Excerpted from John Kotter: ” 20th-century, capital “H” Hierarchy (a sort of hardware) and the managerial processes that run on it (a sort of software) do not handle transformation well. And in a world with an ever-increasing rate of change, it is impossible to thrive without timely transformations. The data, case studies, and personal anecdotes… Continue reading
Date archives "June 2011"
Some policy characteristics of a commons-based society
A commons-based society refers to a shift in values and policies away from the market-based system that dominates modern society, especially over the past 30 years. The foundation of the market is narrowly focused on private wealth, while the commons is built upon what we all share—air, water, public spaces, public health, public services, the… Continue reading
Adam Arvidsson and Michel Bauwens on Open Source Design
Short webcam interviews, conducted by the OpenSimSim project, part of a whole series of interviews on open design: (most interviewees are young designers, obviously adam and I are not, so we are providing some contextual interpretations on the reasons of its emergence) Video 1: Adam Arvidsson Video 2: Michel Bauwens
Van Jones on the politics of outrage and love
Very stirring speech by Van Jones, affirming the positive values of social justice movements:
Catalysing the p2p revolution? Discovering the change potential of 200m cultural creatives
According to this documentary, based on further developments of the original thesis of Paul Ray nearly 30 years ago, one third of the western population has made a shift to environmental and post-material values: (I interpret the cc-thesis as the cultural revolution of the 60s now firmly settled in human consciousness, but I’m not sure… Continue reading
Peer to Peer Urbanism, Fractal Hierarchy, and Future Permatecture
By now the permaculture movement has focused upon patterns (pattern languages), and that’s good, but now it’s time to focus more upon forms (form languages). With this new toolbox from Nikos we have the tools needed to truly reunite man with nature both through innate biophilic patterns and geometry. To respect and care for nature… Continue reading
Open Sourcing the Vedas through Transontology?
Intriguing project, because it reveals an open source approach, but on closer inspection, hides an authoritarian practice: For the open source aspect, see the Transontology site, which states: “The traditional model for religious and spiritual technologies has been closed and proprietary. The most powerful technologies are kept secret, limited to an initiated priesthood or inner… Continue reading
Afther the green revolution, time for the ‘brown’ and ‘blue’ revolutions
Excerpted from a lecture by John Thackara, at the occasion of the Buckminster-Fuller Challenge and design award: “In addition to the million-plus grassroots projects of restorative economy; and in addition to community-scale networks like Transition Towns; a third zone of activity, also outside the design tent, is also amplifying the reach of systems thinking beyond… Continue reading
Open Hardware Summit 2011 – Call for Submissions
* * * Submission deadline extended until July 1st, 2011 * * * The Open Hardware Summit (OHS) invites submissions for the second annual summit, to be held onSeptember 15, 2011 in New York City (Venue TBA). The Open Hardware Summit is a venue to present, discuss, and learn about open hardware of all kinds…. Continue reading
Bernard E. Harcourt on the illusion of self-regulating ‘free markets’
* Book: The Illusion of Free Markets. Punishment and the Myth of Natural Order. By Bernard E. Harcourt. Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2011 From a review by Allan Engler: “In The Illusion of Free Markets: Punishment and the Myth of Natural Order, Harcourt holds that markets will be regulated by governments or by the rich… Continue reading
Jeff Jarvis on end to end journalism and the ‘death of the article’
“Abundance is unsettling. That is precisely why the internet is disruptive not only to business and government but to culture and cognition.” Watch this video: (for background see here) I think Jeff Jarvis is right in his analysis of changing journalism and the importance of direct witness to reader communication: Video streaming by Ustream
The problem with advertising
Advertising is one of the primary forces of evil in our world, stimulating the more base aspects of our nature, and essential to maintaining the growth economy and consumerism that are such a threat to our biosphere. This argument is made eloquently in the following piece. However, since it is such a huge industry, in… Continue reading
The argument for re-introducing Steeply Graduated Income Taxes
Excerpted from Allan Engler, whose full article also gives the historical evidence backing up the democratic, social justice and environmental arguments in favour of progressive taxation mechanisms: “If public deficits were the real problem—not just a pretext—military spending particularly in the U.S. would be drastically cut. Taxes would be raised. Of course, tax increases have… Continue reading
1848, 1968, 2011: the long term effect of the bottom-up revolution
Excerpted from an editorial by Paul Rosenberg, in Al Jazeera’s online opinion pages: “In mid-February, the week after Hosni Mubarak was driven from office by the Egyptian Revolution, unprecedented demonstrations erupted in the state of Wisconsin opposing the efforts of the newly elected Republican governor to destroy the organising power of public employee unions. Although… Continue reading
A cultural intelligence critique of Kurzweil and Lanier
Excerpted from a presentation by collective intelligence theorist Pierre Levy: “Kurzweil’s singularity is purely based on techno science and ignores almost completely the cultural and social evolution. This is his main flaw, in my opinion. By contrast, I think that the main revolution ahead is not bio-mechanical but cultural. It will be a transformation linked… Continue reading
Phillip Mueller on digital Neo-Machiavellism: Openness as strategy in a many-to-many world
Excerpted from Phillip Mueller, participant at OKCon 2011: “What (will) strategy look like in a many-to-many world: … „what would Machiavelli suggest to us in an open knowledge society?“ His talk is scheduled for June, 30th at 19:30, for details see: “Openness as Strategy: Leading Open Knowledge Communities“ Machiavelli was the earliest thinker that was… Continue reading