Date archives "January 2011"

Empathy as the real invisible hand of history

Excerpted from Jeremy Rifkin: “New discoveries in human evolutionary development are challenging our long held shibboleths about human nature. We are learning that human beings are biologically predisposed not for aggression, violence, self-interest and pleasure seeking utilitarian behavior but, rather, for intimacy and sociability, and that empathy is the emotional and cognitive means by which… Continue reading

An integrative view of collective intelligence

Interesting integration of the various components of collective intelligence, each needed to make it work, by Pierre Levy: “I have adopted here the network or actor-network theory that is broadly used in human and social sciences, leading to the integration of mathematical tools of graph theory. This diagram shows essentially that a sustainable collective intelligence… Continue reading

Characteristics of social business design for the maker generation in the workplace

Excerpted from a contribution on social business design by JP Rangaswami: “When it comes to the entry of the Maker Generation into the workplace, I’d like to propose five principles: 1. The person will select the “task”, rather than be given the “task”. Ever since the inception of the modern firm, people were given tasks… Continue reading

Balancing the individual and the collective: the option of 19th cy. ‘civic socialism’

At the end of the day, to adopt either individualism or socialism, is to not understand life. Life consists essentially in the divine and necessary relation of individual and free beings. Individualism does not comprehend life, for it denies that relation. Absolute socialism does not comprehend it better; for, by distorting that relation, it destroys… Continue reading

The Marginalization of the Commons and What To Do About It

Very readable lecture by David Bollier, for the International Association for the Study of the Commons Conference “Sustaining Commons: Sustaining our Future”. Hyderabad, India, January 12, 2011. David Bollier: “Thank you, Jagdeesh Rao of the Foundation for Ecological Security and Ruth Meinzen-Dick, President of the International Association for the Study of the Commons, for inviting… Continue reading

The legacy of Brazil’s pioneering digital culture policy, and why it should be protected.

Jose Murillo produced the following primer on Quora, explaining the legacy of Gilberto Gil (and his successors) and Lula’s policies, now endangered under a new Minister of Culture: “I think it would be useful to mention the elements which, in my view, created the set and setting for the Brazilian Digital Culture Experiment. * a… Continue reading

The impact of online video sharing on accelarated collective learning

“I believe that the arrival of free online video may turn out to be just as significant a media development as the arrival of print. It is creating new global communities, granting their members both the means and the motivation to step up their skills and broaden their imaginations. It is unleashing an unprecedented wave… Continue reading

In Brazil, IP Counter-Revolution has begun: Ministry of Culture starts undoing Lula’s legacy

Really bad news is coming from Brazil, where the new Minister of Culture is starting to undo creative commons licenses, negate years of work resulting from civil society participation held as exemplary at a global level, and undo the vision that was started by Gilberto Bil, continued under his successors, and strongly endorsed by former… Continue reading

The role of central bank ‘credit pump-priming’ (QE) in food inflation and the Euro-bond crash

Fascinating episode n the always informative and entertaining Keiser Report. In the first part, Max Keiser makes some startling claims on the real effects of Quantitative Easing, interpreted as economic warfare. The second part, starting at minute 13, is an interview with one of my favourite economists, the Australian Steve Keen:

Restoring democratic governance through Associative Democracy

“Democracy can be renewed but on two conditions. First, that the burden placed on representative institutions by complex public service states is reduced but without reducing public services. Associationalism provides for governance that is public but non-state. Second that the role of non-state institutions in promoting the habits of association and participation is promoted. Renewing… Continue reading

Distributed P2P energy plays vs. Green Capitalism

Excerpted from Kevin Carson: “I hear frequently from a doctoral student named Keith Taylor, who’s researching electrical power cooperatives and decentralized models for developing wind power. He’s sent me quite a bit of material, over the past year or so, on the extent to which government “alternative energy” policy systematically privileges large-scale, conventional corporate business… Continue reading