Reflection by Edgar Cahn
In 1996, the Olympics celebrated TimeBanking for the first time when Ray carried the torch as Community Hero. He had devoted a quarter century to TimeBanking.
TimeBank has its own Olympic Champions.
If anyone rates recognition as a TimeBank Olympic Champion, it is Mashi Blech. Going back to 1987, she carried the torch, first for Elderplan’s timebank, sponsored by a Jewish Organization, then for the Visiting Nurse Service, a non-denominational sponsor and now for Archcare, sponsored by the Catholic ArchDiocese of New York. Mashi’s efforts span three decades and she is still going strong. TimeBanking spans all faiths.
As life expectancy increases and as artificial intelligence (AI), automation and robotics transform the world of work, there is a new Olympics: fashioning the world we want for each other, the world of the future. As computers, memory chips, and information technology transform the economy, work is less and less about the production of physical objects.
We are summoned to sculpt the future and to invest as never before in preserving and enhancing the quality of life. As a species, humans are entering an era of longevity where life’s challenge is to find continuing meaning and purpose. Economics as the science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services will increasingly be called upon to wrestle with the question: Toward what end?
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