'Used by a society as a medium of exchange, store of value and unit
of account.'

(Definition of "money" as a token)

-Wikipedia

Money, the world's original token of capitalism. It alone doesn't
make the world go round, but only when man decides to use it.

What about machines? Can they be tokens as well, the medium where it
maybe all things to all men... as human as we want them to be? Of
Machines which Mr. Rodney Brooks once spoke of how much they'll be
like us and we be like them.

There're other machines that manifest themselves in the past that
present themselves in myths and tales. The salt machine lost
overboard into the oceans that prevailed the truth as to why the sea
is salt. There was that machine that could spin straw into gold, the
spinning-wheel and spindle. There are machines that live in ancient
Greek myths; Argo, a machine that carried Jason and his crew in
search of the Golden Fleece and the lyre that could put a fierce and
sleepless dragon to sleep...

'Down on the top of the wheel, the spirits of water are leaping,
Turning the axle and with it the spokes of the wheel that is
whirling, There with spinning the heavy and hollow Nisyrian
millstone.'

Writings of Antipatros of Thessalonika

... machines form the past.

His name was John Conner;
They tried to murder him before he was born;
When he was thirteen, they tried again; machines... from the future.

-Rise of the Machines(Terminator 3)

In the story of Mr. John Connor, we see man's machines
called 'Terminators,' an advanced line of mechanized machines that
were once created by man. A programmable T-101, a machine sent back
in time to save Mr. John Conner; a machine that prophesied the
future, warning him of an impending 'Judgement Day.' A story about a
world ruled by machines. Machines that have seemingly won the
survival race against man to be the fitter of the two. The undesired
outcome of transhumanism, a step taken in the wrong direction
following an event horizon; a step taken by both man and his
creation. A creation initially and ideally made in his image,
machines... from the future.

In yet another story by Mr. H.G. Wells(Vol. 2, no. 8 Tipping the
Scales of Plausibility) it was a machine that took a time/future
archaelogist by the name of Dr. Hartdegen to past and future points
of the time universe and brought him to the answer to the single
question in his life. Ironically, it was the same machine that could
have answered Mr. David Filby's question of whether man would ever go
to far?... the same embodiment of parts that provided the store of
value that registered a numeric answer, the year... 2037. The year
that man's progress did exact a toll ushering a bleak future caused
by the destruction of the moon; a consequently detrimental to the
delicate balance of nature and ultimately the livability of its'
inhabitance; bringing into question the sustainability of life on
earth. A result witnessed through a time machine. Mars is the most
earthlike planet in the solar system and as a result man has always
been seeking the answers to that lead up to the ultimate question...
Can what happen to mars, happen to earth? An answer we could have
answered at this present moment in the universe time-line with the
help of Hartdegen's time machine... that traverses through gateways
of the past and the future.

"I like this car..." ... T-X

Present day machines today are made and seen almost anywhere.
Machines of different shapes and sizes, engines of a progressive
society. Those that mow our lawns, cook, prepare and refrigerate our
food, mechanization marvels that bring images and sounds of
entertainment to our homes, those that keep a comfortable
temparature... a machine for all things, machines for engines of
creation... ourselves, man. Mr. Elbert Hubbard once said of a machine
that can do the work of fifty ordinary man. Man also has machines to
make machines, on the production-line that lead to industries, jobs
and the measure of wealth for a nation. Machines, the other token of
capitalism... the most popular and recognizable one of all is
undoubtedly... the automobile.

"What did you guys come off an assembly-line or something!?"... Mr.
J. Connor

The roaring 20's started the idea of mass producing these machines.
Intellectual property rights covering the physical engines that go
into these machines has made it into a dynamic token of capitalism,
industry and nation building. It has given it a sort of a lasting
ability to garner a premium for the price corporations and nations
can set for each finished product off the production-line that's
ready to be sold and used, the car. Some developed nations/
corporations use this industry to open up new markets or lower the
cost of producing an automobile, and hence the ability to compete
better, producing a competitive advantage(Dr. Michael Porter) for
itself. Others treat it as a joint-venture with the country(housing
the production facility to be built), expecting an agreed upon and
negotiated rate of return on investment. Developing and underdevelop
countries see this partnering with a more developed counterpart as a
boon not only to its' efforts in encouraging foreign investment from
abroad but a boon to a new pool of jobs created and made available
for its' people(the notion of cheap labor). It maybe that such deals
turn out good for both parties but like in any game there's always a
winner and a loser. Political correctness and capitalism has tempered
the ability to distinguish the two, in addition to time span in which
the game is played out. No country would want to boast of a win only
to be looked and frowned upon by other its' piers and no nation who
has lost would want its' citizens(taxpayers) to know that it had lost
its' ability to advanced up the web of capitalism towards the stature
of a more developed and wealthy country. There's only some many
countries that can reach the top amd even fewer countries that have
the ability to become a superpower once they've reached the top. It
is a game of diminishing numbers and the playing field is not always
stacked fairly. As intellectual property rights become more robust
across countries and new industries are created, more tokens are
created...

"My CPU is still intact..." ... T-101

If you had been asked a very simple question,

'Which is more important? "1" or "0"(zero)?' What would you have
answered?

9 out of 10 would have been the former... but to this machine they're
of equal importance. Two basic constructs that's vital to its'
existence. Each needing the other, respectively absolute, the
immortal extremes in the universe of machines. These same machines of
man that may some day reach an event horizon, achieve sentience, that
singularity, of consciousness, of being self-aware... computers. The
fimilar variable power that relates itself to an information world
also governs the design of engines in automobiles by associating
itself with torque for machines that rule on land or thrust for
machines that fly and in the world of computers, it governs the world
of cpu's and its' design using a correlation with area... area and
power. Like engines to the automobile, manufacturers of cpu's rely on
their ability to garner a premium price for each unit that's produced
with the help of strong intellectual property rights. The patenting
of prosesses involved in making a cpu.(**) Of processes to make
screens that bring us sounds and images. Of Cornings, Intels and of
nations, engines of creation if industries and machines... the medium
of exchange to a nation's prosperity, a store of value for the price
it garners and the unit of account bought and sold through commerce
within and between nations of the world and its' inhabitants driven
by capitalism... Of engines of creation, machines, tokens...

'... ready to do anything, or be anything, you want or need.'

-Ray Kurzweil 'The Age Of Spiritual Machines'

May all your endeavors lead you to prosperity...

P. Mavin



(**)The degree to which other countries who do not have this
technology are privy to know, share and use is the matter usually
determined through negotiations surrounding the matter of technology
transfer... the transfer of information that will enable a country
who has it to develop new industries, the generator of wealth for
nations.

Disclosure: The Mavin Trilogy and any subsequent material and works
that follow are based on a fictional character.