This interesting piece of history has been unearthed by Smygo: Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson: “There was private money long before there was government money. The first revolutionary (or reformist) use of this idea, as a check against galloping usury and high interest rates, was the foundation of “Banks of Piety” by the Dominican… Continue reading
Date archives "July 2009"
The status of open government efforts in the U.S.
How well is data-driven democracy doing? In the Washington Monthly, Charles Homans has an extensive investigation into the early efforts, both in Washington D.C. as a city, and on the government level after the high profile nomination (by Obama) of open government advocate Vivek Kundera. Here are the conclusions only: “Something unprecedented has happened in… Continue reading
Three scenarios for post Peak-Oil societies
The following is an excerpt from MuseLetter #186, published in October 2007, by Richard Heinberg. However, the content, 3 scenarios for the future, is still timely. If anything, the Obama’s choice of mostly proppring the pre-meltdown system has diminished the chances for scenario 2, i.e. an ordered adaptation by strong and progressive central governments. Text:… Continue reading
How proprietary software could kill Obama’s health reform
IT-driven efficiencies will be a crucial ingredient of cost-savings that will be used to broaden access to healthcare under Obama’s healthcare reform. Here is a cautionary case study, showing the relative success of open source, vs. the failure of proprietary software, in obtaining such effects. Phillip Longman: “Consider this tale of two hospitals that have… Continue reading
Anti-social production? Misanthropy and egotism are the fuel of online social production
I’m publishing this whole piece by Nicholas Carr because it is such a clear challenge to any rosy thinking about the positive role of social media and a hypothetical sharing culture. At the same time, we should note that commentators on peer production such as Yochai Benkler have always insisted that motivations are varied and… Continue reading
The gift in the circle, and the market around it
The following echoes a basic intuition that I formuled 2-3 years ago in my manuscript, P2P and Human Evolution, i.e. envisaging a form of society, where the gifting/peer production is at the center, and the market at the margins. In this report by Guillaume LeBleu, on the Beyond Money meeting in San Francisco, Matthew Edwards… Continue reading
Richard Eoin Nash: For-profit publishing (as it is) cannot be saved
Excerpt from an editorial in Publishing Perspectives, by Richard Eoin Nash: “The question increasingly arises in today’s media: can publishing be saved? No. It cannot and should not. There are plenty of non-profit publishers that exist to create and distribute the un-economic content. For-profit publishing should not be saved — it should figure out new… Continue reading
Herman Daly on the darkness of growth
At the occasion of the reception of an award for life-time achievement by the U.S. Society for Ecological Economics, Herman Daly recaps the arguments against perpetual growth: “We have many problems (poverty, unemployment, environmental destruction, budget deficit, trade deficit, bailouts, bankruptcy, foreclosures, etc.), but apparently only one solution: economic growth, or as the pundits now… Continue reading
Chrome OS not positive for user freedoms
With every shift from a piece of free software to a web-based network service, we have moved from a situation where a user had control over his or her software — users’ of “traditional” free software have access to source and have control over the system on which the computer runs — to a situation… Continue reading
As we are shaping media, the media are shaping us
Via Micah Sifry from the Personal Democracy Forum conference: “Here’s the video of Michael Wesch’s keynote talk from the second day of Personal Democracy Forum 2009. Wesch, a professor of anthropology at Kansas State University, first gained acclaim as the author of ” The Machine is Us(ing) Us,” a video about how the internet is… Continue reading
GreenXchange: creation of an open design/patent commons
Reuters reports on an important development. Joel Makower: “GreenXchange, aims to allow companies to share intellectual property for green product design, packaging, manufacturing, and other uses. If it succeeds, this budding coalition could accelerate innovation across companies and sectors. At minimum, it stands to rewrite the rules about how companies share. The project was incubated… Continue reading
Call for papers – P2P energy production and distribution
Call for papers on P2P energy production and distribution via our Greek friend Vasilis Kostakis. Re-Public is bilingual and welcomes english-language articles. More information here at http://www.re-public.gr/en/?p=1399. Vasilis writes: “We invite contributions for our upcoming special issue entitled “A critical view on Peer-to-Peer energy production and distribution”. It can be argued that a shift to… Continue reading
Will the Chinese ‘Communing’ trend go global?
Worldchanging reports on the launch, by architect Stephanie Smith, of the WeCommune software for managing communal living, inspired by the maker’s experience in China. Here’s the background: “Smith found herself in China in 1996, a turbulent time characterized by extreme real estate speculation and the burst of a housing bubble. She focused her research on… Continue reading
Participatory developments in South East Asia
Amongst all the bad news coming from this region of the world, some developments stand out as pointers of real hope and exemplars of new democratic practices that leverage the potential of the internet. 1. Malayasia In Malaysia, Jun-E Tan & Zawawi Ibrahim, have given a detailed account of the major effect of the blogosphere… Continue reading
A critique of the arcology model
Eric Hunting reacts to our earlier article by Doctress Neutopia, who called for a network of urban arcologies. Eric Hunting: “Generally, I’m in agreement with the ideals Doctress Neutopia presents in this article. Where I disagree with her is in her assumption of a society apparently far more rational, reasonable, and coherent than that which… Continue reading
To Whom Does the World Belong?
Book: Genes, Bytes and Emissions: To Whom Does the World Belong? Ed. by Silke Helfrich. Heinrich Boll Foundation, 2009 “The book was edited by Silke Helfrich and published by the Heinrich Boell Foundation; Helfrich is the former director of the Foundation’s Mexico City office, which hosted a major conference, Citizenship and Commons, in December 2006…. Continue reading