I’m continuing to report on the Vatican conference of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, held May 2 to 6. Amongst the interesting social-Catholic topics presented there was Luigino Bruno, whose intervention I’m presenting by excerpting his paper, covering two topics. 1. The Economy of Communion Luigini Bruni: “The EoC is a project that currently… Continue reading
Date archives "May 2008"
Achieving democratic digital power through design?
This is a crucially important essay by Harry Halpin, which stresses that behind the protocols that govern online social systems, there are people, and that therefore, purely technical strategies are bound to fail. Above all, Halpin warns us for strategies of retreat from the present internet. So, in a crucial way, this is a critique… Continue reading
Pursuing the Common Good (3): Pierpaolo Donati’s relational vision of the common good
Donati writes from within the tradition of the social doctrine of the Catholic Church and aims to push it towards a more radical relational understanding of its concept of the common good. The following are excerpts from his written contribution: For the Proceedings of THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, XIV Plenary Session, 2-6 May… Continue reading
Pursuing the Common Good (2): the four elements of the social doctrine
Today, we give a brief overview of our impressions, and re-introduce the main theme of the conference: “It was an altogether strange but rich experience, to find myself for the first time inside the Vatican, for four full days. The event was organized by the Pontifical Academy of the Social Sciences, an august body that… Continue reading
Vinay Gupta announces launch of Global Swadeshi Network
Vinay Gupta, already active in the open design movement for appropriate technology, is collaborating with the creation of a global political initiative: Vinay Gupta: “The Global Swadeshi Network is a new community of people working together on various aspects of personal freedom and economic or technical self-reliance. Swadeshi is Gandhi’s term for economic self reliance…. Continue reading
Does internet distribution favour superficial culture production?
Jonas Andersson poses the serious problem that a demonitezing cultural production dissuades ambitious projects: – the problem: “The problem with distribution on the Internet is that it is granular, and dispersed in a way that is in fact antithetical to panopticon-like overview. Instead, it favours an accessibility that primarily operates through a search function. The… Continue reading
Video: WELL Party, 1989: Early virtual community meetup
“A slice of cyberculture history: Over twenty years ago, people who met online began to meet in person at the WELL office in Sausalito. These interviews are from a WELL party,” via Howard Rheingold
Fábricas Recuperadas: crowd-storming your own just and equitable economy in Argentina
“Factory workers in Argentina show us that just and equitable economies not only can, but do, exist. How have these workers struggled for ownership of their factories? And how does this struggle contribute to our collective vision for the future of our economy? “We used to work for money. Now we work for dignity.” I… Continue reading
Christian Siefkes on Hint-based Systems
From a discussion on the Oekonux mailing list (list-en), Christian Siefkes refers to an important aspect of peer production projects, i.e. their stigmergic aspects, which allow to coordinate work through impersonal messaging of what needs to be done. Christian Siefkes: “A hinting system also serves as an informal mechanism for prioritizing tasks: the more people… Continue reading
Pursuing the Common Good: 1) the aims of this Vatican Conference
Report of the conference at the Vatican: Pursuing the Common Good: How Solidarity and Subsidiarity Can Work Together. The above conference, which aims to update the social doctrine of the Catholic Church in light of current social developments, will take place May 2 to 6, 2008, and I will be presenting a case study on… Continue reading
Using Vested Commons as the core structure of the macro and micro economy
There’s a lot of hidden discussion going on through various list such as list-en, our p2presearch list, and others, which often are not seen by too many people. Here is such a contribution by Stan Rhodes, the context being a dialogue with Christian Siefkes Peerconomy proposals, and whether his effort sharing scheme are a market…. Continue reading
Christian Siefkes on Effort-Sharing vs. Market Allocation
From an interesting discussion at the Oekonux mailing list, by Christian Siefkes, where he explains what his proposed effort-sharing is not, i.e. a market form. “- Not an exchange system A problem with LETS is that they don’t have a model of cooperation (they basically assume that everybody produces in isolation), while my model is… Continue reading