Challenging power requires a strategy that in many circumstances might favor centralization. To reject the latter on philosophical grounds rather than strategic grounds—because it is anti-Internet or anti-Wikipedia—borders on the suicidal. This antipathy to hierarchies and leaders is part of a broader Internet-centrist backlash against institutions; they are believed to be incompatible with the logic… Continue reading
Date archives "February 2013"
Open Government Data should be seen as a Service, not a Product
Republished from Michael Gurstein: “Through a series of various types of meetings over the last couple of years I’ve been arguing the need to include notions of “inclusion” when discussing “open government data” and “openness” in general. My interventions along those lines are often greeted either with the dull stare of incomprehension; or with a… Continue reading
What would a hypothetical, GPL license for money look like?
What would a hypothetical, GPL license for money look like? Etienne Zoupic Hayem responds: “Metacurrency (Eric Harris Braun & Arthur Brock) answered this with : Open rules, Open transport, open data. Open Rules : you can see the rules and edit them Open Transport : the flows happen in an open source environment with transparency… Continue reading
Essay of the Day: Stigmergic Organization and the Economics of Information
* Essay: Why is Open Access Development so Successful? Stigmergic organization and the economics of information. By Francis Heylighen. (Source: : B. Lutterbeck, M. Bärwolff & R. A. Gehring (eds.), Open Source Jahrbuch 2007, Lehmanns Media, 2007) The abstract: “The explosive development of “free” or “open source” information goods contravenes the conventional wisdom that markets… Continue reading
Against the idealization of relocalization as a strategy
When you step out of the global economy, you cut yourself off from the imperial wealth pump that provides people in America with the kind of abundance they take for granted, and the lifestyles that are available in the absence of that wealth pump are far more restricted, and far more impoverished, than most would-be… Continue reading
Brussels Permaculture Rap
Those who understand French may enjoy this: Youtube says: “PANG feat. MonkeyMix – Les potes à Jé”. The makers are associated with the group Potagers Urbains.
TPB AFK – New Piratebay Documentary
TPB AFK (The Piratebay – Away From Keyboard) is a new documentary that follows the lives of The Piratebay founders Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij and Gottrid Svartholm over the course of their trial. The film will have it’s world premiere online on February 8th 2013. In the spirit of The Piratebay the movie will be… Continue reading
Modernity as a Land Crisis
So here is the hypothesis I draw: the problem with modernity isn’t capitalism or government per se; the problem is land and the way capital and government have been tied to it. The land reform movement of the nineteenth century was the most courageous attempt to reform those dealings, and the crises of not having… Continue reading
Dialogue between P2P Theory and Marxism: Part Two
The following is a revised transcript of a discussion that took place on May 3, 2012 between Michel Bauwens, Jonathan Clyne, Alex Dirmeier, Lena Hanno and Jean Lievens on peer-to-peer and Marxism. For the full transcript go here. This is the second part. “Alex: And what about Android? It is a system that has been… Continue reading
Evgeny Morozov harsh critique of Steven Johnson’s Peer Progressive book
Excerpted from a long and very interesting book review in the New Republic. Bear in mind that author Steven Johnson strongly disputes this interpretation of his book. We add an excerpted of his defense below. By Evgeny Morozov: In his “talk about political philosophy, Johnson makes no effort to ask even basic philosophical questions. What… Continue reading
Hilary Wainwright’s challenges to P2P Theory
Responses very welcome!! Excerpted from Hilary Wainwright: “Bauwens claims to provide a complete design for a new model of production: ownership, management structure, distribution system and all. His strength is his specific focus on the knowledge and design commons but at the same time an openness to the wider connections that will help realise its… Continue reading
Preparing for Collapse: The New Political Map of Collapsniks vs. Salvationists
Great movement and positioning mapping by Dave Pollard: Count P2P in as ‘salvationists’, a mixture of groups E, F and G, as far as I can see.
Evo Morales: ten ways to start building a culture of life
On December 21, Evo Morales, President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia chose to celebrate the Summer Solstice on the Island of the Sun. Here he gave a speech: “The Manifesto of the Island of the Sun”. In view of its importance, this text deserves to be widely known. Excerpted from a speech by the… Continue reading
Essay of the Day: Sustainability and Governance in Developing Open Source Projects
* Sustainability and Governance in Developing Open Source Projects as Processes of In-Becoming. Daniel Curto-Millet. Technology Innovation Management Review, January 2013. Here is the summary: “Daniel Curto-Millet, a doctoral student at the London School of Economics and Political Science in the United Kingdom encourages us to ontologically redefine sustainability. His study of openEHR and the… Continue reading
A path for the U.S. after exiting Empire: the national commons?
Excerpted from an argument by John Michael Greer, who otherwise, shows a poor grasp of the Tragedy of the Commons literature: “The return to an older American concept of government as the guarantor of the national commons, the theme of last week’s post here on The Archdruid Report, is to my mind one of the… Continue reading
Dialogue between P2P Theory and Marxism: Part One
The following is a revised transcript of a discussion that took place on May 3, 2012 between Michel Bauwens, Jonathan Clyne, Alex Dirmeier, Lena Hanno and Jean Lievens on peer-to-peer and Marxism. For the full transcript go here. This is the first part. “Michel: I start with a thought on the Marxist theory of revolution,… Continue reading