Download PDF There is probably no subject that has been written about more frequently than money and its origins. Usually money is portrayed as a natural phenomenon like gravity, energy or light: one of the constants of the universe. It is assumed to have a unitary understanding across cultures and throughout history. It is also… Continue reading
Community spaces can be beautiful, because people are always trying to help. But the image new people have of self-organized projects can be confusing or chaotic, which makes it difficult to see what’s going on, or to get involved. Teem www.teem.works is a project hub for the commons – projects from community centers to pop-up… Continue reading
Did you know that cells can be competent? I had no clue. But Google queries for supercompetent, super-competent and super competent returned quite a few entries for cell vendors. Google scholar returned entries on cell research. Of course, Google returned other entries. But after a bit of investigation, it seems that cell super-competence captures the… Continue reading
Dear fellow humans, The election of Donald Trump has left millions, maybe even billions of us in shock. Although we may be looking with bewilderment at the US today, we should remember that he is not an isolated phenomenon. He is a symptom of a sickness that is raging all around the world. People are… Continue reading
A short video announcement by one our favourite You Tubers: the descriptively named Libertarian Socialist Rants. This campaign to secure funds for the National Body of Student Housing Co-operatives to provide affordable, democratic housing for students. The campaign ends this Friday, so please, watch the video, read the text below and, if you want to support the… Continue reading
Can’t make it to today’s European Commons Assembly at the European Parliament? Fear not, for there’s a livestream where you can follow the event. We are also including the program for today in the text below. Program – November the 16th afternoon Building a Platform for Facilitating and Regenerating the Commons November 16, 2016 The… Continue reading
At least we have some clarity. The mystifications and rationalizations are evaporating. If nothing else, the election of Donald Trump illuminates many of the deep structural problems that we need to face squarely. While most post-election commentary is focused on Trump and the political realignment in Washington, I think the bigger stories are the tectonic… Continue reading
German Commons Summer School: The wording of Ostrom’s design principles is aimed at social scientists who study the management of common-pool resources from a neutral, non-participatory, scientific perspective. As a result, the principles are not as accessible to the general public, nor do they reflect the personal experiences and first-person voice of commoners. The first… Continue reading
European Commons Assembly debuts in Brussels Proposes new citizen-based institutions for revitalizing Europe and policy On November 16, 2016 commoners from across Europe will gather in the European Parliament in Brussels to advocate with MEPs for commons-based policy and institution-building. The event is hosted by the Intergroup on Common Goods and Public Services, and is… Continue reading
Companies like Twitter can make billions of dollars in revenue while providing a widely used service and still be considered a financial failure. Though today’s digital technologies provide new innovations that reorganize daily life, can the digital economy expand forever? Will our most promising tech ever reach its potential in an economy pushing for growth… Continue reading
Normal is coming unhinged. For the last eight years it has been possible for most people (at least in the relatively privileged classes) to believe that society is sound, that the system, though creaky, basically works, and that the progressive deterioration of everything from ecology to economy is a temporary deviation from the evolutionary imperative… Continue reading
We’re once again very happy to share the final version of our three-day program for the first European Commons Assembly in Brussels. As always, please check out our website for more information, join our Loomio group, and sign up for the mailing list by sending an email to [email protected]. European Commons Assembly: Final Program Last… Continue reading
This article compiles a two-part interview with Alanna Krause, co-founder and worker-owner of Loomio, a online software worker cooperative based in Aotearoa New Zealand. The interview was originally published at democracyatwork.info: Part 1, Part 2. Name: Loomio Website: www.loomio.org Industry: Online Open-Source Software Could you provide some background on Loomio? What problem does your service/product… Continue reading
It is as if Pandora’s Box has not only been emptied out into the world, but that it has been mass-produced and spread out to the corners of all lands. Hope now seems in short supply. We are undone. I write you because things have indeed fallen apart. While this unspeakable insurgency of despair might… Continue reading
http://teamhuman.fm/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/TH_08-Heather-Dewey-HagbourgFIXED.mp3 Playing For Team Human today, the brilliant and terrifying artist and bio-hacker Heather Dewey- Hagborg. As a transdisciplinary artist, Heather explores the intersection of science, art and biopolitics. Heather recently made the headlines with a project called Stranger Visions, in which she collected random human genetic material left behind in the detritus of public spaces to… Continue reading
An article on blockchain and renewable energy by Ashley Taylor. Originally published at Medium. “Last Monday 6 community members on President St in the Brooklyn Park Slope neighborhood created the first local marketplace for renewable energy on a blockchain network. They individually invested in solar panels and created a community to sell their excess energy… Continue reading