Date archives "February 2015"

Why the Tech Elite Is Getting Behind Universal Basic Income

As if Silicon Valley hasn’t given us enough already, it may have to start giving us all money. The first indication I got of this came one evening last summer, when I sat in on a meet-up of virtual-currency enthusiasts at a hackerspace a few miles from the Googleplex, in Mountain View, California. After one… Continue reading

The City as Commons – Michel Bauwens interviews Professor Christian Iaione

Originally featured on Shareable.net A commons-based economy cannot thrive without appropriate institutions, especially those that represent a “partner state” approach. Professor Christian Iaione of LUISS University in Rome is a pioneer of such institutional innovation in Italian cities. I believe his work with the city of Bologna on Bologna’s Regulation for the Care and Regeneration of Urban Commons is a breakthrough…. Continue reading

Reforming the Monetary System in Greece (1) – A Varoufakis Conversion

by Chris Cook originally published http://www.pieria.co.uk/articles/greece__a_varoufakis_conversion Greece’s new Syriza government has two major economic challenges to address: a Resolution of Greece’s unsustainable debt burden followed by a Transition to a long term sustainable economy. Conventional resolution of sovereign debt is a debt for debt swap: replacing existing debt with new debt which requires a smaller… Continue reading

Together Against Fear (Norway Muslims Make “Peace Ring” For Synagogue)

The event, that made headlines many places in the world, gathered between 1200 – 1400 people Saturday evening in the street outside the Oslo synagogue.   Young Muslims and other participants, holding hands, filled the street. They formed what they called a «Ring of Peace».   Rabbi Michael Melchior told the masses outside his synagogue… Continue reading

Time to make a revolution

Natalia was on fire yesterday. There was hope in the embraces and congratulations from the public. It’s time to make a revolution. It’s time for the revolution that a generation dreams of to become a productive revolution. Last night in TEDxGijón, we witnessed one of those magic moments that occur once a decade… if we’re lucky. Natalia had… Continue reading

The distributive enterprise as a model for the open hardware economy

Excerpted from Marcin Jakubowski: “How to create business models that tend to distribute wealth equitably? Our method is open source – but in itself, Open Source is not a business model. It is a development methodology. OSE likes open source because it promotes collaboration, cross-fertilization, and innovation. This also means that a workable business model… Continue reading

André Gorz on the Exit from Capitalism

In an amazingly prescient essay, “The Exit From Capitalism Has Already Begun,”journalist and social philosopher André Gorz in 2007 explained how computerization and networks are causing a profound crisis in capitalism by making knowledge more shareable. He argues that shareable knowledge and culture undercuts capitalist control over the global market system as the exclusive apparatus… Continue reading

100 Women who are Co-creating the P2P Society: Interview with Gabriella Coleman, anthropologist of open communities

Revealing Anonymous, an Interview with Gabriella Coleman. By Carola Frediani originally published on http://techpresident.com/news/25346/revealing-anonymous-interview-gabriella-coleman Gabriella Coleman, a cultural anthropologist and professor at McGill University, spent years observing Anonymous, witnessing the group’s rise from within the trolling subculture to its current pursuit of cyber activism. Her new book, Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of… Continue reading

WeCreate FabLab Ireland Courses in Digital Fabrication

The WeCreate Eco-FabLab located at the Cloughjordan Ecovillage in Tipperary, Ireland are running a number of courses in Digital Fabrication over the coming months. Practical Digital Fabrication, QQI L5 Course Certified course in Design and Digital Fabrication. Starts April 2015, Cost: €500 Click for Course Details Laser Cutting Introductory One Day Course Learn Laser cutting… Continue reading

Adam Arvidsson on P2Pvalue and the role of reputation in collaborative communities

P2Pvalue is an EU funded research project investigating value creation in P2P communities and exploring what powers P2P collaboration. The P2P Foundation is a partner in the project. Each month we feature an interview with members of the research team. This month we feature Adam Arvidsson whose work on the Ethical Economy and Digital Ethnography… Continue reading

The Promise of “Open Co-operativism”

Is it possible to imagine a new sort of synthesis or synergy between the emerging peer production and commons movement on the one hand, and growing, innovative elements of the co-operative and solidarity economy movements on the other? That was the animating question behind a two-day workshop, “Toward an Open Co-operativism,” held in August 2014… Continue reading