Excerpted from Clay Shirky‘s presentation at the Social Computing Symposium 2012 James Brown explains: “Clay Shirky on social spaces and the changing urban environment: The old stores gone out of business are not going to be replaced by new ones.Rather, the space occupied by the building structures are going to be claimed by new groups… Continue reading
Movement of the Day: the CLASSE student movement in Quebec
CLASSE is/was the student movement against tuition hikes in Quebec which obtained a dramatic victory in 2012 Suresh Fernando explains their governance methods, based on conversations with Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, the ex-spokesperson of CLASSE: “There were a few key points that Gabriel made that I think are worthy of emphasizing: structure is essential if you want… Continue reading
Project of the Day: The Open Structures Project
“While eBay provides a circulation of objects, and cradle-to-cradle provides a circulation of materials, modular construction systems provide a circulation of parts and components. Our ambition is to create puzzles instead of static objects. The system should generate objects of which it is not entirely clear anymore who designed them. An object evolves as it… Continue reading
Video of the Day: Jerry Michalski on Designing Systems on the Basis of Trust
“Many institutions we take for granted are designed from a basis of mistrust. Skip school too often? Go to jail. Run that red light, even when nobody is around for blocks? Ticket. Movements around the world are finding new ways, flipping the model, building practices and institutions based on the initial gesture of trust. Building… Continue reading
Towards a Global Commons of Truth
This is excerpted from a longer and much worth reading editorial by Nicolas Mendoza in Al Jazeera’s Opinion: “WikiLeaks has recently announced the creation of a new organisation called the Freedom of the Press Foundation. The following excerpt from the press release gives a quick description of the new initiative: “The Freedom of the Press… Continue reading
Decentralizing big retailers in a systemic p2p way
Excerpted from a detailed proposal and strategy by Tony Cartalucci: “It was innovative uses of new technology that eventually began the decentralizing of the media monopolies. It will be innovative uses of new technology that likewise begin the decentralizing of big-retail. Imagine, a city block, or several blocks, all within walking distance, where you could… Continue reading
From Vertical Spatiality to Horizontal Spatiality
Historical overview by David Ronfeldt: “Space remains a grand concept that rarely appears explicitly in political analysis. The study of social space and people’s perceptions of it has mainly arisen in writings of political philosophy (Emmanuel Kant, Henri Bergson), child development psychology (Jean Piaget), sociology of knowledge (Georges Gurvitch), and geography (which may be defined… Continue reading
Video of the Day: Seeds of Freedom
Seeds of Freedom is a video documentary on the Enclosure of the Seeds Commons The makers explain: “A landmark film narrated by Jeremy Irons. The story of seed has become one of loss, control, dependence and debt. It’s been written by those who want to make vast profit from our food system, no matter what… Continue reading
Movement of the Day: Shareable Australia
Shareable Australia, launched by Darren Sharp and friends, helps to facilitate and spread the word about Meetups, unconferences, swap meets and the sharing marketplace, and reports on local movements and events. Cat Johnson explains: “The recently-created Australian channel of Shareable Magazine, Shareable Australia acts to create person-to-person connections within the sharing movement. The channel helps… Continue reading
The internet is a threat to human civilization: Julian Assange’s A Call to Cryptographic Arms
The following is excerpted from Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet, by Julian Assange with Jacob Appelbaum, Andy Müller-Maguhn and Jérémie Zimmermann. OR Books, New York, 2012, Pages 1-7. INTRODUCTION: A CALL TO CRYPTOGRAPHIC ARMS — Julian Assange, London, October 2012: “This book is not a manifesto. There is not time for that…. Continue reading
The democratic meta-formation of the commons
This is the second excerpt of the article by Jose Ramos, this time, focusing on the strategies for achieving a commons-oriented world: * Article: Temporalites of the Commons: Toward Strategic Vision. By Jose Ramos Jose Ramos writes: So where to from here? How do we make sense of the various strands of counter-hegemonic temporalities, their… Continue reading
Project of the Day: From Permaculture to Permanent Culture
Michael Thomas explains this interesting project: “We have now reached the point where we believe that there needs to be a move towards a Permanent Culture. When we talk of a Permanent Culture we do not mean a static culture. On the contrary, we believe that future culture will be dynamic and evolving, but in… Continue reading
Video of the Day: Steve Best on Animal Liberation as a Marker of Moral Progress
From: “Conference: “Animal Liberation and Moral Progress: The Struggle for Human Evolution” held by Prof. Steve Best in Sapienza University of Rome – 05 september 2012. Watch the rather ‘in your face’ argumentation in the video here:
The democratization of the creation of life
Hear Derek Jacoby speak on the emergence of Biohackerspaces. “In November Derek Jacoby gave a talk at TEDxVictoria on biohackerspaces. It scared some people, inspired some people, and confused some people.” Watch the video here:
Is p2p/commons theory to economistic?
The above critique is suggested by David Ronfeldt here below: “As trust in the NGO phenomenon has declined, proponents of developing a new sector that would have strong ethical bases have turned increasingly to the concept of “the commons.” Indeed, the most interesting and auspicious activity in favor of a new sector is developing around… Continue reading
Video of the Day: Chris Anderson on the 3D Printer Revolution
Wired magazine explains: “With the advent of affordable, advanced desktop 3-D printers like the Makerbot Replicator and Cubify’s Cube, we’re standing at the starting line of a manufacturing revolution. These tools, once reserved for top-level firms, give curious minds everywhere rapid prototyping capabilities for almost any type of project. Online 3-D object storehouses like Shapeways… Continue reading