QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT PROFIT SHARING

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Q1. Before hearing about sharing the profit, I would like to hear a bit more clearly what is the exact relationship between Human Wisdom and the people who participate into the making of its books or other products. What can they expect from Human Wisdom? – Are they going to be hired by Human Wisdom, paid as independent workers or what else?

A1. This is a crucial question about a very important aspect and in order to avoid any misunderstandings or false expectations we have to clarify it to the best detail that we can.

As already established, at the origin Human Wisdom is a publishing enterprise. At present time, it has a few staff members and associates who presently work without any remuneration (please see the About us section). Human Wisdom has an opening book - Terra City Book and an original project - Terra City Project. It also has an innovative concept and objective - that of supporting and promoting the creative spirit of all human beings through our synergetic interaction, with the final goal of bringing mankind to a superior level of mentality and civilization and creating what we called a HUMAN ERA on earth.

This is what Human Wisdom is all about - an international forum through which people from all over the world who relate to these objectives can interact and seek creative ways to achieve these objectives. In the process we exchange knowledge and information, write and publish books, create and develop products and projects that respond to various demands worldwide and are in accord with Human Wisdom principles and objectives.

Consequently, the only source of revenue for Human Wisdom is the value of its books, products and projects and nothing else, and as already mentioned, the entire net profit resulted will be shared among all those who participated into the making of those books, products and projects.

Human Wisdom cannot and actually would not even intend to promise someone a job, since it considers that renting someone’s workforce in the form of a job - although the most common practice in the workplace for the last couple of centuries - is actually limiting people’s potential, aspirations and ultimately their benefits. Instead, Human Wisdom's focus is to create a common platform which will:

allow everyone the possibility to come up with any constructive idea and turn it into a book, product or project,
allow everyone who believes in someone else’s idea to contribute to the refinement and enhancement of that idea,
allow everyone who feels attracted by someone else's idea for a book, product or project to effectively participate into their development in the final outputs,
allow everyone to take part in the invaluable activity of promoting in every corner of the world of the ideals, activity and results of our common strive within Human Wisdom, and
allow each one of us to fairly benefit from our involvement in any of these activities

This is all there is with Human Wisdom enterprise and if this model will prove its viability and succeed as expected, then it will most probably be replicated in a multitude of forms and versions all around the world creating unlimited possibilities for everyone to develop, perform and benefit to the best of their talent, interest and creative potential.

Q2. So, being a publishing company in the first place, would it be correct to say that Human Wisdom is especially looking for people with book-related talents and affinities, such as writing, editing, illustrating etc.?

A2. Not at all. First, even in the field of books, Human Wisdom is looking for people with life-related interests, people - be they writers or anything else - who have something interesting, wise, useful to share that would enlighten and help all of us in a particular aspect of life and society. Second, in view of its specific way of writing and publishing books – with an initial opening edition then developed into one, or even more, enhanced editions – Human Wisdom books need everyone’s questions, comments, opinions and visions, for this is its particular way of searching for truth, and each one of these contributions will be praised and rewarded according to their value and impact. Third, as already mentioned, a part from books Human Wisdom will be supportive to any other constructive product and project that someone could imagine, which is in accord with Human Wisdom principles and objectives.

Q3. Still, let’s say that I am a person who is so “shy” or so “untalented” or simply completely unable to express an idea that may bring a contribution in one of Human Wisdom books or in any other products or projects developed at Human Wisdom, yet I sincerely relate to the entire Human Wisdom approach. Will I be able to still be involved somehow or I will just be one of the unfortunate, unfitted people in this program?

A3. This may sound a bit surprising, but there is no way that someone who sincerely relates to Human Wisdom vision and objectives could be left out, for that would simply be a failure of this entire venture. There are at least two important things that even the “shyest” person in the world can do within Human Wisdom and have a substantial benefit. First, one of the roles that Human Wisdom has is to allow the development of every human being into the best that s/he could become. To do that, each of us needs to be exposed to information, to understand things and life as they truly are and not as most of us have been taught before. We need to develop a way of thinking – be it something like the data-goal-way model discussed and applied in Terra City book or anything else that will allow us to analyze, decide and operate increasingly appropriate in future circumstances. This is the first thing that anyone can achieve and benefit from within Human Wisdom – to allow themselves the exposure to our common human wisdom.

The second aspect relates, on one hand, to the very survival and success of Human Wisdom as a worldwide enterprise, and on the other hand, to an objective primary need that every human being has – to have an abundant life. Simply stated, in order to succeed at the global scale, Human Wisdom has no choice but to develop its own worldwide promotion and distribution system for its ideas, books, products and projects, without which it would remain nothing else but a well-intended utopian idea. This is where everyone who relates to the Human Wisdom goals, without exception, can and is welcome to bring their contribution to make it a success. And incidentally, this is also the most substantial and “spectacular” source of financial benefits for everyone, including the shyest person who asked this question. To find out all the details about this subject, please visit the HW P&D System section.

Q4. How will the profit be shared among those who contributed to a Human Wisdom book?

A4. The easiest way to answer this question is to quote an excerpt from Terra City, which uses a concrete example and also clarifies a few further questions:

“For simplicity, let’s take the anticipated enhanced edition of Terra City as an example. Let’s assume that the first edition of Terra City generated enough interest among the readers and that a number of people decided to send in their comments, thoughts, ideas and visions about different issues debated in the book, thus generating a comprehensive material that Human Wisdom incorporated in an enhanced edition of Terra City. Let’s assume that:

the total cost of publishing this enhanced edition is $400,000 (an example);
the total cost for distributing the book is 1,100,000 (also an example);
the total revenue generated by this book is $2,000,000 (also an example).

The net profit created by this enhanced edition will equal the revenue minus the expenses:

2,000,000 - (400,000 + 1,100,000) = $500,000

the total number of people’s contributions included in this enhanced edition was 1,000 (again, an example). If we consider that all 1,000 contributions included in this edition are equally valuable, than each contribution will receive:

$500,000/1,000 = $500

Please note that the word previously used was contribution, and not contributor, since one person (a contributor) can participate with more than one contribution in different parts of the book. That means that a person who had for instance 3 such contributions will receive:

3 x $500 = $1,500

Now, there are a number of “details” to be discussed and questions to be answered:

1. What happens if the contributions are not equally valuable? For instance, one person can have a few important comments on a subject while another one has written half a chapter in the book. How do we differentiate between the two of them?

To answer this question, Human Wisdom proposes a reward point-based system. Each contribution is awarded a certain number of points, according to its value. In our example, let’s assume that out of the 1,000 contributions - 300 contributions were rewarded 150 points each, 500 contributions were rewarded 270 points each, and 200 contributions were rewarded 350 points each. That makes a total of:

300x150 + 500x270 + 200x350 = 250,000 points awarded.

If the net profit was $500,000, then each point will be worth:

$500,000 / 250,000 points = $2

Then, in this example, the first group of 300 contributions rewarded 150 points each, will receive

150 points x $2 = $300 for each contribution;

the next group of 500 contributions rewarded 270 points each, will receive

270 points x $2 = $540 for each contribution;

and the last group of 200 contributions rewarded 350 points each, will receive

350 points x $2 = $700 for each contribution.

Is it more fair?

2. Now the question is: Who will decide how many points each contribution should be rewarded? This is a truly impossible question to be answered in a perfectly fair way. Therefore until a better suggestion is received, analyzed and adopted, Human Wisdom will offer everyone the chance to evaluate their contributions themselves. Each person sending a material to Human Wisdom for publication is also invited to indicate the number of points that he or she considers their contribution is worth. Human Wisdom will have the right to decide if the material is worth being published or not - according to its principles and objectives - but once accepted, Human Wisdom will grant each contribution the number of points requested by the sender. In case Human Wisdom decides for instance to include in the book only half of the contribution submitted, then it will award half of the points requested for the entire contribution. In case the sender does not mention the number of points required for his contribution, then Human Wisdom will grant a number of points according to its own assessment.

Since this solution may raise some eyebrows regarding possible “exaggerations” Human Wisdom will also include in each edition a list of all contributions, the name of the contributors and the number of points awarded. For the record, and to break the ice, for my contribution [Dan Bostan's] to the foundation of Human Wisdom and writing the opening edition of Terra City – I granted myself 1000 points. Also, for his valuable contribution to the opening edition of Terra City, including and extending beyond endless reviewing, editing and continuous enhancements of its many successive drafts, Ian Cuthbertson was assigned 250 points; and Kris Steeves, who passionately designed and refined meticulously the inspired illustration of Terra City on the front cover, was assigned 100 points. I hope this will sound reasonably fair to everyone.”

Anyone can review at any time the updated LIST OF REWARD-POINTS granted by Human Wisdom to various people’s inputs and contributions.

Q5. Let’s assume that the Human Wisdom enterprise proves viable and after a while it has published several books and enhanced editions with this synergic participation. Will the net profits resulted from each book be counted separately or together with the other books? Moreover, what about the contributions that people would make not to a book in particular, but to the promotion of Human Wisdom enterprise in general - by designing illustrations for the Web site, logos, cards, posters... for example? All these contributions will have an obvious impact in increasing the Human Wisdom reputation. How will they be rewarded? Also, in this positive scenario, there will be other possible revenues resulting from various sources, such as advertising proceeds from Human Wisdom web site for instance, which will have to be shared among all contributors as well. How will that be done?

A5. By sharing the overall Human Wisdom net profit, regardless of its source, to all valuable contributions, regardless of their nature.

Q6. Provided that Human Wisdom will evolve as wished and after a while a series of books and enhanced editions have been published, for how long will someone’s contribution to a particular book, project or Human Wisdom promotion, be considered for the reward? For one year, for two years, for ten years or forever?

A6. This is a very hard to answer question, since each one of these options might undervalue someone. To find the fairest answer to this question and others that people may think of, Human Wisdom definitely needs everyone’s opinion and suggestion. Until a better solution will be found, Human Wisdom will offer for each accepted contribution a point-based reward of the overall net profit of Human Wisdom over a period of three years from the moment of publication of each contribution.

Q7. What about instances when more than one person came up with similar ideas and contributions?

A7. In that case, Human Wisdom will credit them all equally.

Q8. There might be other situations when outside contributions will sound very similar to Human Wisdom’s own thoughts and ideas…

A8. In that case, Human Wisdom will mention and credit each contributor.

Q9. How do we all know that “indeed” all revenues are accounted for and that Human Wisdom will not use some of its revenue for fancy cars, parties, expensive trips and alike, thus diminishing the net profit to be shared among contributors?

A9. The answer may sound somehow old-fashioned, or hopefully new-fashioned. In full appreciation for all those who will create and generously share value with the rest of the world through the Human Wisdom books, products and projects, Dan Bostan - the founder of Human Wisdom - makes an utmost matter of honor in assuring everyone that Human Wisdom will:

· do its very best to promote and propagate the value of people’s contributions worldwide, thus increasing their worth and implicitly maximizing the Human Wisdom revenue;

· always keep its operating expenses at the minimum level possible, thus maximizing the net profit. No luxury items or avoidable expenses will be considered in Human Wisdom operation and the eventual salaries of the few staff members who will be working in the future on a regular basis for Human Wisdom will be in no way higher than a fair value.

Moreover, in the spirit of absolute openness and fairness, the Human Wisdom account, containing all revenues, major expenses and the resulting net profit, will be completely open and accessible to all Human Wisdom participants to consult and audit.