Mediation and usage of shared assets/resources

One of the core concepts of Basis (and socialism too) is the idea of assets being shared. This could be housing, office space, farm land, etc but also while the network is growing, pools of capital.

While this has always been known, what still remains pending is the idea of how these things are mediated. This issue will serve mainly as a discussion point for various mechanisms for determining usage of shared resources.

Starting this off, a few general things come to mind:

• Different classes of resources will be treated differently. The rules surrounding the use of a tractor will necessarily be different than the rules surrounding the use of a house. Determining the rules of usage for these must be up to the people who are most likely to use them. In the case of the tractor, likely farmers. In the case of housing, likely everyone.
• There needs to be a way to pass costs automatically from each resource to the agent using it. This would likely be time-based, because time represents an opportunity cost to others who might want to use that resource. Basically, we're charging rent (keep in mind, this is only until the cost of the asset has been transferred back into the economy, at which point the asset will be "free" to use).
• Time limits on usage? It might make sense for some resources to have a defined begin/end period, after which the resource becomes available for others to use again.

Discussion points:

• There needs to be some codified way of determining use, almost like a community scripting language. Just realized I reinvented smart contracts. The goal here is to define a transparent set of rules, decided on by the community, that can be applied in an automated fashion based on past and present data. What we're doing here is replacing market allocation of resources with direct social intent.
  • Ability to tag resources? This ties in with #74
  • Classifying resources by tag and matching usages with tags (ie, a house tagged "4br" might only be available to a family of 4+)?
  • First come first serve?
  • Lottery?
  • Do you already have use of a house? Maybe you don't get another one.
  • Prioritize based on company performance metrics? (speaks to companies being able to use assets directly)
• Can only companies use resources? Only individuals? Both?
  • This ties in with the discussion about rethinking regions (#72) because if regions are really just intersecting co-ops, then it would make sense that individuals would use a resource, not companies, but might do so on behalf of a company.
  • If we do allow co-ops to join other, larger co-ops then it might make sense to allow companies themselves to use assets directly. This seems like a more natural fit, but I do like the idea of co-ops only being comprised of individuals (not companies) so I'm conflicted here