What is CryptoTown? Its a model for viral abundance. Anyone can participate. Anyone can try on their own. I am going to quote and comment from a number of different places to better give an idea of the guiding principles behind CryptoTown.
I will try to keep the commentary to an absolute minimum as this post is massive. Some major themes in this post are redefining work beyond hierarchical employment, radical abundance, post-growth economy, and commons transition.
New Work New Culture | Why we need a new culture
[...] We need a culture that provides support for meaningful work, and we want the kind of culture that will come out of people working passionately at what they love. We need to de-couple the idea of work from the idea of a job: work can be caring for people in your community, enhancing your environment, creating things that you and others want and need. If such a “passion” generates income as well, great, but we need a culture that provides alternate ways of providing for one’s basic needs, so that we can all pursue work that will give our lives purpose rather than just doing whatever will pay the most.We have to also consider that profit does not directly motivate us to meet human needs, and often fails to manage.
MotherBoard | The End of Endless Growth: Part 2 Nafeez Ahmed
[...] It is this freedom of information, both in accessibility and cost, that is also eating into the traditional business models of the broadcast and print media. Those models are walking dead. The members of the next generation do not read newspapers, and they don’t watch TV news. They get their info from YouTube shows, curate their news from across multiple mainstream and alternative digital sources, while sharing and communicating news across social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Vine, Tumblr, and so on. And this is a big reason why the conventional business models of the mainstream media are experiencing rapid decline.
[...] As the fossil fuel empire crumbles, in contrast, the cost of renewable energy technologies (especially solar and wind) is dramatically falling even as efficiency gains are rapidly increasing. According to Silicon Valley entrepreneur and Stanford business studies lecturer Tony Seba, who forecasts the dominance of solar within just 15 years, the Energy Return On Energy Investment or EROIE of solar is far superior over the long-term than fossil fuels.
[...] Transition initiatives across the western world are pioneering community efforts to grow their own food, organically and outside of the industrial food system. Preliminary studies show that the relocalization of food economies is a viable option that could have huge benefits to local economies and create a wide range of jobs—although this would involve less meat consumption, with greater numbers of people living on and working the land.
[...] The information, food and energy revolutions are being facilitated by a burgeoning revolution in finance. Once again, the emerging trend is for new models that give greater power to the crowd, and undermine the authority and legitimacy—and even necessity—of the traditional, centralized banking infrastructure.
[...] As the Australian Business Review recently noted, “banks have now been brought to the edge of the disruption abyss” where “the media, mail and music businesses” are already on the verge of toppling over. These new social lending and finance mechanisms will “break the business of banking into its parts, each with its own set of disrupters.”
[...] One of the most significant potential developments in finance is in the concept and practice of the “circular economy,” which focuses on the need to recycle resources in an economic system, rather than simply generate escalating quantities of waste in the name of endless growth. A major report to the Club of Rome this year by Ugo Bardi of the University of Florence’s Earth Sciences Department showed that recycling, conservation and efficiency in the management of the planet’s mineral resources could enable a prosperous and high technology society, though not one indulging in the sort of mass consumerism we take for granted today.
[...] The old paradigm, which is facing increasing disruption by the emerging revolutions described above, is premised on a model of centralized, hierarchical control focused on unlimited material accumulation, and premised on the values of individualism, self-interest, competition, and conflict.
The model that is fast developing and disrupting this paradigm from within, is one premised on open access to information; distributed and effectively free, clean energy; local, community and democratic ownership over planetary resources; and a form of prosperity and well-being that is ultimately decoupled from the imperative for endless material accumulation.
The old and new paradigms can be clearly related to two quite different value systems. The first paradigm, which is currently in decline, is that of egoism, crude materialism, and selfish consumerism. It is a value system that, we now know from our best scientific minds, is on course to potentially lead to an uninhabitable planet, and thus, perhaps even species extinction (with many scientists arguing we appear to be at the dawn of the planet’s sixth mass extinction event). This suggests that this value system is actually dislocated from human nature, our biophysical environment, and the relationship between them.
New Work New Culture | The shortest possible summary
[...] These technologies have in common that they are all “small-scale and small-space.” They no longer require gigantic factories with long lines of enormous machines that necessitate boatloads of capital. Instead, they can be grouped together in a neighborhood, or village or a community center. In short, one half of New Work is the transformation from Industrial to “Community Production.” The result will be the creation of new enterprises, but also progressively the increasing local production of food, housing, and energy, and equally of furniture, appliances and clothing, and beyond that of still more of what is needed for a pleasurable, modern and fulfilling life.We think that the only acceptable work is having a job, or employment, by a private hierarchy which instructs us what to do as part of its profit extraction scheme in competition with others. The extreme limits to which we are taking this system are now coming into view. How can there be unemployment when there is so much work to be done to satisfy human needs? Cooperate towards abundance, rather than compete over scarcity.
[...] New Work puts an end to the ever more calamitous shortage of jobs by adding two new forms of work to the job-work of the past: the work of Community Production and the deeply desired truly chosen work. Thereby New Work obviates the compulsive galloping race for Economic Growth. For once we have an abundance of work, and with these two additions that is what we would have, making the economy grow would no longer be a mortally driven race.
Michael Tellinger - UBUNTU A World Without Money (Youtube)
This is a wonderful video addressing lots of practical issues. The example of the Ubuntu community given should simply help to get a better idea of the abundance possible. Transition does not happen all at once, its happening now, in all places, in all ways. We do not have to get away and become isolated, or live basic lives, but we will have to learn to build a cooperative culture.
From Description: [...] Let us move from a money driven society to self governing global communities driven by people and their passion for life and their god-given talents to create a world of abundance for all -- free from any restriction or hurdles to achieve what we want to achieve. We live on a planet of abundance. Let us discard the philosophy of scarcity which only benefits the few. Let us reclaim our planet, a world of abundance on all levels of our human endeavour. It is much easier than most will ever imagine.
Enthea.org Paul Hughes | About
[...] There are not only better alternatives, but WAY better alternatives. We have the means now for bootstrapping humanity beyond anything we have yet imagined, even our greatest visionaries. All it takes is enough of us to believe it is possible, and then making it happen. It’s that simple.Some great points. Fate is unconsciously following the patterns of society laid out before you. To believe that things are inevitably unchangeable, is to directly fuel the only thing that makes it true. In an open knowledge society, innovation spreads rapidly. We may be drinking from the fire hose, and need to be careful that we align our institutions with human needs and flourishing.
Two of the most promising trends facilitating this shift are decentralization and the emerging technologies of radical abundance. These two trends are intimately tied to each other. The nature of decentralization enabled by things like peer to peer technologies (p2p) is that it shifts the power to the edges, the ends, the “bottom”. This emerging bottoms-up, grass-roots world is inherently more democratic, participatory, decentralized, leaderless and I dare say utopian. A world where everyone is empowered, both individually and collectively, to pursue their highest life path. We already have the means to collaboratively build all the necessary life support systems at the local level. This means far less dependence on centralized systems for thrivability. Considering the general reproductive fitness of open-source models, these decentralized systems can create more prosperous, secure, inclusive, coherent, responsive, dynamic, participatory, representative, and cooperative systems than anything we have ever had before.
As the old political and economic systems fail us, the rise of decentralized collective intelligence and systems are rising in its place. The pace may seem slow now, but it’s gaining speed, and will soon become the way of life going forward. Powered by the the network that is “us” we are all benefiting from and creating positive and transformative feedback loops, culminating in a loosely knit, but increasingly coherent global brain. A phase shift that represents a peer-to-peer enabled civilization-wide singularity. The result will be something entirely new – a radically distributed, continually forking and evolving, open-source, radically abundant life-supporting operating system – ushering in unlimited modes of consciousness, artistic expression, innovation, peace and prosperity. A fully regenerative, ecologically harmonious economy on a hyperbolic course for the stars. We will no longer have to work for a living, but play forever. As we enter this radically abundant post-scarcity era, the universe will become home to our highest consciousness, intelligence and synaesthetic explorations – a true Golden Age… and onwards to Apotheosis.
Commons Transition Points the Way to a Commons-based World
[...] Of the FLOK Society, Bauwens and Restakis write: The first characteristic of the FLOK process is of course its very existence. This is the first time that a transition plan to a commons-based society and economy has been crafted. There are ‘new economy’, green, social economy, and other transition plans, but none of them have focused on re-organizing society and the economy around the central concept of the Commons as the core value creation and distribution system.
[...] The plan for Commons Transition is not to impose or prescribe solutions but to stimulate discussion and the crafting of commons-oriented policy proposals specific to different contexts and locales. “Basing a civil society on the commons (including the collaborative stewardship of our shared resources),” says Troncoso, “would enable a more egalitarian, just, and environmentally stable society. The proposals presented in our web platform go beyond rhetoric and are inspired by successful, self-organized working communities that maintain themselves and their environments through commons-based peer production, property and governance.”If we are going to start thinking from a perspective of open cooperation and awareness, it does not make sense for our efforts to benefit private interests. This is why I emphasize expanding of the commons as a foundation for coming together for the benefit of the community.
Share the World's Resources | How to share the world's resources
Addressing
the interlocking crises facing humanity will require a transformation
in economic relationships to embrace our collective values and global
interdependence. It is imperative that world public opinion embraces the
understanding that we are in the midst of a civilizational crisis, and
there is little time left for governments to implement a ‘programme for
survival’. - See more at:
http://www.sharing.org/how-to-share-the-worlds-resources#sthash.R6SyP35w.dpuf
Addressing
the interlocking crises facing humanity will require a transformation
in economic relationships to embrace our collective values and global
interdependence. It is imperative that world public opinion embraces the
understanding that we are in the midst of a civilizational crisis, and
there is little time left for governments to implement a ‘programme for
survival’. - See more at:
http://www.sharing.org/how-to-share-the-worlds-resources#sthash.R6SyP35w.dpuf
Addressing
the interlocking crises facing humanity will require a transformation
in economic relationships to embrace our collective values and global
interdependence. It is imperative that world public opinion embraces the
understanding that we are in the midst of a civilizational crisis, and
there is little time left for governments to implement a ‘programme for
survival’. - See more at:
http://www.sharing.org/how-to-share-the-worlds-resources#sthash.R6SyP35w.dpuf
[...] Addressing the interlocking crises facing humanity will require a transformation in economic relationships to embrace our collective values and global interdependence. It is imperative that world public opinion embraces the understanding that we are in the midst of a civilizational crisis, and there is little time left for governments to implement a ‘programme for survival’.This is an interesting set of directions. There is a lot that government could do to encourage decentralization and local sustainable abundance (permaculture). The initiative and implementation for such things by nature have to come from the grass roots because this meets human needs in a way that taps abundance and reduces dependence.
[...] An emergency relief program can only form an initial stage in a broader agenda to overhaul the global economy. Particular attention must also be placed on guaranteeing access to social protection and essential public services for all; establishing a just and sustainable global food system; and instituting an international framework for sharing natural resources equitably and within planetary limits.
[...] The practice of sharing has a pivotal role to play in a new paradigm for food and agriculture, but it has to be a true form of economic sharing that addresses the power structures and politics underlying an unjust global economy. It is imperative that governments finally accept their responsibility for ensuring adequate diets for all the world's people, and enact policies to democratise and localise food systems.
[...] Guaranteeing everyone access to essential goods and services will not be enough to create a just and sustainable world. Governments also need to rethink the management of an economic system built upon endless consumption and competition over scarce resources, which will be impossible to achieve without new governance regimes for sharing the ‘global commons’.
[...] As humanity moves ever closer to social, economic and environmental tipping points, it is clear that we can no longer rely on politicians to lead the way towards a better world. It is imperative that millions more people recognise what is at stake and take the lead as proponents for change - the wellbeing of planet earth and future generations largely depends on this shift in global consciousness.
Resilient Family | The coming decentralization of food production
[...] Today our agribusiness food production is highly centralized and controlled. It’s a hugely inefficient, massively government-subsidized, monoculture system that is destructive to the environment, requires ever-more intensive inputs (pesticides, fertilizers) to generate yield, and produces cheap Franken-slop such as high fructose corn syrup rather than the healthy foods humans actually want to consume. Organic farming on the other hand, is demonstrating conclusively that embracing complexity, decentralization and local production can pay huge dividends.I think that open food cultivation designs and methods will go viral, literally multiplying through 3d printing technology and local material sourcing. Here is a great example: Food is the how of freedom: Mike Adams & the Foodrising (Youtube). Automation is also replacing much of the traditional labor involved. Even with this in mind all possible avenues of reducing food dependence should be explored by the individual. As individuals we also should try to be aware that some things help more than others.
The New Inquiry | Authentic Sharing
[...] “Sharing economy,” of course, is a gratingly inappropriate terms to describe a business approach that entails precisely the opposite, that renders the social field an arena for microentrepreneurship and nothing else. Yet the vestiges of “sharing” rhetoric clings to such companies as Airbnb and a host of smaller startups that purport to build “trust” and “community” among strangers by getting them to be more efficient and render effective customer service to one another. What more could you ask of a friend?We should be aware that we may be further commoditizing ourselves without addressing dependence at all. This is the whole point of blockchain technology, that we can now cryptographically express our interactions directly to each other without a need for a profit model or a third party at all. Capital will always try to adapt. The forces of competition are very powerful and underestimated, but the mechanics are simple.
By bringing a commercial ethos to bear on exchanges that were once outside the market, the civilizing process that is often attributed to the “bourgeois virtues” of capitalism — with successful economic exchange building the only form of social trust necessary — gets to spread itself over all possible human relationships. The only real community is a marketplace in which everyone has a fair shot to compete.
The freedom of anonymous commercial exchange amid a “community” of well-connected but essentially atomized strangers well-disciplined by the market to behave conventionally and sycophantically is not the sort of community the sharing companies tend to crow about in their advertising.
Of Two Minds | Solutions Start with Innovation and Transparency Charles Hugh Smith
[...] Just as everyone supports "solutions" until the solutions crush their share of the swag, everybody supports innovation and transparency (IT) until IT disrupts their share of the swag. Then they scramble to hide the ugly truths and suppress the spread of threatening innovation.Its something we become more aware of, like addressing symptoms, but never root causes. I think that the following, though clearly divisive and provocative, highlights the isolation from direct connection to nature and community which has resulted in complete hierarchical dependence.
This parallel rejection of swag-crushing solutions and innovation/transparency by vested interests is not coincidental: innovation and transparency are the heart of real solutions.
It's not surprising that the Status Quo craves pseudo-solutions, for real solutions necessarily disrupt the corrupt, sclerotic, wasteful, inefficient, fraud-ridden and cronyist-paradise of vested interests. "Faster, better, cheaper" does not result in larger bureaucracies of do-nothing paper-pushers or multiplying crony-parasites. Rather, "faster, better, cheaper" destroys the friction of vested interests.
[...] Innovation is selectively restrained in systems controlled by vested interests. Anyone who examines the absurdly overpriced delivery of higher education and the dismal market-value of the resulting "education" knows that the system of higher education is ripe for a 90% reduction in costs.
The Invention of Capitalism: How a Self-Sufficient Peasantry was Whipped Into Industrial Wage Slaves
[...] Yep, despite what you might have learned, the transition to a capitalistic society did not happen naturally or smoothly. See, English peasants didn’t want to give up their rural communal lifestyle, leave their land and go work for below-subsistence wages in shitty, dangerous factories being set up by a new, rich class of landowning capitalists. And for good reason, too. Using Adam Smith’s own estimates of factory wages being paid at the time in Scotland, a factory-peasant would have to toil for more than three days to buy a pair of commercially produced shoes. Or they could make their own traditional brogues using their own leather in a matter of hours, and spend the rest of the time getting wasted on ale. It’s really not much of a choice, is it?
[...] “The brutal acts associated with the process of stripping the majority of the people of the means of producing for themselves might seem far removed from the laissez-faire reputation of classical political economy,” writes Perelman. “In reality, the dispossession of the majority of small-scale producers and the construction of laissez-faire are closely connected..."
[...] but by far the most interesting parts of the book are where you get to read Adam Smith’s proto-capitalist colleagues complaining and whining about how peasants are too independent and comfortable to be properly exploited, and trying to figure out how to force them to accept a life of wage slavery.
[...] Arthur Young, a popular writer and economic thinker respected by John Stuart Mill, wrote in 1771: “everyone but an idiot knows that the lower classes must be kept poor, or they will never be industrious.” Sir William Temple, a politician and Jonathan Swift’s boss, agreed, and suggested that food be taxed as much as possible to prevent the working class from a life of “sloth and debauchery.”
[...] Patrick Colquhoun, a merchant who set up England’s first private “preventative police“ force to prevent dock workers from supplementing their meager wages with stolen goods, provided what may be the most lucid explanation of how hunger and poverty correlate to productivity and wealth creation:
We have surpassed the usefulness of the industrial mind, rooted in its strong sense of self and other, designed to compete and take instructions. It is not needed when we have the means to unleash radical abundance and directly meet human needs as peers."Poverty is that state and condition in society where the individual has no surplus labour in store, or, in other words, no property or means of subsistence but what is derived from the constant exercise of industry in the various occupations of life. Poverty is therefore a most necessary and indispensable ingredient in society, without which nations and communities could not exist in a state of civilization. It is the lot of man. It is the source of wealth, since without poverty, there could be no labour; there could be no riches, no refinement, no comfort, and no benefit to those who may be possessed of wealth."
Enoughness: Restoring Balance to the Economy (Youtube)
How we see the world determines how we act. Western thought sees us at war with each other over resources. Indigenous philosophy, we are all related as individuals in balance with nature.We can look to adapt indigenous wisdom traditions to our modern times.
Reorganizing For The Era Of Social Capitalism (Youtube talk)
As a society, we only need to reorganize ourselves if we want to escape the 3 problems that cause most of the other problems that we face. This video describes a simple, fast, and inexpensive way to turn the lights out on Big Data and take ownership and possession of our social capital, creative capital, and intellectual capital so we may articulate ourselves in an economy of abundance rather than one of scarcity and division.
(1) Competition + (2) Asymmetric information = (3) Hierarchy
Post Growth Institute | Charter
[...] We commit to the emergence of ‘post-growth’ world futures, guided by the following principles:
Prosperity Without Growth:Some great points. Simply by looking at this list it will help people to see the other end of the spectrum. eg. unity connection, abundance, etc. Seeking to know the extremes of a dichotomy, we may then drop it, and approach the middle path.
- Recognition that there are natural limits to economic, population and consumption growth and points at which further growth produces, overall, negative outcomes.
- Acceptance that, globally, we have long surpassed the natural limits of the planet to allow us to sustain further increases to material consumption.
- Commitment to restoring, protecting, and prioritizing a healthy ecosystem in order to sustain wellbeing for humans and other species, without requiring further economic growth to do so.
Social and Global Justice:
- Acknowledgement that current models of economic growth have systemically benefited certain populations and species over others and that greater social and environmental justice is required for sustainable futures.
- Awareness that, because of current inequitable conditions, extra efforts may be required to ensure equal access to participation by all, particularly in relation to the most politically charged global issues in which power dynamics have routinely excluded consideration of certain perspectives.
- Advocacy for non-hierarchical organizational systems that invite everyone to contribute in whatever ways they can, valuing the potential of such contributions.
- Support for equitable social and economic systems by which people do not feel forced to leave their homes for the sake of safety, health or opportunity.
Political and Structural Reorganization:
- Acknowledgement that the planet comprises our collective heritage (commons) and that all notions of private possession are human constructions, not laws of nature.
- Belief that post-growth thinking must go beyond polarized debates about existing systems and allow for entirely new ideas and frameworks to form, often drawing inspiration from models other than those that have led to our current challenges while also recognizing that there are some things currently do work for both people and the planet.
- Support for positive forms of growth, such as the (re)generation of local economies, the natural environment, spirituality, well-being, community and respect.
- Acknowledgement that positive outcomes are not always measurable through currently established means.
Diversity, Multiplicity, and Cooperation:
- Respect for diversity in all its forms.
- Recognition that for post-growth outcomes to be most effective, they will most often need to be grounded in relevant contexts and driven by local communities, and that communities do not exist in isolation of larger contexts, meaning there is value in global dynamics informing local action.
- Appreciation that creating positive futures requires embracing multiple approaches, rather than seeking ‘one right answer’.
- Recognition that these issues can have deep emotional impacts in people, and that moralising, blaming, or engendering guilt is counter-productive.
Creativity in Action:
- Commitment to placing intentional emphasis on creativity and collaboration as opposed to constant critique, while still valuing the important role of critical engagement – promoting an attitude of ‘critical hope’.
- Valuing multiple voices means we seek consent rather than consensus in our collective work; finding ways of working together amidst differences is important.
- Recognition of the need to be transparent about assumptions, values, perspectives, and goals in order to continuously revisit them based on new learning.
- Recognition of the creative potential of fun and humor!
Towards an Open Co-operativism | Commons Transition
[...] New forms of peer production are creating common pools of knowledge, code and design and entirely new socio-economic-technical sectors of production and governance. This sprawling, eclectic realm based on free software, open knowledge, open design and open hardware relies upon social collaboration and sharing, and aspires to become a sector of self-sustaining and autonomous commons.
[...] How can social cooperation in contemporary life be structured to better serve the interests of the co-operators/commoners and society in general, in a techno/political economy that currently insists upon appropriating surplus value for private capital?
Commoners tend to approach this question from a different perspective, history and focus than many in the co-operative movement. That’s because commoners tend to occupy a space outside of markets, for example, while co-operatives are generally market entities themselves. Commoners tend to have few institutional resources or revenue streams, but instead rely upon powerful networks of collaboration based on open platforms.
By contrast, co-operatives today constitute a substantial segment of modern economies. There are more than 1 billion co-op members in 2.6 million co-operatives around the world, and they generate an estimated US$2.98 trillion in annual revenue.
[...] The primary goal is to build a larger movement based on the principles of open co-operativism, which, stated simply, is a movement that can embrace the history, institutional innovations and finance models of co-operatives and blend them with the power of open networks, open source ethic, co-operative principles and commitment to the common good.
[...] MOVEMENT-BUILDING STRATEGIES
Building a new movement based on open co-operativism requires finding ways to build bridges between the co-operative movement and commons sectors. Participants suggested a number of conceptual approaches that would be helpful:
Participants also identified a number of organizational strategies that could be pursued:
- Build awareness and a shared discourse
- Develop a statement of guiding principles
- Initiate new dialogues and develop a shared roadmap for collaboration
- Start new commons as co-ops
- Identify cooperative solutions for the precariat including unions and mutuals for the self-employed that secure “economies of co-operation”
- Expand stewardship of the commons through “co-ops for the commons”
- Identify common-denominator solutions through “commons for co-ops,” and
- Treat land as a common platform for co-operative cities and “adventure capital” as a tool to develop convivial finance solutions.
- Convene movement-building events such as conferences, symposia and workshops
- Host festivals to reach out to new partners and the general public
- Start a standing forum to host creative dialogue on Open Co-operativism
- Develop an action research programme on key questions
- Collaborate on a co-operative toolkit for developers
- Start working task forces issue of joint concern
- Adopt “resist and build” strategies (e.g., La Via Campesina)
- Cultivate the cooperative ethos because culture matters as much as legal forms
Cyber.fund | Cybernetic economy vision early draft paper
[...] Cybereconomy is changing the main criterion for economic decision-making from the desire to increase individual capital(capitalism) and public property(socialism) to new motivation criterion equilibrium. Capitalism, nowadays system motivates people to accumulate equity. Successful people in that system of values is a person who has accumulated more capital. Exclusively personal gain makes people egoists and often motivates them to do acts only for themselves but damaging society (corruption, environmental pollution, etc.).I am interested in this project for some of the innovative use of technology, but I would again look with caution at the underlying motive engine.
Cybereconomy - is a system based on the principle of equilibrium between private and public [...] Cybereconomy already exists in the world of Open Source software. This logic of production seems absurd from the point of view of capitalism. Involvement and social control in the economic and technological development processes by decentralizing decision-making in economic development planning between participants in the economic process. Cybernetic business framework change the system labor organization from centralized system to decentralized.
Barrie Cybernetics Club
Helping to connect and support local efforts towards decentralization and sustainable local abundance (permaculture). Cooperating as individuals to address local concerns such as the environment, poverty, homelessness, healthcare, drug abuse, and food/energy dependence.The CryptoTown model uses the idea of a cybernetics club as a sort of local connection point and open think tank.
Civil cybernetics is cooperation and self-improvement towards a culture of awareness and abundance. In the context of an open knowledge society, it would involve the aggrigation of information and sharing of resources to encourage the transition towards decentralization and permaculture.
The Omni Commons
is comprised of several Bay Area collectives with a shared political vision—one that privileges a more equitable commoning of resources and meeting of human needs over private interests or corporate profit.Serves as a great example for the kinds of things that are possible, and things are advancing so rapidly. Here is an awesome walkthrough video.
We invite you to join us in establishing a safe, productive place to pool resources for the collective use and stewardship of the greater community. A space that fosters an ethic of radical collaboration across disciplines and between individual collectives, creating a living model for future radical spaces.
Peer Production | The Constituent Building Blocks
- Voluntary cooperation among peers: Peer production is goal-driven people cooperate in order to reach a shared goal. Participants decide for themselves whether and how to get involved; nobody can order others around. Cooperation is stigmergic: people leave hints about what there is to do and others decide voluntarily which hints (if any) to follow.
- Common knowledge: Digital peer production is based on treating knowledge as a commons that can be used, shared, and improved by all. Projects developing and sharing free design information on how to produce, use, repair and recycle physical goods (often called open-source hardware) provide a basis for physical peer production.
- Common resources: Free design information is not enough for physical production, access to land and other natural resources is essential as well. In the logic of peer production, these too become commons to be used, shared (in a fair manner) and maintained by all.
- Distributed, openly accessible means of production: In peer production, the means of production tend to be distributed among many people there is no single person or entity controlling their usage. Hackerspaces, Fab Labs, and mesh networks provide the basis for a distributed physical production infrastructure. If the machines and other equipment used in such open making facilities become themselves the result of peer production, the circle is closed: Peer producers can jointly produce, use and manage their own productive facilities, allowing to overcome the dependency on proprietary, market-driven production." (http://fscons.org/extensions/self-organized-plenty-emergence-physical-peer-production)
Sustainable Economies Law Centre | Mission
Our MissionThis is a great example of the types of organization models that are popping up. This legal cafe is essentially able to augment any local community as soon as an able member of that community becomes involved in the commons. They may offer expertise when needed while interfacing with the global network.
How We Create Change
Legal education, research, advice, and advocacy for just and resilient economies.
SELC cultivates a new legal landscape that supports community resilience and grassroots economic empowerment. We provide essential legal tools - education, research, advice, and advocacy - so communities everywhere can develop their own sustainable sources of food, housing, energy, jobs, and other vital aspects of a thriving community.
Or as Lady Justice says it:
Neither our communities nor our ecosystems are well served by an economic system that incentivizes perpetual growth, wealth concentration, and the exploitation of land and people. Communities everywhere are responding to these converging economic and ecological crises with a grassroots transformation of our economy that is rapidly re-localizing production, reducing resource consumption, and rebuilding the relationships that make our communities thrive.
However, as new solutions for resilience emerge, many are running into entrenched legal barriers: laws originally designed to protect people from the ills of industrialism are now preventing many communities from growing and selling their own food, investing in local businesses, creating sustainable housing options, and cooperatively owning land and businesses.
It is important to realize that there is a lot of work to be done which is beyond the profit motive and tricky to fund. This work often involves individual intuition and experimentation. The returns are not immediately obvious but stand to outstrip any product of competition.
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