes on the value of cash for all sorts of businesses and markets By Aristo Tacoma {a yoga6d.org/economy.htm essay} Mr Georg Apenes has, for decades, been a national celebrity in Norway. And he is respected internationally for his concise (but also often witty) commentaries on the the right of every citizen to have privacy protection. Mr Apenes is a pioneer in thinking about the right to privacy of citizens in a good state, and was, for decades, head of the Norwegian State's "Datatilsynet". His particular role was more or less "ombudsman for data / information technology" if not "ombudsman for privacy". Datatilsynet wasn't quite a ministry, but it had and has a certain regulative power, to some extent, and if it had been a ministry, it could have been named, "The Ministry of Privacy". One of his oft-repeated themes is this: a person doesn't have to be a criminal even though he or she doesn't want the state to know everything about him or her. Ian Fleming, writing about the fictitious American millionaire du Pont in his Goldfinger, mentions that when du Pont gives the waitress a tip (out of his roll of dollar bills), he turns around, hiding the act from others, considering it "indecent exposure" to show how much he tips--similar to many other rich people. Look into the habits of affluent people, and, as a rule of thumb, you find all sorts of little rules of privacy like that. Why? Is it but pleasure? But convenience? Just a form of eccentricity? No, privacy is part of what makes life fun. A model may put on a bikini on a naturist FKK beach, or she may not. That's part of the freedom to choose, the fun of being free to take decisions. We do not want every beach to be tyranically ruled so that bathing suits aren't allowed. Nor do we want to make societies where, tyranically, privacy isn't allowed. Privacy is an integral part of life, and the total removal of it is associated with the most ruthless, grotesque forms of prisons imaginable. Absolute lack of privacy is torture. When I mention the classic James Bond novels by Mr Fleming, I do so very conscious of the fact that Bond is nothing less than a man whose profession it is to impose himself and his skills of observations on some other people, typically master gangsters, who do not want such invasion of privacy because, of course, their income and their ego depends on the cover-up of their severely bad actions. Unless we're against all forms of state as a matter of principle, and against all forms of police as well, it is hard to be entirely against the layout of the Secret Service in Fleming's novels. We approve of Bond doing an action of good in precision-use of the notion of spying, just as the world doesn't approve of massive swooping-up of the world of data as created by all citizens using computers for legal purposes, whether for purposes of advertisement or for purposes of storage in the cellars of secret services 'just in case'. Privacy is something holy, and natural: and it is to be broken down only in situations of vital need. Vital need shouldn't be determined by hysterical people who declare that everyone is potentially a criminal against the state or anything like that. Vital need should be a case-by-case decision, by people who take privacy seriously as a matter of principle and, if you like to use that expression, as a matter of 'human right'. In the 21st century, with the quantity of computers exceeding the quantity of people, and many actions related to existence from one day to the next associated with using computers directly or indirectly, the world is having to think, and think fast, about whether privacy must be saved or not. For if the old, pre-computer laws are in place, the nerds will wash away all privacy before we know it, as a matter of laziness and carelessness, backed up by the greed of those who make money by means of mining private data as if it were a kind of gold. So we need new laws. Meanwhile, we must also think about what it takes to get economies going. Part of any society is that it has luxury stores. It is part of the philosophy of luxury stores that they appeal to wealthy people. And stores with more generally affordable wares often take their cues from the luxury stores; and this, in turn, affect people in general and also politicians who shape laws. So it appears to me a valid point to expand what I think is the taste of rich people, and submit this as advice to those who design and run luxury stores from day to day. The following list is the result of a good deal of contemplation, meditation, and sifting through of my own experience in dealing also with several relatively rich people over some time. * In a luxury shop, one can buy wares without having to tell one's account number, to show any credit card, to leave one's phone number, or any such thing * In a luxury shop, there is not even a hint of raised eyebrow if an expensive article is paid for by cash * And if the cash is in any of the world's largest currencies, that is also accepted without the slightest problem, and with little or no currency transaction fees * One automatically gets a receipt without asking for it * In a luxury shop, the staff doesn't have mobile phones or such devices lying about; on the contrary, the luxury shop may well be a mobile and wearable computer free area, even to the extent it is shielded from the wireless-polluted and wireless- infiltrated (and invasive) areas around it by lead in the wall * In a luxury shop, there aren't video cameras on the wall. It is instead a well-staffed shop, and whatever it has of protection is human-based, not technology-based, and implemented with discretion and elegance * In a luxury shop, the articles sold are supposed to have an element of quality in them, and they are hope- fully made with a sense of pride in the work; these articles are supposed, when such as shoes or electronic articles are concerned, to persist far longer than their cheaper imitations, and to have no element of tracking electronics inbuilt into the wares (this excludes all cars made by companies that treats privacy in a cavalier fashion) * A luxury shop can have a personal relationship to a wealthy customer, but this is because that customer is herself or himself asking for it. It is then taken for granted by the wealthy individual that this data isn't shared even amongst the staff of the shop but is treated more or less like a state secret; the wealthy individual may then gradually reward the shop with the right to even contact the person at home in order to provide relevant information about new wares that have just have arrived, --"and shall we set aside such and such for you?" * A luxury shop sells only things they fully understand. They will, without cost, replace any sold item not being of superior quality, far beyond what laws and regulations require, and they will learn from each such incident and improve, as (what P Senge and others call) a learning organisation. * A luxury shop is owned by the boss of the shop; there is no such division between those in head of the shop or shops and those who own the company having the shops, that can lead to the shop or shop series suddenly being in the hands of entirely different people. This is part of what makes it possible for rich individuals to trust the shop. ADDED NOTES about the value of cash for all sorts of businesses and markets. Cash, as I first understood during my prolonged stay in Manhattan, New York, can have a glamour factor all on its own. There's something about the greenish paper, touched by many, enabling one to get doors opened and to order waitresses about, that liberates, and gives energy. Think of it: in the past, all that mattered--or so history from many parts of Earth will want it--was that one came from the "right" families and was adopted into the "right" circle of friends. Sure, if you had a large quantity of goods you could buy certain times, but it did seem like there was plenty of things money couldn't buy. Take now a society founded on the concept of cash flow; a society in which cash, the printed legal tender bills, as dollar bills or something else, look good; they feel good; they have a nice sound to them, when handled; they have meaningful symbols, a bit mysterious, not too plain; the numbers make sense, they are not inflated into meaningless super-high numbers; and people don't look for other means of identification of you when you have them, generally speaking. The money does the talking. Of course, this is a tendency that can take somewhat of a wrong turn, for obviously, having money can be a substitute for doing right things and attending to right and meaning- ful priorities, values and qualities. But when that is understood, should we not then remind ourselves of the beauty of money? For how good, how--indeed, to invoke a religoius term--how blessed is money? Think of the thousands of small and medium-sized business enterprises, how they cater to the thousands and thousands on people walking by on the street --what would happen if the money got sterilized, became merely digital numbers on a boring plastic card? Money is a token of social energy. It is a ticket, in many cases, to health and to put our spiritual energies and capacities to be humane to good use, and make physical the forms we have in our mind, and create situations of harmonious collaboration around them. The very sparkles of market economy DEPEND on cash, on good-looking cash, and the dollar bills tell us something: that money must be printed and must be works of art, as well-made and as peculiar and rich and sophisticated as the minds of people themselves. Whatever supplements we have as computers and banks and bank money and the very interesting thing called currency trading, the foundation of good economy is green paper money. And with the dollar, the world found its greenback.