A P2P correction to Darwinian theory? Excerpts from an extensive treatment by the New Scientist, from Mark Buchanan: 1. “JUST suppose that Darwin’s ideas were only a part of the story of evolution. Suppose that a process he never wrote about, and never even imagined, has been controlling the evolution of life throughout most of… Continue reading
Date archives "January 2010"
Paul Hartzog on Managing the Commons and their Contradictions
Brilliant lecture: As the embed code does not work, go here at http://www.archive.org/details/HowardRheingoldIFTFStanfordHumanitiesLabPaulHartzog
An ethical critique of pollution as a right
From the distributist author John Medaille: Excerpt: “Capitalism itself is being proposed as the solution, through the means of establishing pollution as a property right. This is the meaning of the “cap and trade” system. Government will give the biggest polluters the biggest rights to pollute, and then slowly withdraw the rights, leading to a… Continue reading
Outlaw biologists vs. DIY bio-hackers
We’ve gone from a post-industrial economy organized around big, hierarchical corporations that had informal but powerful ties with big but sparsely policed Universities, to a world of small start-ups and fluid venture capital, huge collaborative efforts to pursue an “industrial biology” and vastly increased federal power to influence, control and even prohibit research. We’ve gone… Continue reading
From Owning to Flowing
Republished from Jean-Francois Noubel’s editorial on the underlying philosophy of the Metacurrency Project: “Our consumer society has built an ideology of accumulation. This is triggered by the scarce monetary system. Rather than sharing the stuff we need, we accumulate it in our basements, garages and backyards. Skis, furniture, toys, lawnmowers, tools, washing machines, books (ah,… Continue reading
Free Cooperation vs. the Old Utopias
(a republication from February 2006) Excerpts from a transcript of a video interview with Christoph Spehr. This interview sets out very clearly the criteria to which contemporary forms of cooperation must abide by. 1. Free Cooperation vs. the Old Utopias “Political utopia, utopian thinking today has to differ from most of the stuff we are… Continue reading
There is still no usable open hardware license
After describing in detail each attribute that a open hardware license should have, each being a specific decision to be made by the open hardware vendor and community, Matt from the Liquidware Antipasto blog concludes that there is still no useful open hardware license: (The excerpt below is part of a series introducing a Open… Continue reading
Is P2P left or right?
Republication of an editorial from February 2006: In my view, it is definitely an expression of the left, but, it has the potential to solve the important contradiction between equality and liberty, and thus, to encompass sincere liberals in its embrace. Before the emergence of peer to peer, it really seemed that equality and liberty… Continue reading
Expanding our sense of self
Fun video: “If our interconnected universe is continually expanding, shouldn’t our identity do the same? In this short, entertaining video, we look at the dynamics that promote and inhibit our expanding sense of self. Created by Global MindShift and Kenji Williams For more information, visit www.global-mindshift.org”
Using social media to organize Canadian democracy protests
A report from Judy Rebick, which appeared in ZMag, stressing the newness of the social movements spawned by social media based organizing: “After three weeks of online and off line organizing, tens of thousands of people across generations and political persuasions took to the streets on Saturday January 23 in 65 cities and towns across… Continue reading
P2P Hierarchy Theory: Riane Eisler’s partnership way
A republication from February 2006: Riane Eisler’s Hierarchy of Actualisation The excerpt is from Russ Volckman’s excellent Integral Leadership newsletter. See below an insert about the importance of Eisler’s previous book about the origins of hierarchy. “Q: Would you characterize the partnership model? A: Well, let’s look at the Nordic Nations. First of all, rather… Continue reading
iPad DRM is a dangerous step backward. Sign the petition!
From http://defectivebydesign.org Dear supporter, Today, Apple launched a computer that will never belong to its owner. Apple will use Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) to gain total veto power over the applications you use and the media you can view. We’ve launched a petition calling out Apple’s new product for what it is: a frightening step… Continue reading
James Purnell’s new direction for UK Labour Party
Interesting report on the tack taken by James Purnell, uk Labour MP: “James Purnell’s article in today’s Guardian is interesting on a number of counts. First, he takes a distinctive step forward in endorsing the proposal, developed by London Citizens, to use 1 per cent of the payback of the bank bailout to finance to… Continue reading
Four arguments against the illusion of philanthrocapitalism
Excerpt from Michael Edwards in Open Democracy: “There are four key points in my argument: First, neither philanthrocapitalism nor transformative approaches to social change are monolithic. Both contain many different strands, and they engage and overlap in the middle, sometimes with positive effects and sometimes not. These various strands and hybrids have different costs and… Continue reading
The concept and thesis of netarchical capitalism
A republication of January 2006, on my own concept of netarchical capitalism. Some of the references are dated, but I think the main concept is still valid. (the references to other sections are to my own manuscript, P2P and Human Evolution) Recall the following: the thesis of Cognitive Capitalism says that we have entered a… Continue reading
Opera Unite turns your laptop into a p2p server
The Opera browser, since June 2009, comes with an important extension: Opera Unite can turn any computer running the browser into a server that will share designated data with peers on the net, directly, without the need to upload. After the alpha version of June, last November saw the release of the beta Version 10.10 of… Continue reading