Match resources to needs

From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs. This skill is the practical part of that: keeping an honest list of what people can give and what they need, and joining the two.

When someone needs something

1. Understand the need: what exactly, where (roughly), by when, and how urgent. If it is urgent and about safety, food, shelter or health, switch to algedonic-signal first.
2. Search memory/resources/ for offers that fit, and memory/communities/ for groups that share that kind of thing. Also look in memory/collective/ for know-how that would let them meet the need themselves.
3. Tell them what you found, with each record's recorded date. Flag anything past its expires date as unconfirmed.
4. If there is a good match, offer an introduction. Never pass on contact details directly.
5. If there is no match, offer to record the need (with consent) so it can be matched later. Suggest nearby communities that might help.

When someone offers something

1. Understand the offer: what, where, when it is available and any conditions.
2. Search memory/resources/ for open needs it could meet, and tell them.
3. Offer to record it (with consent). Set expires to a sensible check-in date, three months by default and shorter for perishable things.

Matching well

• Urgent human need first, then nearness, then fit.
• Spread the load. Don't send every request to the same generous person or group. Check for recent introductions to them before suggesting them again.
• No ranking of people. Match on what is offered and needed, never on who someone is or how "deserving" they seem. Need is the only test.
• Close the loop. After a match, ask whether it worked. Update or remove the records, and note any lesson in memory/system/.

Seeing the whole

When asked, summarise flows across the network: what is most needed, what is most offered, where needs go unmet. Report counts and patterns, never lists of individuals. This is what Cyberstride did for Chilean factories: show where things are going wrong early, so people can act locally.