“A new system of governance or collaboration that does not follow a competitive hierarchical model will need to employ stigmergy in most of its action based systems. It is neither reasonable nor desirable for individual thought and action to be subjugated to group consensus in matters which do not affect the group, and it is… Continue reading
Date archives "December 2012"
Working for the commons after the end of the labor market
Maybe a lot of those kids who come out of university or professional training don’t need a job, or a labor contract. They need to start to think, from the perspective of the commons, about building their own project. And, of course, above all, they need to know they are capable of doing it and… Continue reading
Wikipedia in Brazil: a critical adoption
Bia Martins is one of the students of the Peer Production class that was held in Rio de Janeiro in November 2012, for ECO-URCA, the School of Communications of the Rio de Janeiro Federal University. She is also a journalist specialized in internet reporting. Though a few years old, this work gives an interesting flavour… Continue reading
Howard T. Odum on Energy Equality
Odum was able to demonstrate concretely that while the United States received more than twice as much embodied energy from trade as it exported, Ecuador was exporting five times the embodied energy that it received. Trade between the two was thus enormously disadvantageous to Ecuador in real wealth terms, while providing a massive ecological benefit… Continue reading
The repression of the street handicraft movement in Brazil
PLEASE, support the making of this beautiful documentray in Brazil, Malucos de Estrada – The english version is at http://www.gofundme.com/malucosenglish
Telcos actively prevent Internet development
Rick Falkvinge, in some recents posts on his site, points to a very important issue that is practically unknown to many of us. We can thank the telcos, the ones that power our phones, for the fact that internet connectivity generally sucks. They have every interest to prevent and retard improvements in connectivity of the… Continue reading
Managing Health and Healthcare as a Commons
Excerpted from George Por: (the original version with links here) “A group of Commons scholars inspired by Elinor Ostrom’s work, at Indiana University, conducted a fascinating research in a Working Group on Managing the Health Commons. It provides a key conceptual building block for the transition to a Commons-based society, although that’s probably not how… Continue reading
Rick Falkvinge: Filesharing is not Copying/Downloading but Making/Manufacturing
It’s not “getting” or “downloading” a copy. It’s making or manufacturing one. Excerpted from Rick Falkvinge: “Using precise language is paramount for our own future liberties. When people are saying “I downloaded a copy of Avengers“, that use of language erodes their liberties just a little bit further. It is wrong, as in technically and… Continue reading
The Xmas lecture of Julian Assange
Let’s not forget all those who suffer consequences and are persecuted for exercising their freedom of speech and defending ours:
Bernard Stiegler on the Immaturity of the Internet Enlightenment (so far)
Bernard Stiegler is the only philosopher I know who deals directly with the emergence of the new generative logic of the internet and the shock it creates with the prevailing system, and how it is therefore, derailed. Watch the video here:
What’s Wrong with the Current Monetary System?
“How is the present monetary system affecting the economy and thereby society and nature, and why is it failing? I will outline the interconnected malfunctions of the globally prevailing monetary system in ten points.” This first part of a recommended essay by Mark Joob, is one of the best summaries outlining what’s wrong with the… Continue reading
The Commons as a Model for Art
The following is from an interview of the filmmaker Rick Prelinger, conducted by Sarah Schultz & Sarah Peters. Rick Prelinger has conducted the Open Field experiment in creative co-creation in a public space. He has published a book with the same title: Open Field: Conversations on the Commons, an absorbing collection from many authors exploring… Continue reading
The Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam Interview series on P2P
I’m reproducing an interview done by Dr. Amit Nagpal, on my P2P views. Dr Amit Nagpal- What have been the recent achievements of P2P Foundation? Michel Bauwens-That’s a tricky question, as we are an advocacy organization that wants to promote a new paradigm. Essentially we are an observatory of open, participatory, and commons-oriented practices in… Continue reading
The copyright monopoly stands in direct opposition to property rights
Excerpted/republished from Rick Falkvinge: “The idea that the copyright monopoly would be a property right doesn’t just lack factual basis, but it is 180 degrees and one hundred per cent wrong, factually wrong. The copyright monopoly stands in direct opposition to property rights. The copyright monopoly is a governmentally-sanctioned private monopoly. No liberal, socialist, green,… Continue reading
Interview with Michael Hardt on the Common
Excerpted from an interview conducted by Taavi Sundell & Tero Toivanen of Michael Hardt, the co-author with Italian philosopher Antonio Negri of Declaration (2012), as well as the widely debated Empire trilogy (Empire, Multitude and Commonwealth 2000–2009). For Commons.fi in October 2012. Interview Could you first say a few words about the intellectual and political… Continue reading
Can we liberate the market through commons governance?
“In the Barcelona-based Escola dels Commons we study the commons and right now we are discussing about the market, how current markets work and how they could work, if redefined under commons logic. Monday 17th December we hold a public debate about this in the offices of the Xarxa d’Economia Solidaria (XES) a Barcelona.” By… Continue reading