A interesting article by anthropologist Erik W. Davis reviewing different conceptions of the role of the gift and gift economy in the works of Mauss, Bataille, Hyde, and Derrida. Source – http://erikwdavis.wordpress.com/2006/10/26/the-gift-mauss-bataille-hyde-and-derrida/ Oh my. That’s quite a list. I’ll attempt to be brief, relative to the works themselves, but this will be one of the longer… Continue reading
Date archives "November 2014"
Convivialist Manifesto – Declaration of Interdependence
Source: Center for Global Cooperation Research Forty francophone intellectuals agree on a manifesto, which proposes nothing less than a new humanism. A circle of people around French sociologist Alain Caillé, amongst others philosopher Elena Pulcini (Alumni Senior Fellow at the centre), Eva Illouz, Chantal Mouffe, Hans Joas and Serge Latouche, agreed in a period of… Continue reading
Book of the Day: Algorithms of Capital
Book: Algorithms of Capital. Ed./curated by Matteo Pasquinelli. URL = http://matteopasquinelli.com/algorithms-of-capital/ The book is based on the #Acclerationisty politics. Anyway the above link is to the Italian version. Yet most of the articles are already online in English. Discussion Orsan Senalp: “Here is how I would formulate a part of the code needs yet… Continue reading
Video Introduction to Fab10 and the Promise of Distributed Fabrication
Via Tristan Copley Smith: A review not just of the highlights of the conference but of the promise of the movement and the concept of distributed manufacturing. Very well done video. Watch the video here:
Discussing the myth of barter
Excerpted from David Graeber: (the full and longer essay, a discussion with austrian economists, is well worth reading) “First, the history: 1) Adam Smith first proposed in ‘The Wealth of Nations’ that as soon as a division of labor appeared in human society, some specializing in hunting, for instance, others making arrowheads, people would begin… Continue reading
Dr Paul Cockshott on Cybersocialism Nov 18th Dublin
Left Forum Public Meeting: “Cybersocialism” Left Forum public meeting on the subject of “Cybersocialism”, by Dr Paul Cockshott of University of Glasgow. The talk will explore questions around how a centrally planned socialist economy could be realised using mathematical techniques supported by advanced information technology. For anyone who read the novel “Red Plenty” this should be… Continue reading
The ‘Medicine’ of the Trans-Pacific Partnership
by Pete Dolack at CounterPunch.org The Trans-Pacific Partnership is as dangerous as ever. Denying access to medicines, increased surveillance of Internet usage and mandatory patents at the behest of multi-national corporations are some of the corporate goodies stashed in the TPP’s intellectual property chapter, revealed by WikiLeaks this month. Journalism could even be criminalized. The… Continue reading
Michel Bauwens on the Rise of Multi-stakeholder Cooperatives
“With the emergence of peer production, we potentially have the hyper-exploitation of human cooperation, and generalized precarity, because the value creators, who are now often the users as well, are not getting any reward for their contributions. Worker and consumer coops, to the degree they only work for their own members, are, in my view,… Continue reading
Sharing a (not so) living planet
As further evidence comes to light of how our economic systems are decimating the natural world, sharing is fast emerging as the central theme in the discourse on how to ensure prosperity for all within planetary boundaries. Barely a week after more than half a million people marched for decisive action on climate change, the… Continue reading
P2P Foundation @ OpenHere Dublin this weekend
Vasilis Kostakis and myself Kevin Flanagan of the P2P Foundation will be taking part in a series of panel discussions as part of the OpenHere conference taking place in Dublin, Ireland this weekend. It’s a really great programme so if you’re in the city it’s not to be missed. See the full programme – http://openhere.data.ie/?page_id=9… Continue reading
Capital without Capitalism: A Currency Design Perspective
Graham Barnes will be discussing alternative currencies at OpenHere this weekend in Dublin, Ireland. Vasilis Kostakis and Kevin Flanagan of the P2P Foundation will also be participating. Source – http://www.feasta.org/2014/11/11/capital-without-capitalism-a-currency-design-perspective/ In the capitalist model, capital accumulates as ‘surplus value’ following a production process supervised by the capitalist, with labour as a key input. The resulting… Continue reading
Video: The Open Source Solar Pocket Factory
“Shawn Frayne and Alex Hornstein, two young inventors based in the Philippines, are taking their passion for clean free energy and developing a way to make it accessible and cheap for everyone. These guys are working restlessly to provide a product that could be used by practically anyone to make homemade solar panels. The factory… Continue reading
Why the Kurdish Struggle for Democratic Confederalism is so important for all of us
Excerpted from Karthick Manoharan: “What is novel about the Kurdish struggle for self-determination is its very definition of self-determination. The concept, when applied to nations, is generally taken to mean the right of nations to secede and form states of their own, but the Kurds see it differently. Many believe an experiment in democratic confederalism… Continue reading
Practical anti-capitalism
What crowdfunding businesses like Kickstarter have accomplished is to allow hundreds, thousands, of small businesses to be born, obtaining financing with nothing more to offer than an idea and without having to cede portions of property in exchange. Capitalism is not the market. Capitalism is taking for it granted that those who provide the capital… Continue reading
Book of the Day: How to Out Your Local Economy
eBook: The Map – How to Out Your Local Economy. By John Rogers. Lulu, 2014URL = http://www.lulu.com/shop/john-rogers/the-map-how-to-out-your-local-economy/ebook/product-21809538.html Description “The Map describes how to make the rich underused capacity of regional economies more visible. It shows how to engage individuals, businesses, voluntary groups and local government to share their underused assets to meet each others’… Continue reading
Video of the Day: Ben Goldacre on Why Medicine Research Should Be Open
“When a new drug gets tested, the results of the trials should be published for the rest of the medical world — except much of the time, negative or inconclusive findings go unreported, leaving doctors and researchers in the dark. In this impassioned talk, Ben Goldacre explains why these unreported instances of negative data are… Continue reading