If Spit Became Money

The emergence of biohacking movement — promoting open access of tools and knowledge of biotech, allowed a new sub-community to form within the traditional hacking circles.

Peck as you go is a product of the coalition between computer hackers and their biological counterparts. With growing frustration and mistrust of the current banking system, both groups have set out to share their skills in designing and implementing sustainable, and independent ways to exchange money.

Taking power away from the main body of finance and into the human body, Peck as you go system ‘hacks’ bacteria that are living inside our mouths — to create a form of living currency.

Peck as you go is part biological and part electronic:

Micro-organisms can now be modified to become highly sensitive to electromagnetic waves. This means that ‘remote control of life’ is possible, allowing us to activate, store, count, or even kill bacterial cells living inside our mouths.

Every transaction and level of ‘bacterial wealth’, is digitized and represented online. It creates a virtual form of biological payment system that could also be protected through a combination of digital and genetic encryptions.

It’s a sustainable financial system, and there are three reasons to support this claim:

Firstly, it’s ‘human’. All of us share the same family of bacteria that are unique to our species, meaning they are a truly inclusive and global currency, with a low risk of cross-species contamination. What’s more, it gives direct financial responsibility to the individual, allowing freedom in how they manage their money.

Secondly, Peck as you go system can partly operate offline. By digitizing bacterial cells in our bodies, the system will always exist in two forms, as virtual data and tangible representations in our bodies. This would allow those without access to electronic facilities to use the service, and also avoid problems of power failure, loss of digital records, and electronic fraud.

Thirdly, the bacterial currency can be exchanged between individuals through physical interactions such as an act of intimate kissing and the exchange of saliva that contains the bacteria. It encourages human-to-human interactions that are fast becoming lost in the heavily digitized world.

However, the biological dimension of our new monetary system may also throw up some added friction to our everyday lives:

Have you ever thought about intimately kissing someone other than your partner? A stranger perhaps or even a member of your own family? And what about spitting, have you ever spat at a street busker, at a homeless person, or into a charity donation box?

If our spit, or more precisely the bacteria that are living inside our mouths — became a new form of money, these are some of the awkward scenes we may encounter.

Can the new bio-electronic monetary system shift our values within our society? An act of intimate kissing would no longer be an act of affection but would become mechanics of business, and a financial ritual. Could we start to question the true value of a kiss in the future?

For most of us, the act of spitting is unsociable, conjuring emotions of disgust and irritation. But if the spit became a form of currency, could it be used as a vehicle of transaction and also a proverbial missile to attack poverty?

Snot and mucus are the same. Bacteria can be dried into seed-like spores that can be stored outside of the human body. Could these become a form of savings account? How would they be stored, and even celebrated, and could we start changing our perceptions of beauty as a result?

Peck as you go is a proposal about dual technologies, as much as it is about money, that is designed to question our values in society. Radical changes to improve our financial system are a good idea, but are we prepared to embrace unforeseen changes, and how can we design and prepare ourselves for a better future?

Did you enjoy the story? This was based on my past project exploring social implications of biodigital convergence. It was the winner of 2015’s Future of Money Design competition. Further information can be found here, and below is the project video: