Panthic Tokens: Measuring Progress with Contribution-Based Minting

The Problem

To evaluate the status of various concerns in the world, numerous metrics and indexes are commonly used. For example:

• Human Development Index to evaluate a country's average achievements in health, education, and income.
• Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for total economical output of a country
• Stock market indexes, such as the S&P 500, to measure the performance of the economy.

There are many such metrics that are used frequently all over the globe. However, to evaluate our Panthic progress, we have no such metric.

So how are we supposed to get a sense of our progress, especially for key internal priorities such as Beadbi Prevention, Gurbani Santhia, or Education?

To solve this problem, we can use an innovative solution: Panthic Tokens.

What is a Panthic Token?

When we make progress toward a personal goal, it happens in small incremental units that repeat over a period of time. For example, for school you take one class at a time, and for work, one workday at a time. Similarly, when we take steps towards a specific Panthic priority, our granular progress can also be quantified in units.

However, we need to determine what one incremental unit is made of: a single action, or a set of multiple ones. Once we have that clarity for a given Panthic priority, we can effectively start measuring every unit of progress that is made towards it.

When the information is stored digitally, that single unit of progress becomes a Panthic Token — a simple record stored in a database with details about each granular contribution.

Token Types and Gradual Minting

Since there can be multiple pathways to make progress for a single Panthic Priority, we must have a way to separate those tokens, especially when one requires more effort than the other. This way we can ensure that the effort represented by one token can’t dilute the symbolic representation of the other.

With this simple measure, we can prevent inflated metrics and provide a well balanced foundation to evaluate growth across various frontiers of the Panth.

However, some tokens may require repetition of the same step, while others might need a combination of different steps. That's why we should make it possible to split a token to prevent unnecessarily increase in token categories. By allowing this flexibility closer to the minting actions, we can also enable creative and gamified implementations of this system.

Regionally Stamped

The system of Panthic Tokens is an implementation of the Localized and Distributed model for Panthic development. It encourages us to see our priorities at the local and regional level — exactly where we are likely to make the most impact.

That's why it's important to have clarity on where tokens are minted so that we can better contextualize our progress. Not only that, but by observing the variance in minting across regions we can actively optimize our solutions. If for a specific Panthic Priority, one region is minting more tokens than the others, it will be automatically clear where to look for insights and guidance to improve in all regions.

Implementation

Right now a major implementation of Panthic Tokens is being done by the SikhApp for its upcoming features to build a custom Sikh LinkedIn, that enables Panthic problem-solving for issues that have been long-neglected.

The first example in this platform involves Sikhs who commit to become supporters of Beadbi Prevention, the top-priority in the Internal Panth. In this case, there is a unique token called Beadbi Token. It gives a time-stamped record that certifies that on a specific date, a Sikh took a historically significant step of standing up to defend our honor by making this neglected issue a priority.

However, on the other side, those within the SikhApp who decide to help a young Sikh professional in finding a job don't get any token right away. In this context, the Kirat Token that must be earned by first taking an actual tangible helping-action.

To illustrate this application, let's take a first scenario of a professional giving a referral at their company. While this tangible act is helpful, it does not bring about a complete successful outcome for the candidate. Therefore, only a partial progress towards earning a token can be awarded. However, when a referral leads to a job offer and is verified by the job seeker, then that professional who gave that referral is awarded a full Kirat Token.

However, we can't always identify a significant contribution for all actions. If in a second scenario, multiple professionals help the same job candidate with resume review, issuing one complete token to everyone would dilute the symbolic value of the earlier contribution that is more significant.

Therefore, for each resume review request, only one Kirat Token is made available for minting. That token is then divided among everyone who helps with the same resume review. In cases where there is already enough quality feedback for a single resume review request, other professionals can go assist others who need help.

Reliable Indicators

Since the goal of this system is to get an indication of our progress, the practical limitations in getting a complete quantification of all contributing actions is not a problem. Panthic Tokens do not aim to provide an absolute measurement, but a fairly reliable metric to track our progress on key priorities.

While the illustrated examples are limited, the ways to further enhance the implementations are many. With enough flexibility enabled by the system, we can ensure quality and proportionality in the minting process to make Panthic Tokens a reliable indicator for various frontiers of our Panth.