Excerpted from Eric Raymond: “There are … holes below the waterline of Rifkin’s thesis. One is that atoms are heavy. The other is that human attention doesn’t get cheaper as you buy more of it. In fact, the opposite tends to be true – which is exactly why capitalists can make a lot of money… Continue reading
Date archives "September 2014"
Digital innovation or Biourbanism? Both, of course!
(this is the translation, first published on my own blog, of the final part of an article I published on the italian Pionero Web magazine in April 2014. The translation of the first part is available here) The official definition of Biourbanism starts with the focus on “the urban organism, considering it as a hypercomplex… Continue reading
Open Energy
Written in response to a proposal re: the transition group’s “Peoples Energy Charter” Communications with DCENR with the launch of the Green Paper on Energy Policy in Ireland And in summary of a talk delivered at the Young Friends of the Earth Ireland meeting in Carlow last September 27th 2014. Re: an energy charter that is… Continue reading
Book of the Day: The Solidarity Economy Alternative
Book: The Solidarity Economy Alternative: emerging theory and practice. Ed. by Vishwas Satgar. University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2014. Review “Taking as its background the rise of transnational activism, the World Social Forum, the Arab Spring, Occupy and the Climate Justice Movement, The Solidarity Economy Alternative: emerging theory and practice sets out to clarify meanings of… Continue reading
Last chance to show your support for Wind Empowerment 2014
Support locally manufactured small wind turbines and the electrification of rural communities. There are only a few hours left for the Wind Empowerment 2014 crowd-funding campaign to end and right now they need your support in order to get as much funding as possible for members from the global South. Remember that this campaign has… Continue reading
Social Media were a weapon of choice in the Gaza-Israel Conflict
“The rise of the internet has helped to reconstruct the fragmentation of Palestine, as it is a way for Palestinians to reconnect and break their isolation. I think the effect of the social media boom among young Palestinian social media activists somehow succeeded in changing public perception of the Palestinian in the West,” Excerpted from… Continue reading
Curiosumé Because The Résumé Must Die by Dan Robles
This article on Curiosume is by Dan Robles of www.ingenesist.com Curiosumé is an open source development project designed to replace the résumé as a means for describing one’s interests, skills, and abilities Private / Anonymous / Cryptographic / Mobile / Personal API Demo Video and Specifications, Video Introduction; Collaboration Nation Original Specifications for Curiosumé (was… Continue reading
Book of the Day: The Prince of Evolution
* Book: The Prince of Evolution, By Lee Alan Dugatkin. = the story of the Russian prince, evolutionary theorist, and political radical Peter Alexeyevich Kropotkin Description Eric Michael Johnson: “In The Prince of Evolution Dugatkin tells the story of the Russian prince, evolutionary theorist, and political radical Peter Alexeyevich Kropotkin whose Darwinian theory of… Continue reading
Why an ethical enterprise should never take on Venture Capital funding
Aral Balkan, in the context of a critique of Ello, an attempt to create a Facebook alternative, taking VC investment: “Here’s how venture capital works: you go to an investor, before you’ve even built the thing you’re building and you tell them how you’re going to exit. It’s called an exit plan or exit strategy…. Continue reading
Arnfinsen Interviews Mr. Future Himself: The Commoner Giant David Bollier
Listen to the interview: – Episode 106: The commons as an approach to governance, sustainable resource management and social wellbeing – I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! Halleluja! When I sent J.A. Arnfinsen an exemplar of David Bollier’s book “Think Like a Commoner” last month I knew he wouldn’t be able to… Continue reading
Book of the Day: Digital Labour and Karl Marx
Book: Fuchs, Christian. 2014. Digital Labour and Karl Marx. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-71615-4. URL = http://fuchs.uti.at/books/digital-labour-and-karl-marx/ Description “How is labour changing in the age of computers, the Internet, and social media? such as Facebook, Google, YouTube, Weibo and Twitter? In Digital Labour and Karl Marx, Christian Fuchs attempts to answer that question, crafting… Continue reading
Asian-European People’s Forum / Milan / Oct 10th – 13th
Dear Friends, From Oct. 10 to 13 the “Asian-European People’s Forum” will hold it’s conference in Milan. The general debates will concentrate on Socially Just Trade and Investment; Universal Social Protection – Guaranteed decent jobs, access to Essential Services and Social Security; Food Sovereignty and Sustainable Land and Natural Resource Management; Climate Change, Sustainable Energy… Continue reading
P2P Truth: A Map of Deepest Values by Andrius Kulikauskas
Today we have something a little different, a very nicely illustrated mapping project reflecting on p2p values and spirituality by Andrius Kulikauskas. The peer-to-peer movement values relative truth with a passion that is practically absolute. I believe that individual perspectives have the potential to discover the universal truth, at least enough of it so as… Continue reading
Book of the Day: Networked Apartment Project
Kelsy Colvin: “The contemporary urban neighborhood of houses in the United States still reflects a collection of individuals who are connected as a community in how they use their space. The house offers the ability to personalize the exterior space of your home and is often more connected to neighborhood associations, while it is integrated… Continue reading
On the Dangers of Monetizing Nature
“We can see the application of economic valuation in the real world and the damage that application has in far too many cases already done to communities who depend on and defend their territories against outside decisions that will destroy the land that provides them with a livelihood.” I remember in the late 1970s how… Continue reading
The Handicap Principle is a Force for Good or Evil
Terje Bongard was treated with the same ignorance by the Research Counsil of Norway, as Galileo Galilei was by the inquisition The handicap principle is a concrete force, it’s the driver of human behaviour and interaction, and we can use this force for good or for evil. The handicap principle is there, just like the sun is there. We… Continue reading