That&#x27;s interesting, but I&#x27;m not sure where it ends up.<p>You say &quot;a computer could grind out a solution that gives everyone in the trade chain as much of what they want as possible, for as little as they can spare of what they offer.&quot; But if this is dynamic, and trades using different combinations and subsets of the same goods give you different quantities of each, then arbitrage is inevitable. Even on a personal basis: if I know that my software gets me four pizzas in another place, and just two here, I&#x27;ll trade it in that other place and get two pizzas as profit.<p>If you eliminate those differences, such that trading e.g. offering 2 pizzas always ends up getting 4 mason jars of 80-proof, then you can calculate all the values against a single good - and you&#x27;ve just created a new currency :)