Excerpted from ars technica, by Lee Hutchinson. A meme-based cryptocurrency that came and went almost unnoticed, seems pretty frivolous. But how much more insubstantial is it than making “regular” money out of thin air? Plus, this particular (and popular) meme lends itself well, graphically, to the “coin” icon. Harvard postdoc fellow Timothy R. Peterson told… Continue reading
Date archives "February 2014"
Video: Gabriella Coleman on Understanding Anonymous
Watch the video here: “”Anonymous is a banner used by individuals and various ad hoc and stable groups unfurling political operations across the globe from Brazil to the Philippines from the Dominican Republic to India. By 2012 Anonymous became multitudinous, prolific, and unpredictable. Gabriella Coleman will join us to examine the various factors that secure… Continue reading
Project of the Day: the Cultural Commons Collecting Society
“For a long time, the registered association OpenMusicContest.org e.V. has dreamed of a fair alternative to the GEMA. The OpenMusicContest (http://openmusiccontest.org/), from which the registered association emerged, showed the difficulties in communicating and interacting with the GEMA. The activities of the association therefore shifted from the organization of the event to becoming the supporting association… Continue reading
Debating nine pre-P2P perspectives: 3) Cosmopolitanism
We continue our conversation with Jose Ramos about nine world-changing political theories and p2p theory relates to them. Today’s topic: Cosmopolitanism. Part 1: Summary by Jose Ramos: Cosmopolitanism has become a powerful current in the development of alternative globalisation discourses. Cosmopolitanism springs from strong moral intuitions. In the simplest terms it describes ‘the view that… Continue reading
The State of (Commercial) Open Source Hardware in 2013
Gabriela Levine, OSHWA President, interviewed by Simone Cicero: [SC] New fields for open source hardware are growing day by day: many new projects bring Open Source Hardware to new markets (automotive, furniture,etc…). Some important, cross-sector, projects were born in 2013 (see the link): what are the new fields you expect Open Source Hardware to thrive… Continue reading
Book of the Day: On Property-Owning Democracy
* Book: Property-Owning Democracy: Rawls and Beyond. Martin O’Neill and Thad Williamson (eds.), Property-Owning Democracy: Rawls and Beyond, Wiley-Blackwell, 2012, 320pp. Excerpted from a Review by Paul Weithman: “Property-owning democracy is unfamiliar and not well-understood, but it is a promising ideal for progressive political economy. In this very instructive, wide-ranging, and most welcome volume, Martin… Continue reading
Erica Chenoweth on Confronting the myth of the rational insurgent
Excerpted from Naked Capitalism, Professor Erica Chenoweth analyses the relative success (and consequences) of no less than 323 non-violent and violent revolutions from 1900 to 2006. Take a look. Occupy’s public discussions on “diversity of tactics” have often lacked historical perspective; discussions, at least online, have tended to degenerate to “Ghandi!” “No, ANC!” Now, however,… Continue reading
On The Contradictions of Localism
Excerpted from an interview of Greg Sharzer by Jordy Cummings: Jordy Cummings (JC): Your book is called No Local and it is an immanent critique of inward looking reactions to neoliberal capitalism. One poignant episode you recount surrounds urban agriculture, and the idea that we’ve come to a really problematic situation when poor people are… Continue reading
Podcast of the day/C-Realm: David Holmgren on Psycho-social Debt Jubilee
Reposted from the C-Realm podcast, KMO talks to author David Holmgren, co-originator (with Bill Mollison) of permaculture. We want to thank Michel Bauwens for originally contacting Holmgren. Watch for an upcoming trialogue between Bauwens, Holmgren and Josef Davies-Coates. From the shownotes to the episode: KMO welcomes permaculture co-originator David Holmgren to the C-Realm Podcast to… Continue reading
Cryptocurrencies and What They Mean for Sharing
Excerpted from Matthew Slater: “Current projects in Iceland, Scotland and Poland each plan to issue a cryptocurrency equally to every citizen, which sounds like sharing, at least at the start of the currencies’ lives, and it could be good for the economy (if only the economy measured real activity, and not only movement of legal… Continue reading
FreeRange Journal Vol 7: The Commons
“The commons approach is perhaps our best hope as we pull our heads out of the sand and face up to the challenges of fundamentally redesigning our society with people and the planet as the primary considerations. This journal is a celebration of the commons and aims to give a broad overview of the theme… Continue reading
Book of the Day: Black Code
Book: Ron Deibert. Black Code: Inside the Battle for Cyberspace. URL = http://blackcodebook.com/ Summary 1. From the publisher/author: “Cyberspace is all around us. We depend on it for everything we do. We have reengineered our business, governance, and social relations around a planetary network unlike any before it. But there are dangers looming, and malign forces… Continue reading
Essay of the Day: What Would We Have To Do To Save the Humans?
Another exceptional essay by Richard White. I really like the way he doesn’t shy away from the huge problems we face, yet he doesn’t sink into narcissistic doomer-ism that affects many authors delving into similar subjects. The original essay is quite long but thoroughly documented. We’ve selected a short segment on what he feels needs… Continue reading
Incubating A Worker Cooperative On A Shoestring With Time Banks
Interesting presentation, watch the video here:
The hyper-exploitation of Crowdworking, Mechanical Turk and Amazon
“Before the Internet, it would be really difficult to find someone, sit them down for ten minutes and get them to work for you, and then fire them after those ten minutes. But with technology, you can actually find them, pay them the tiny amount of money, and then get rid of them when you… Continue reading
Lobo, the Wolf that Influenced the Environmental Movement and a Whole World
From Wikipedia: “Seton’s story of Lobo touched the hearts of many both in the US and the rest of the world and was partly responsible for changing views towards the environment and provided a spur for the starting of the conservationist movement. The story had a profound influence on one of the world’s most acclaimed… Continue reading