Over the past twenty years, there has been such a proliferation of computers, smartphones, digital devices, surveillance cameras, maps, mobile applications, sensors and much else – all of it networked through the Internet, wireless and telephone connections – that an unimaginably vast new body of personal data is being generated about us, individually and collectively…. Continue reading
Date archives "April 2015"
“Sharing lies”: five lies about the Sharing Economy
Putting things in context is not to let just anything happen. It is also being clear that the “hype” that’s being built with a number of lies that will inevitably lead to disappointment. These are, in my judgement, the five big ones. Talking about the collaborative world these days is as dangerous as walking on… Continue reading
What to own when sharing designs becomes a commonplace industrial strategy ?
Technology for big computers, electric cars and high-technology microcontrollers to operate things like power tools and engines is now given away. These ideas used to be valued at hundreds of millions of dollars. To the new generation of technologists, however, moving projects and data fast overrides the value of making everything in secret. Excerpted from… Continue reading
A Critique of (a-political) Technology Critique
it’s obvious to me that technology criticism, uncoupled from any radical project of social transformation, simply doesn’t have the goods. By slicing the world into two distinct spheres—the technological and the non-technological—it quickly regresses into the worst kind of solipsistic idealism, paying far more attention to drummed-up, theoretical ideas about technology than to real struggles… Continue reading
Fierce Assaults on the “Attentional Commons”
People in tech circles often talk about the “attention economy” with knowing nonchalance. Instead of things being scarce, they note, the real shortage these days is people’s attention. Hence the ferocious drive to capture people’s attention. This analysis is true as far as it goes. What it fails to address is that the “attention economy”… Continue reading
Free Commons-Based Peer Production Posters No. 2
The second in the series of free posters about Commons-Based Peer Production produced by P2Pvalue & designed by Laura Recio tells the story of one day living through collaborative communities. The poster can be downloaded below (click on image to go to the downloads page on Wikimedia Commons) & used under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license. The posters… Continue reading
Movement of the Day: Fully Automated Luxury Communism
Excerpted from the Guardian (author ?): “Located on the futurist left end of the political spectrum, fully automated luxury communism (FALC) aims to embrace automation to its fullest extent. The term may seem oxymoronic, but that’s part of the point: anything labeled luxury communism is going to be hard to ignore. “There is a tendency… Continue reading
Building Shape
By Christopher Alexander. Original text here. Almost every building mass visible in this picture, from the town of Trondheim, is a rectangle in plan. THE BASIC SHAPE OF BUILDINGS It is true that there are round igloos in the arctic, round wigwams among the plains, rounded mud huts in the Cameroons. Nevertheless, the vast majority of… Continue reading
Could Syriza boost the co-operative economy in Greece?
Excerpted from Anca Voinea: “In its manifesto, Syriza highlights the importance of reviving the co-op movement as a form of social and economic activity for the future, and suggests drawing up a strategy by looking at the most suitable sectors for co-operative development. The party sees the co-op movement as a distinct economic model that… Continue reading
Anti-systemic Movements and the Future of Capitalism by Immanuel Wallerstein
Brilliant analysis of the world situation and the history of counter-movements, but falls short in its proposed alternative. There is absolutely no mention of the need for productive reconstruction. Antisystemic Movements and the Future of Capitalism by Immanuel Wallerstein Unrevised version of talk at 39th Annual Meeting of the Political Economy of the World-System… Continue reading
MY, PREKARIAT – DAYS OF PRECARIOUS ACTION May 2015 #Poland
Source – https://myprekariat.wordpress.com/en/ MY, PREKARIAT (WE, the PRECARIAT) social campaign We inaugurate MY, PREKARIAT (WE, the PRECARIAT) social campaign in Poland and announce May 23, 2015 the PRECARIAT’s DAY. We invite you to participate in the campaign, support the DAYS OF PRECARIOUS ACTION in May 2015 in Poland and beyond, as well as celebrations of … Continue reading
Analysis of the technology critique of Nicholas Carr by Evgeny Morozov
Excerpted from Evgeny Morozov: “Nicholas Carr, one of America’s foremost technology critics, is far from acknowledging defeat of any sort—in fact, he betrays no doubts whatsoever about the relevance and utility of his trade. In his latest book, The Glass Cage, Carr argues that we have failed to consider the hidden costs of automation, that… Continue reading