Excerpted from Rick Falkvinge: “We all too frequently hear that the copyright monopoly is supposed to encourage creativity and that the patent monopoly is supposed to encourage innovation. Most lawyers whose jobs depend on the belief in these myths even claim that the monopolies fulfill these functions to the letter. But when we look at… Continue reading
Date archives "March 2012"
Book of the Day: The Law of the Ecological Commons
* Article: David Bollier. “The Future of International Environmental Law: A Law of the Ecological Commons?. Chapter of: International Environmental Law and World Order: A Problem-Oriented Coursebook. edited by Jonathan C. Carlson, Burns M. Weston, et al. West Pub., 2012 Excerpted from David Bollier: ‘A new law textbook, International Environmental Law and World Order: A… Continue reading
How Connectivity is Changing Power Relations in the Classroom
We want to believe our power relations have remained as they always have, unchanged for many thousands of years. Top and bottom. Inside and outside. Elect and damned. A mobile, transmitting a faithful reproduction of a teacher’s angry words, tells us everything has already changed. Excerpted from Mark Pesce’s and Robert Tercek’s stimulating, “Next Billion… Continue reading
New documentary: We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists of Anonymous
Promising trailer of planned documentary on Anonymous and hacktivism:
Book of the Day: New Money for a New World
* Book: Bernard Lietaer and Stephen Belgin. New Money for a New World. 2012 Bernard Lietaer is a Belgian national treasure and has finally updated his seminal Future of Money. Below our description, we offer a fascinating glimpse in the table of contents of part three and four. Money is not just a thing, it’s… Continue reading
Essay of the Day: Notes on Spiritual Leadership and Relational Spirituality
We are republishing an important treatise on a authentic p2p spirituality by John Heron: The guru phenomenon The traditional oriental guru represents a form of spiritual leadership in which so-called advanced spiritual states of being are transmitted from guru to disciple. This requires the disciple to be present with the guru, physically or psychically, to… Continue reading
How Uber is Changing Limousine and Transportation Economics
Excerpted from Mark Pesce’s (with Robert Tercek) thought-provoking new book, The Next Billion Seconds: “Limousine drivers like Charles love Uber, too. Before the service launched, those drivers would spend half their time doing nothing, idling their hours while waiting for the next pickup call to come in. Drivers now add Uber jobs to their regularly… Continue reading
Michael Brooks: Democrats in U.S. should back ‘ethical economy’
Michael Brooks argues that Republicans are backing the most predatory forms of business, and that Democrats should focus on supporting the players of the emerging ethical economy:
Topology of Autonomy. A talk by Sylvère Lotringer
MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology Topology of Autonomy A talk by Sylvère Lotringer Preceded by a tour of community gardens in Boston ………………………………………………………………………… Full schedule: Friday, April 6 9:30a–12:30p Bus Tour: Community Gardens in Boston RSVP required (see details below) 1:30–3:00p Lecture: Topology of Autonomy Location: ACT Cube, Wiesner Building (E15-001) 20… Continue reading
Mobility and the Restoration of Emotional Connectivity: a return to the prelapsarian state?
* The Next Billion Seconds. Mark Pesce and Robert Tercek. An excerpt from Mark Pesce‘s really wonderful book: (main thesis: mobile connectivity is restoring tribal emotional realities) “The mobile has become the visible manifestation of the emotions evoked by our connections. Although, unlike the tendrils of the Pandorans, they have not burrowed their way beneath… Continue reading
Vamsi Vakulabharanam on Inequality in Asia and how it relates to different ‘regimes of capitalism’
INET continues to do fascinating economic research through its grantees. How to explain the low inequality in East Asia, compared to the high inequality in China and India? The answer lies into the ‘when’ of their development, and the nature of the ‘global regimes of capitalism’, in particular, the role of the state and the… Continue reading
What is wrong with attention economy ? A response to Michel Bauwens
A contribution from Jakob Rigi: “Michel Bauwens published an article entitled “Will Capitalism Survive Value Abundance“. Critiquing Lands and Bohm, and echoing my argument in the article published also in this site, he states that users do not create exchange value in the way in which the wage labor does. But , then he claims… Continue reading
Essay of the Day: Get Rid of Banks and Build Up a Modern Financial World
“The financial crisis has revealed fatal institutional and structural deficits at the finance market. Politics has reacted to the financial crisis with a sea of legal bills and regulations. But all regulating efforts are merely system-imminent reparation measures and do not solve the core problems. For this, a fundamental financial reform is needed. This article… Continue reading
Concerns raised about Colombian copyright reform #nopupitrazo
Via Carolina Botero: This week the Colombian Executive introduced a draft law it says is required to implement its obligations under the Colombia-US Free Trade Agreement. The Congress has been called upon to do the necessary paperwork in three weeks to have the law in place before President Obama visits Cartagena in mid-April. You can… Continue reading
Documentary on the Teatro Valle ‘commons occupation’ in Rome
Inspiring: (see also the interview with the director below) An Interview with Director of Occupying the Commons Saki Bailey (via) “What is the relationship between occupation movements and the commons?” Occupation is understood as a strategy of the commons to: resist the collusion of state and markets which has produced an unequal distribution of wealth… Continue reading
Britain’s enclosure of what remains of the public sphere
What the British conservatives are attempting today goes way beyond simple privatisation, it’s a wholesale destruction of the public sphere. Excerpted from Stuart Weir: “I think that those who oppose the neo-liberal drive towards the “small state” need to re-imagine the the full enormity of what is going on. Cameron and co – a group… Continue reading