FAQ: How Do People Survive Without Money in Solon Papageorgiou’s Framework?

1. If there’s no money, doesn’t everything collapse?

No. Money disappears only when basic needs are already guaranteed.
Micro-utopias ensure that every resident has:

• housing

• food

• utilities

• healthcare

• education

• transportation

• community infrastructure

When survival is guaranteed by design, you don’t need money to survive.

Money exists only when there is artificial scarcity and competition.
Micro-utopias eliminate both.

2. So what replaces money?

Three things:

1. Needs-Based Allocation (a transparent community system for stating and fulfilling needs)

2. Contribution Webs (people contribute in ways that align with passion and skill)

3. Abundance Infrastructure (shared, automated, ecological infrastructure)

Money is replaced by coordination, not by force.

3. How are food, housing, and other essentials produced?

Micro-utopias rely on:

• community agriculture

• renewable energy systems

• modular, shared housing

• automation and local manufacturing

• shared tool libraries

• collaborative production spaces

• distributed technology (AI planning, robotics, etc.)

Instead of buying food or paying rent, residents participate in maintaining the systems that sustain everyone.

4. What motivates people to contribute if they don’t get paid?

Decades of research show that humans are naturally driven by:

• autonomy

• mastery

• meaning

• community belonging

• appreciation and recognition

Micro-utopias are designed around these motivations.
People contribute because they want to — not because they are coerced by survival pressure.

This is the same reason people:

• build Wikipedia

• contribute to open-source software

• start clubs

• help neighbors

• create art

• volunteer

These are the most meaningful things humans do — and none require money.

5. What stops freeloaders from taking advantage?

Two things:

1. Abundance: The community produces more than enough, so “taking more” doesn’t deprive others.

2. Social reciprocity: People naturally want to contribute when they belong to a healthy, supportive community.

In practice, freeloading disappears because the system is engineered for intrinsic motivation and sufficiency, not punishment.

6. What happens if someone doesn’t want to contribute at all?

Nothing.
They are still fully supported.

The framework is non-coercive.
However, most people — once they feel safe, respected, and free — naturally find something they enjoy contributing to.

This is backed by psychological research:
Coercion kills motivation; safety creates it.

7. Is this system efficient or utopian?

It is radically efficient.

Markets waste enormous resources on:

• profit extraction

• bureaucracy

• competition

• advertising

• redundant production

• planned obsolescence

• inequality

• price inflation

Micro-utopias eliminate these inefficiencies.
They function more like:

• a well-run research lab

• a maker collective

• a circular ecological village

• a distributed open-source project

• a regenerative, self-sufficient campus

This is not fantasy — it’s systems design.

8. Who owns the infrastructure?

No one — and everyone.

Infrastructure is shared, similar to:

• public libraries

• open-source code

• national parks

• community gardens

• maker spaces

• co-ops

• research institutes

Ownership is replaced by access.

9. How is work organized without employers?

Through Contribution Webs.

These are self-managing networks where:

• individuals list skills, passions, and projects

• the community lists needs

• AI tools help match people to tasks

• participation is voluntary

• recognition is communal and transparent

It’s like a cross between:

• GitHub

• a volunteer network

• a research lab

• a community schedule

• a creative studio

No bosses. No bureaucracy. No coercion.

10. How do people thrive without money?

When survival is guaranteed and coercion is removed, people shift to:

• creativity

• learning

• contribution

• play

• invention

• purpose

• community

• self-development

• collaboration

People don’t merely survive —
they flourish.