Fascinating conversation with Robert Steele about his new book, the Open-Source Everything Manifesto, which you can order here.
The inaugural issue of the Journal of Peer Production to be launched
The new Journal of Peer Production is in the last stages of preparation, and we have a ‘invited comment’ in the issue as well. The issue goes under the difficult title of ‘Productive Negation’ but has a very interesting collection of contributions. Our own article is entitled: From the Theory of Peer Production to the… Continue reading
Essay of the Day: Correcting Negative Myths about Renewable Energy
Excerpted from Bill White: Correction 1: Renewable energy actually reduces electricity prices for businesses and consumers “A new analysis [PDF] conducted by Synapse Energy Economics on behalf of Americans for a Clean Energy Grid found that adding more wind power to the electric grid could reduce wholesale market prices by more than 25 percent in… Continue reading
Video of the Day: Introduction to the Extreme Manufacturing Methodology
See Extreme Manufacturing for details: “The magic of this method lies in synergistic, lively, distributed, parallel development – occurring both at Factor e Farm (FeF) and via global collaboration. This platform will combine parallel remote prototyping, Desisgn and CAD Flash Mobs, feedback from advisers, constant vlogging of results, Daily Standups, and Product Demos. The most… Continue reading
Despite appearances, Indignados are (not so) silently gaining strength
The 15-M movement has gone beyond protest: it has succeeded in altering the collective imagination and the political atmosphere at its very roots. It has generated a process of re-politicization of society. The agenda of actions has expanded and been radicalized: now we do not only occupy the squares, but we are taking back the… Continue reading
From the Digital to the Physical Internet: towards open transportation networks for material goods
Excerpted from an article by Benoit Montreuil, Jean-François Rougès et al. for TIM Review: “The Physical Internet constitutes a path-breaking solution to the inefficiencies of traditional proprietary models (Montreuil, 2011a). It represents an open, global, interconnected, and sustainable logistics system. This system is based on standard containers that are easily transported through various transport means… Continue reading
Book of the Day: RedVolution
Book: RedVolution: El poder del ciudadano conectado. Empodera.org This book contains both Spanish and English-language essays and interviews. This is the text we contributed, based on an email interview. Interview with Michel Bauwens Tell us a little about you I’m the founder of the P2P Foundation, a global research collaborative on the collaborative economy and… Continue reading
Video of the Day: Macrowikinomics, New Solutions for a Connected Planet
“In this new age of networked intelligence, collaborative communities are enhancing and even bypassing crumbling institutions. We are innovating the way our financial institutions and governments operate; how we educate our children; how the healthcare, newspaper, and energy industries serve their customers; how we care for our neighbourhoods: and even how we solve global problems…. Continue reading
Vinay Gupta kicks it up a notch, part two
Source: Slothrop’s The second part of Binx and Hy’s epic podcast with Vinay Gupta. This time they discuss Jewish skinheads, gurus, taking Western reality seriously, the continual drag of identity, the Dalai Lama, NATO, pragmatic fixes for democracy, visa refusal, the adrenaline of acceptance, Pentagon sofas, refugee camps, humility, and yes, books.
Vinay Gupta on P2P Infrastructure Theory, part 1
Source: Slothrop’s Binx Bolling and Hy Grynszpan are joined by Vinay Gupta, one of the world’s leading thinkers on infrastructure theory, state failure solutions, and managing global system risks to discuss enlightenment, Donald Rumsfeld, water purification, robot wars, the Ottoman empire, poverty, energy, sources of genius, David Bowie, and lots more. Part two to follow… Continue reading
P2P Networks and Filesharing in Greece, before and after the crisis
As with the war on terror or the war on drugs in the US, this piggybacking of IP enforcement on broader social crises is dangerous and counterproductive. In the case of Greece, it is a true suckers’ game: strengthening IP enforcement increases the outflow of royalty and licensing payments to foreign rights holders. The worsening… Continue reading
Global governance in an era of weak nation-states
Now that states are too weak to solve planetary problems, how do we move to forms of global governance that can tackle them? Excerpted from Arnaud Blin and Gustavo Marín of the Forum for a New World Governance: “There is a great revolution—in fact, the first global revolution in history—deeply transforming the manner by which… Continue reading
Five argumentative fallacies and one methodological fallacy without which degrowth cannot stand
Excerpted from David De Ugarte in Five argumentative fallacies and one methodological fallacy without which degrowth cannot stand: “The degrowth arguments form a unique fabric of classic, yet socially widespread, fallacies. Together, they form an argumentative fabric as false as it is seductive, which is able to generate the illusion of rationality, propped up on… Continue reading
Video of the Day: Ayah Bdeir on littleBits
“Imagine a set of electronics as easy to play with as Legos. TED Fellow Ayah Bdeir introduces the open source project ‘littleBits’, a set of simple, interchangeable blocks that make programming as simple and important a part of creativity as snapping blocks together”
Freicoin – Bitcoin with Demurrage
Inspired by the Occupy movement and Bitcoin, Freicoin is a decentralized, distributed electronic currency designed to address the grievances of the 99% and correct the excesses of the 1%. One criticism of Bitcoin is that it is designed first and foremost as a store of value, a kind of digital gold. As a result many… Continue reading
A critique of Socially Responsible Investment
Excerpted from Woody Tasch (Slow Money), on The State of SRI, 2012: ‘To look at some of the growth statistics provided by the Social Investment Forum, you would conclude that SRI is making substantial inroads into the capital markets. From 1995 to 2005, assets under management using one or more of the three core socially… Continue reading