Forget The Gig Economy, Join The Life Economy: Get Paid To Live

Written by Chris Kalaboukis, Chief Philosopher, Engineer, and Futurist at hellofuture written for Nodle and Hackernoon.

“The Future Is Already Here - It’s Just Not Evenly Distributed” -  William GibsonEver heard this quote from the father of cyberpunk sci-fi? I don’t know about you but I’ve seen it everywhere - and it's mostly true - there are “pockets of the future” all over the world, they are just not everywhere yet. That time has come. The future IS already physically distributed. It’s all around us. It might even be in your hand right now, as you are reading this. It just hasn’t been activated yet. In your pocket (or in your hand) is the most interesting thing in the world (no joke!). You have with you, at all times, a magic portal to all of the world’s information, entertainment and people. Within seconds, this magic portal can answer almost any question, educate you on any topic, keep you from getting lost while you are driving, and instantly kill or elevate your mood. It truly is the most amazing thing in the world. Even so, it’s still missing something: it is still not as useful as it could be. Modern smartphones are studded with a ton of sensors which largely go unused. Sure, they track your motion so they know when you are going for a walk, track your face to unlock, and connect to your Bluetooth headphones when you want to listen to music, but that’s nothing to these little powerhouses.  Their powerful little processors in our pockets spend most of their time doing nothing, even when we are using them. While we mostly use them as portals to the world, they themselves are powerful enough to be used to help sense the world around them. What if, with no effort on your part whatsoever - this magic portal could also earn money for you? What if there was a way to “rent” all that power on your phone to others? What if there was a way to get back some of those thousands of dollars we spend on our iPhones, Galaxy’s or Pixels?Wouldn’t it be great if you could earn something from that phone - whether you were using it or not? What if I told you that there is a way for you - just by living your life normally and doing the things you normally do and earn money at the same time. Better than money for nothing - its money for just living your life. All of those sensors and processing power on your phone can be tapped and rented. Your phone, just by being where it is, in your hand or in your pocket, can act as a connector between devices in its local vicinity simply by installing some software that runs in the background. This software detects other devices in the area and helps to connect those devices to other devices. This is valuable, and there are humans and machines willing to pay you for this access. You don’t need to physically do anything but download the app and agree to the terms. It runs in the background, completely disconnected from your private information, and acts as a conduit to all of the devices in your general vicinity. That’s it. The app is called Nodle Cash, and it truly lets you earn money “while you sleep” (or ‘Gram’, or play Fortnite). Once it’s installed, it uses a portion of your phone’s processing power and sensors to track devices in your vicinity, with very little battery drain and pays you in cryptocurrency. You can, at any time, review your earned balances and convert them to good ole fiat of your choice. The app itself acts as a wallet too, allowing you to send and receive money. You know, the Rich Dad, Poor Dad guy (Robert Kiyosaki) always said that the road to riches was “making money while you sleep”. This is even better - making money while you live your life - welcome to the Life Economy.

Chris Kalaboukis is also an inventor on 86 patents on the internet, social networking, and fintech space, he is also an experienced technologist, architected and launched a multitude of apps, both web, and mobile as well as a serial entrepreneur, helming several startups from inception to launch. He has also authored several books on innovation and the future and blogs and podcasts at .