Source: School of Commoning

A major theme that came up throughout our first School of Commoning workshop with Michel Bauwens concerned the need to co-create sustainable commons based institutions. The overriding sentiment was to create institutions that are commons and are therefore inherently sustainable by their nature. In the transition to these commons based institutions Michel spoke of the kinds of actions we will need to take. The rest of this post highlights what was discussed by Michel and our workshop on this important next step we must take.

Virtual Commons: The Need for a Shift in Priority

Following on from the Furtherfield event in which Michel spoke ofthe three key peer to peer developments that have unfolded starting with open sharing, open code and more recently open design, Michel built on this the following day, in our workshop:

“The virtual commons is a social advance and we have won, free software is there and its not going away. Open design is getting stronger and stronger and so the next step is how we make it sustainable and we’re not very far away from that.”

So what is it that isn’t sustainable exactly about this virtual commons? While elaborating on the current state of affairs for virtual commons within our current system Michel answered:

“The virtual commons are in a codependency with the current system, so we create all this value together most of it for free and its great but we don’t capture the value. It escapes to existing companies and the people don’t get any return for it. I’m not suggesting it should be turned into a commodity because that would destroy the commons but we have to find ways and means through which we can protect and nurture the commons.”

One way to overcome this is to only provide virtual commons to what he refers to as non-profit maximizing, mission orientated companies and their creation. This would be achieved at a structural level, by constitution, principles and charter, which obliges them to take care of the commons, and where the profit is subsumed into the larger whole. This would represent a shift in priority where we decide to support and create institutions that protect the commons. The challenge lays ahead of us.. can we achieve this, instead of, or as a compelling alternative to the institutionalization of greed and self-interest that manifests under a capitalist market-state system, that somehow, as if by magic believes it will benefit everybody. Michel went on to state we need more than the invisible hand:

“At the same time we need to create something new, whereby market entities are actually constrained structurally. Not to rely on an invisible hand but also a visible hand of ethical commitment and legal commitment to the interests of particular commons.”