by the hydro meter at my house. One by the community center close to the front door. Even one near the hot water tank.” He shook his head. “This is an amazing feat of magic. I don’t know how you do it all, in millions of homes and offices.”
“We’re amazing,” Demus boasted.
“I’ve started using it,” the professor said, shaking his head. “It’s truly revolutionary. I see that I start with two thousand bitcoins a day. It’s hard to get used to it. The values don’t always correspond with what we see every day, like for example, I just turn on the water and use it to wash my dishes or whatever.”
“It’s designed to measure exact cost, in terms of value, and gets rid of ineffective pricing of opportunity cost.”
The professor’s eyes widened. “Yes, opportunity cost. We’ve never found a way to measure it. Not even close. But this…” He shook his head in amazement. “This is a most critical breakthrough, if it works. You’re capturing millions of economic decisions made every day, from households to factories.”
“Exactly.”
“When doing my laundry last night, I found out it’d cost me 3.45 bitcoins to do one regular load. When I turned the dial to do a larger load, it increased to 3.76 bitcoins. Right away I knew I was using up more resources and it’s made me extremely conscious of what I do.”
The wizards all sat quietly, eagerly hearing the consumer’s perspective of how their experiment was working.
“I found out that I had three hundred ninety-two bitcoins left at the end of the day, so I decided to donate them to my local hospital, which is treating my mother-in-law for Alzheimer’s. The hospital had hired a new greeter, someone who comes out of the door to thank donors of bitcoins. She was so grateful, and gave me a flyer to promote their hospital as a worthy cause.”
“You can save the bitcoins, sir,” Regi advised. “You can carry them over to the next day. This encourages saving.”
The professor thought some more. “How much more time do I have left?”
Justica answered, “As long as you like. We decide if this Petition is adding value.” All the wizards nodded.
Amanda intervened, “Actually, we have a lot more Petitioners awaiting their turn. So we do have to move on.”
“Just one more question,” Professor Scully said, leaning forward into the screen.
“Yes, Professor.”
“So this bitcoin revolution is the same all over the world? You’ve introduced this device in every household in China, Europe, and Australia?”
“Yes,” Regi said. “The world’s now operating on one common currency, so to speak. The same economic system. All old tariffs and barriers will now fall, invigorating the world economy.”
“Time’s up soon,” Amanda prodded.
“Just wait, just wait,” the professor said, holding up one hand and glancing down at his desk. “One thing that affects me personally. My salary at the University of Toronto. I know how to spend my bitcoins, but I don’t know how to earn them. Does the university still pay me anything? What about my pension? What about my benefits?”
“Yes, definitely,” Regi said. “Your employer can collect all its bitcoins from students who still want to pay for its most valuable and enriching education. As well as from parents and entrepreneurs who find themselves with more bitcoins than they need. Then your employer will decide how much you’re worth to keep going to the classroom to install value into these students’ young minds.”
The professor emitted an ominous chuckle. “They may very well decide I’m an old fogey and decide I’m not really worth very much after all.”
Justica softly remarked. “With your incredible brain, Professor, I’m certain you’ll obtain tremendous value for your contribution towards society’s ideals.”
“I hope so.”
Amanda hastily glanced at the papers in front of her. “Goodbye and thank you, Professor Scully. Next is Gary Feldman, President of the
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