Well argued case by John Michael Greer: “we’re well past the window of opportunity in which the decline and fall of industrial society might have been prevented. Still, that doesn’t foreclose the chance to cushion the decline and get things of value through the approaching mess, and these should be at the top of the… Continue reading
Date archives "October 2009"
Mises and the Neo-Marxists: Paleotechnic Blood Brothers?
In an earlier post, I argued that we’re experiencing an end to economic growth–not because of an end to progress and innovation, but because progress and innovation are making conventional metrics of “growth” obsolete. GDP and other conventional metrics of economic “growth” measure the value of inputs consumed to produce a given level of output. … Continue reading
Platform-based manufacturing, act 2: CloudFab
“CloudFab is a new online marketplace that provides engineers, designers, and hobbyists access to a network of job shops who provide fabrication and prototyping services (currently 3D printing).” After the launch of 100kGarages, the Ponoko blog informs us of another inititiative in the works, CloudFab. They have a CloudFab Manifesto, explaining their vision and goals:… Continue reading
Report: Sustaining Democratic Communities in the Digital Age
Report: Informing Communities: Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age. Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities. October 2009 Danah Boyd: “We begin our report by asking, “What are the information needs of communities in a democracy?” Following this reflective analysis, we outline findings and recommendations, centered on three objectives: * Maximize the availability of… Continue reading
Introduction to cooperative games
A contribution by Paul Fernhout: A key aspect of P2P is cooperation. How do we know cooperation is important? The value of cooperation may seem obvious to some, but is still counter the mainstream culture in a place like the USA. Then, how can we learn how to cooperate better? Here is a book by… Continue reading
P2P and the Role of Exclusion I: Beyond the Tragedy of the Commons
Anti-rivalry rather than non-rivalry, outrider rather than free-rider. A brief analysis on how P2P goes beyond the “Tragedy of the Commons”.
Continue readingTelepathology: a true medical commons approach
A repost from Silke Helfrich at the German Commonsblog. Silke Helfrich: “Access to Pathology Expertise: How can we turn this luxury into a global commons? This is the question asked by Jacques Paysan from Carl Zeiss MicroImaging GmbH during the World Commons Forum held in Salzburg on September 29/30. The success of medical treatment crucially… Continue reading
The Power of Code in software and money
I think the important insight that travels from free software to money is this. Power lies in the code and in the invisible structures that enable or disenable actions and relationships, what Alexander Galloway calls ‘protocolarry power’. The great insight of the current age is that money has a code as well. But just as… Continue reading
Sharing research with Mendeley
Via Alessandro Delfanti: Mendeley is a new online tool to share, aggregate, organize and discover research papers. It allows researchers to search for papers but also to connect with other researchers, invite them to join a group and then share ideas and documents. It has been compared to Last.fm, the popular website to share music,… Continue reading
The Commons as a new narrative for the 21 century
Silke Helfrich of the German “CommonsBlog” writes: I had the opportunity to do the introductory talk of the World Commons Forum held on 29 and 30 of September in Salzburg. I am pleased to share my ideas as well as the presentation. It includes a table to compare the present paradigm with the commons paradigm…. Continue reading
What would an Alliance between Commoners and Neo-capitalists Look Like?
A contribution by Ryan Lanham: Civil Society organizations like the Progressio Foundation seem to offer a path toward a world where markets can be used responsibly alongside social frameworks where the commons is strong and vibrant. It that a fantasy world where only silly idealists waste their time? At the fringes of socialist and capitalist… Continue reading
Digital Labor conference
(posted on behalf of Trebor Shulz) Register now for “The Internet as Playground and Factory” conference at The New School, Eugene Lang College November 12-14. Here at digitallabor.org/registration/ This will be a great conference, with a stellar cast of scholars and very well prepared by Trebor Scholz and his team. I’m honoured to participate. See… Continue reading
Local and Small versus Big and Central –the Case of Power
A contribution by Ryan Lanham: “At the heart of home energy discussions as they touch the P2P world lives the question as to whether localized production can be made as efficient as central manufactured power. While P2P advocates esteem the commons, most would see a local household-level power solution, such as a personal solar plant,… Continue reading
CFP: A critical view on Peer-to-Peer energy production and distribution
Via our friend Vasilis Kostakis, a call for papers for an important new issue of the Re-Public magazine: 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 a P2P-based, sustainable society would be based on a set of… Continue reading
Paul Hawken on the meaning of ‘natural capitalism’
I believe in commerce, I believe in entrepreneurship, I believe in business, I mean I want to make it really clear. But capitalism? No. I don’t hold trump with that at all. It was meant to be a double entendre. A pun, a pun. From an interview with Paul Hawken (by Kamal Patel), one of… Continue reading
Opening up aid and development information
“Unlocking the potential of aid information” is a new report by the Open Knowledge Foundation and Aidinfo, which looks at how to make information related to international development * (i) legally open, * (ii) technically open and * (iii) easy to find. It aims to inform the development of a new platform for publishing and… Continue reading