The ethics of P2P, a value statement set in music and pictures by the Taiwanese shaman-singer Akasa. Our most popular video to date:
Eugenio Tisselli interviewed on the Sauti ya wakulima project
(via Furtherfield.org’s Marc Garrett) I met Eugenio Tisselli in Edinburgh at the Remediating the Social conference in November 2012. Eugenio gave a presentation on the project Sauti ya wakulima, “The voice of the farmers”: A collaborative knowledge base created by farmers from the Chambezi region of the Bagamoyo District in Tanzania, and “by gathering audiovisual… Continue reading
An introduction to Christopher Alexander’s pattern language
by Øyvind Holmstad Jump to 12:20 to skip introductions As said in the introduction to this lecture held in spring 2011, Christopher Alexander has started a fire that keeps on burning, spread by the ‘wind’ throughout the world. But in the wake of this fire there’s no ash, but only beauty and true living structure…. Continue reading
Do we need p2p to help markets deal with complexity, or does p2p get us beyond markets?
John Robb launched the following debate: “Modern economic systems were first organized by bureaucracy and scientific management. The limits of the complexity it could organize was limited, as we saw with the USSR/China. Next, we’ve seen market/bureaucratic hybrids develop (the US/China model). Those hit the limit recently, as we saw in the latest series of… Continue reading
Critique of monetary system is an academic death sentence
Bernard Lietaer talks about the chartist school of monetary theory, endorses but critiques it, and mentions the various repressions faced by monetary tranformers:
Shift Change: a new documentary on worker-owned cooperatives
Here is the preview: Hannah Miller reports in Shareable: “A new documentary by Melissa Young and Mark Dworkin, Shift Change: Putting Democracy to Work, delves into an entirely different way of working – worker-owned cooperatives – finding companies that may not look different on the surface, but whose structure changes the way people work, and… Continue reading
Selected citations on p2p and ecology/sustainability
You can find the original sources here: “When birds fall from the sky and the animals are dying, a new tribe of people …shall come unto the earth from many colors, classes, creeds, who by their actions and deeds shall make the earth green again. They will be known as the Warriors of the Rainbow.”… Continue reading
Book of the Day: The Lost Science of Money
Book: The Lost Science of Money: The Mythology of Money, the Story of Power by Stephen Zarlenga. American Monetary Institute, 2002. Dr. Michael Hudson writes: “The history of money is critical to understanding the greatest problem the third millennium will face. Stephen Zarlenga’s Lost Science of Money book provides the needed background for seeing the… Continue reading
Monitoring Bitcoin: In France, The First Officially Recognized Bitcoin Bank
Text by Sepp Hasslberger: According to a post in the Bitcoin Forum, titled Bitcoin-Central, first exchange licensed to operate as a bank. This is HUGE Bitcoin-Central (https://bitcoin-central.net/) “is getting, through a partnership with Aqoba and the Credit Mutuel, allowed to operate as a bank, (or more precisely a PSP which is basically the same as… Continue reading
Networked Democracy as a Mindset: Brazil’s Rio del Sul shows the way
“Democracy in network is first and foremost a mindset”, an article republished from @bernardosampa. Bernardo Gutierrez: “The political structures must change. But the replacement will emerge as people act and communicate in the present, not talking about the future.” The phrase is from the book Open Source Democracy, from Douglas Rushkoff, published in 2003. The… Continue reading
Konstantin Kirsch on the Self-Production of the Minuto Alternative Currency
Brilliant. A sufficiency-based monetary system that mobilizes human effort exactly when it is needed and which is not dependent on the prior availability of debt-created scarcity based commodity currencies.
Book of the Day: Local Dollars, Local Sense
* Book: Michael Shuman. Local Dollars, Local Sense. Chelsea Green Publishing, 2012. This book is a valuable addition to the literature about local investing and community empowerment. Introduction by the author Michael Schuman: “Americans’ long-term savings in stocks, bonds, pension, life insurance, and mutual funds total about $30 trillion. But not even 1 percent of… Continue reading
Selected citations on peer property
Original sources are listed here: “The commons breaks with the individualistic vision as conceived by the capitalist tradition, a vision that has progressively transferred the idea of rights to individual people. The commons take inclusion and everyone’s equal right to access as its starting point, while property and the idea of the state that upholds… Continue reading
Publicly created money instead of debt-created money
A very long but interesting lecture by the author of a classic book on monetary history, which will be our book of the day in 2-3 days: * Speech: THE LOST SCIENCE OF MONEY & MONETARY JUSTICE USING PUBLICLY CREATED MONEY TO FUND PUBLIC PROJECTS TALK AT THE HOUSE OF LORDS; London May 4, 2004… Continue reading
Amelia Andersdotter’s open letter to EU Commision President Barroso on the need for copyright reform
Via Amelia Andersdotter, written on December 4: Dear President Barroso, In light of the need to complete Europe’s digital single market and as we continue to wait for proposals to be made by the European Commission, we would like to call to your attention the urgent need for copyright reform in the European Union. People… Continue reading
The Rise of the Sharing Communities
Source: Cat Johnson for Shareable.net As the sharing economy picks up momentum, its reach has become global. In cities and towns around the world, people are creating ways to share everything from baby clothes to boats, hardware to vacation homes. There are also groups emerging that consciously identify with the big-picture sharing movement. These groups… Continue reading