It’s probably too late for most of us to attend, but this Friday through Sunday, June 6-8,Pixelache Helsinki 2014 will host an international two-day trans-disciplinary event on “The Commons.” Apart from keynote lectures planned in advance, the agenda of activities of activities at Camp Pixelache – especially the participatory workshops – will be an “unconference” —… Continue reading
Date archives "June 2014"
Unexpected result of the European elections: the rebirth of a radical left
I’ve always considered Syriza to be a pivotal party. It is a party with many roots in the alterglobalization movements of the late nineties, and with a remarkable openness to distributed movements and p2p/commons/sharing ideas. In the last EU elections, they became the first party in Greece. If they would succeed in the next national… Continue reading
Affective Labor as the Lifeblood of a Commons
We have so internalized the logic of neoliberal economics and modernity, even those of us who would like to think otherwise, that we don’t really appreciate how deeply our minds have been colonized. It is easy to see homo economicus as silly. Certainly we are not selfish, utility-maximizing rationalists, not us! And yet, the proper… Continue reading
Recognizing Each Other in the Commons: The Basis for an Alternative Political Philosophy of Systemic Change?
Another contribution from our good friend Helene Finidori, one of the most interesting thinkers writing about the Commons today. It was originally published in Kosmos Journal. Time is running short for a paradigm shift. When it comes to our individual and collective engagement in making the world a better place, we often talk about uniting… Continue reading
The Enspiral Network on Collaborative Funding
We think that the Enspiral Network is pretty great, and that we can learn a whole lot from their P2P governance and property protocols. The following story – penned by Alanna Krause and originally published in managementexchange,com – will give you a good idea of how they keep things fresh and vibrant in the face of… Continue reading
Alternative to Truecrypt
Following the sudden and bizarre announcement that popular encryption software Truecrypt ‘may contain unfixed security issues’ and the equally bizarre recommendation by the Truecrypt developers to use Microsoft’s Bitlocker program (source of much derision from security professionals who assume it must be backdoored by the NSA), there has been a great deal of speculation as… Continue reading
Contractionary Revolution by Frank Rotering
“Humankind’s economic activities over the last few centuries have driven the biosphere into overshoot, resulting in a looming cataclysm for life on earth.” “To reverse this overshoot condition our species must rapidly reduce its population, lower the consumption of the rich, and increase its ecological efficiencies. However, this solution cannot be implemented by growth-dependent capitalist… Continue reading
Five Assumptions To Transform Education
A contribution from the Near Future Education Lab project in Firenze (ISEA), who are in the process of redesigning their own education : * Assumption number 1: decent education has an really high entrance/access barrier. If you have a lot of money, you don’t have a problem with the current education system. If you can… Continue reading
Movement of the Day: The Francophone Network for the Commons
Frédéric Sultan describes the group: “The Francophone Network for the commons is an informal network established in September 2012 in response to a call from the Paris-based association VECAM (http://vecam.org/article1255.html) published on July 3, 2012. The network includes individuals and organizations that share the belief that the solutions to our economic, social and ecological crises… Continue reading
Video: Introduction to the Digital Coin Project
Makes a lot of sense, explained very well, strongly recommended:
Podcast of the Day: How to Reclaim the Commons … and Your Attention, with Howard Rheingold
Excerpted from Value of Simple, here’s a great interview with writer, speaker and virtual community expert (please check out Peeragogy, if you haven’t done so already) Howard Rheingold. From the shownotes to the Podcast: The Commons. How much do you do for them? How much does anyone do these days to preserve and expand the Commons? I tell… Continue reading
Last chance to help this great P2P project!
The Bangla-Pesa project is an alternative currency initiative in Kenya. The organizers have already had to contend with being imprisoned by the local police for ‘counterfeiting money’, but happily they won their court case and the project is now supported by the Kenyan state. Now they have organized a crowdfunding drive to take the project… Continue reading
What’s not wrong with the current monetary system
Mark Joob says “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.” You can read this article on the p2p Foundation’s wiki here: “What’s wrong with the current monetary system”… Continue reading
The Wealth of Ideas by Joren De Wachter
Why we need free trade in ideas, rather than the mercantilist tax on innovation we call “intellectual property rights”. “Innovation and creativity are essential aspects of human society, at individual level, but also at the level of society. Public policy will aim to promote innovation and creativity, and allow their proceeds to benefit as many… Continue reading