Free Market Ecology (FME) is an economic system designed to achieve permanent ecological sustainability without central planning or abandoning technological progress. Unlike current systems where governments manage environmental protection through bureaucratic mandates, FME treats ecological limits as market functions—governments set scientifically-determined resource caps, while markets efficiently allocate usage through tradeable Resource Usage Rights (RURs). Profit…

Originally published on Botsfordism Substack on November 26, 2025. Why Democracies Have Outsourced Their Dirtiest Industry — and How FME Brings It Home Without Coercion This essay proposes “Free Market Ecology” (FME) as a solution to environmental damage from rare-earth mineral extraction. The author argues that democratic nations externalize dirty industrial processing to authoritarian countries…

Originally published on Botsfordism Substack on October 13, 2025. This essay applies classical Austrian economic critiques to modern digital currency and identity systems. The author revisits Ludwig von Mises’s 1920 essay on economic calculation under socialism and Friedrich Hayek’s work on dispersed knowledge to argue that CBDCs and digital IDs represent a contemporary threat similar…

Originally published on Botsfordism Substack on August 28, 2025. A fictional story of the founding of an AI Nation State. Not the worst or best possible nation state, or the one everyone loved or hated, but an AI Nation State nonetheless. The Rise of Mercer Elias Mercer built an e-commerce empire through aggressive automation and…

Originally published on Botsfordism Substack on June 23, 2025. The author proposes a practical framework for implementing identity verification and resource management systems within network states using blockchain technology. Rather than adopting existing solutions like Worldcoin’s World ID, the system uses NFTs and “validation event” resource usage rights (RURs) to manage membership and prevent fraud….

Originally published on Botsfordism Substack on May 23, 2025. How an ecological central bank and private finance work with producers and consumers in Free Market Ecology, including carbon credit and rainforest hardwood trade financing examples. Introduction The article addresses how finance determines resource allocation for future production. Unlike conventional capitalism—which relies on bank loans, venture…

Originally published on Botsfordism Substack on May 14, 2025. The article addresses a fundamental challenge in Free Market Ecology (FME): how consumers manage multiple resource types simultaneously without overwhelming complexity. The Core Problem In an FME system, wealth becomes “a vector instead of a scalar value.” Rather than a single currency, individuals hold portfolios of…

Originally published on Botsfordism Substack on January 24, 2025. Sher examines how different economic systems approach optimization and their implications for humanity’s future alongside AI and robotics. Pure Command Economy In centralized systems where one person decides resource allocation, the outcome depends entirely on that individual’s judgment. Historical examples like Pol Pot’s Cambodia demonstrate the…

Originally published on Botsfordism Substack on January 15, 2025. Using Market Information to Optimize Economic and Ecological Outcomes This piece contrasts several economic systems to demonstrate how Free Market Ecology represents an advancement in market-based environmental protection. The Pure Command Economic System This system features centralized state planning with no consumer choice or worker autonomy….

Originally published on Botsfordism Substack on December 27, 2024. How to do the least amount of damage to our economy while preventing reliance on foreign adversaries. Introduction The modern global economy requires more advanced mechanisms than traditional tariffs for managing strategic resource dependencies. While tariffs have historically protected domestic industries in adversarial trade relationships, they…