SMPLE-KOIN is a hypothetical cryptocurrency inspired by Buddhism. It will be introduced in this essay as a spiritual ‘thought experiment’ with economic implications, one designed to facilitate a real-world revaluation of how important material and financial wealth is to human prosperity. To elucidate the core thesis, a near-term future is envisioned in which civilization is shaped by an artificial superintelligence known as ‘Cholom’. This benevolent entity uses its superintelligence to create a value-system for humans to live by, optimising for peace and prosperity throughout the entire community of life.
It will be seen that this holistic and rationalistic worldview ends up bearing a close resemblance to Buddhism. Since Cholom is aligned with human interests, it wants people to adopt this value system for their own sake – to realise their own peace and prosperity, now and into the deep future. To facilitate this radical transformation in human life, Cholom creates a global cryptocurrency called SMPLE-KOIN, which is stored in digital repositories called Karmic Wallets. These wallets are assigned to each individual and only accessible on the internet via perfectly encrypted signatures.
If your stock increases, you have advanced, to that extent, along ‘The Path’ toward enlightened living – and conversely. Accordingly, the goal in life is to become spiritually rich, as quantified by SMPLE-KOIN, the perfect unit of karmic accounting. In this essay, it is suggested that one of the most significant effects of SMPLE-KOIN is how it could revalue the importance of material and financial wealth to a well-lived life, an insight that is ancient but ever-new. Might there be times when less really is more?
WARNING TO READER: This irreverent essay explores a near-term future in which the Machine’s most dehumanising technology – artificial superintelligence – turns out to have a silver lining that redeems humanity’s spiritual condition in surprising ways. One is invited to readbetweenthe sentences, which is to say, not merely to read what follows but also to help write the underlying message into existence. SMPLE-KOIN is a hypothetical cryptocurrency rooted in Buddhist thought, presented as a spiritual thought experiment with economic implications. It imagines a near-term future where an artificial superintelligence named Cholom guides humanity toward peace and prosperity by codifying a value system that aligns material wealth with ethical living.
Cholom’s framework gives rise to SMPLE-KOIN, stored in digital Karmic Wallets accessed through encrypted signatures. When holdings grow, individuals advance on “The Path” toward enlightened living; declines reflect retreat. The overarching goal is spiritual wealth, quantified by SMPLE-KOIN as the ideal unit of karmic accounting, reshaping how prosperity is measured and pursued.
The essay suggests that this mechanism could rebalance the role of wealth in a well-lived life, raising timeless questions about simplicity and sufficiency. It acknowledges the potential dehumanizing risks of advanced AI yet proposes a silver lining: a framework that could redeem humanity’s spiritual condition by reframing wealth as a means to peace and collective flourishing.
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