Intimate conversation with co-working social entepreneurship in Rio. Never have I met so many people willing to change their lives and leave the traditional system as in Brazil. Everyday I would encounter several people who would say, “I quit my job”, in order to undertake more meaningful and socially just pursuits. Listening to them gives… Continue reading
Defending the PsyCommons from the PsyEnclosures of the Psychological Professions
Denis Postle has written an important book, Therapy Futures, which we will present soon. Here is already an introduction in the form of a call to defend the “psychological commons”, which are just as real and necessary as the other commons. Excerpted from Denis Postle: “Enclosures of commons become problematic and often unjust when they… Continue reading
Eric Hunting on Open Source Parametric Design
Eric Hunting, On Parametric Design and the Emergence of a Design Science: “On the blog complexitys.com, devoted to the subject of parametric architecture, an article recently appeared on the related subject of associative design featuring an intriguing video illustration of a design system for urban development planning. Though the article was in French with no… Continue reading
Overcoming the problem of labor, overcoming the problem of its disappearance
On ZNet, Michael Albert of Parecon and Christian Siefkes of Peercommony discuss their respective approaches to social change. Parecon is to my mind a very ideological approach, which claims to have the answers, and the answer is a system of generalized democratic planning, which has totally abolished the market space, and to my mind, is… Continue reading
Jerry Michalski’s Global Brain of Contrarian Thinkers
Gordon Cook‘s newsletter on technology infrastructures regularly devotes special issues to people he deems of special interest. In the latest issue, he discusses the work of Jerry Michalski and his “Brain”, an immense mindmap of leading contrarian thinkers and their concept. In the introduction that we excerpt, he puts Michalsky’s work in relation to that… Continue reading
Trend of the Day: Polycentric Law
“Just as we want ‘many centers’ of social entrepreneurship, we need ‘many centers’ of legal activity. These centers won’t build themselves. To erode monopoly power with start-ups in business we need upstarts in law, channeling their ingenuity to building our polycentric system.” The Radical Social Enterpreneurship blog introduces the concept of polycentric law: “Polycentric law… Continue reading
Why commercial p2p sharing companies like AirBnB and Uber need to be regulated
The Randian, simplistic free-market thoughtlessness behind the wave of “peer-to-peer” companies, and especially those who are trying to uproot regulations that protect consumers, is far from the wave of the future: it’s hucksterism masquerading as progress, hubris as vision, callous selfishness as community-mindedness, and it’s a disaster waiting to happen. Tom Slee is responding to… Continue reading
Replacing Intellectual Property Rights by Idea Credit Rights
Excerpted from Heather Marsh: “Copyright and patent laws which are structured to ensure fame and profit for those that can afford the fees and are the quickest to file forms have created a society and a history filled with people celebrated for creations they did not originate and filled also with creative people who died… Continue reading
David Rovics’ song for the Commons
A song about the commons:
P2P Democratisation of the State vs. anarcho-capitalist libertarianism
“The simple truth of the matter is that it seems to me all the great libertarian and pragmatic competitive advantages free marketeers endlessly promise us while the rubble pile of neoliberal catastrophe rises higher and higher before the eyes of anybody not lucky enough to roost at its summit are actually most likely to find… Continue reading