October 2011 - P2P-Foundation - lists.ourproject.org

podcasts 4 blog
by Michel Bauwens 27 Oct '11

27 Oct '11

- 10-24-11 Michel Bauwens // Foundation For Peer-To-Peer Alternatives<http://www.pantedmonkey.org/podcastgen/download.php?filename=2011-10-26_120…> - 10-24-11 Charlene Spretnak // Relational Reality<http://www.pantedmonkey.org/podcastgen/download.php?filename=2011-10-26_130…> Dear Chris, at the bottom right of this radio program site, there are 2 podcasts one by me, and the spretnak one, see: http://www.pantedmonkey.org/ can you put them on our blog, preferably on 2 different days, post-dated to November? many thanks, Michel -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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Occupy Stupid Land - Technorati Politics
by 10natalie＠cox.net 27 Oct '11

27 Oct '11

http://technorati.com/politics/article/occupy-stupid-land/?utm_source=dlvr.…

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Central Infrastructures and High Overhead vs. Distributed Infrastructures and Ephemeralization
by Kevin Carson 26 Oct '11

26 Oct '11

The following brain dump came to me as I was driving, and I'm keying it in here at the brew pub. I cc'ed this to Andy and Francesca, since it's sort of in their bailiwick. What I'd like help with is reducing this to a more succinct and coherent principle with fewer moving parts. And I'm especially interested in how it applies to distributed activist movements like OWS. Paul Hawken and the Lovinses stated a general principle that when load-bearing infrastructures are built to handle the load at peak demand, about 80% of the unit cost comes from the added infrastructure that comes from the 20% increased usage that comes from the tiny fraction of the time when the infrastructure experiences peak load. They gave the specific example of home heating, where enormous savings could be achieved by scaling capacity to handle only modal usage, with additional demand handled through spot heating. More generally, centralized infrastructures must be scaled to handle peak loads even when such loads only occur a small fraction of the time. And then they must amortize the extra cost, by breaking user behavior to the needs of the infrastructure. At the opposite pole is distributed infrastructure, in which most of the infrastructural goods are distributed among the endpoints, relations are directly between endpoints without passing through a central hub, and volume is driven entirely by user demand at the endpoints. Since the capital goods possessed by the endpoints is a miniscule fraction of the cost of a centralized infrastructure, there is no incentive to subordinate end-users to the needs of the infrastructure. The classic example is Bucky Fuller's own: the replacement of the untold millions of tons of metal in transoceanic cables with a few dozen one-ton satellites. The entire infrastructure consists of satellite dishes at the endpoints commuinicating -- via free, immaterial ether! -- to the satellites. Likewise projected systems which replace the fiber optic backbone with satellite connections and last-mile meshworks. Also the enormous infrastructure tied up in the civil aviation system's central hubs and batch-and-queue processing, as opposed to small jets flying directly between endpoints. Another example is mass-production industry, which minimizes unit costs by running its enormously costly capital-intensive machinery at full capacity 24/7, and then requires organizing a society to guarantee consumption of the full output whether consumers want the shit or not -- what's called "supply-push distribution." If consumers won't take it all, you soak up surplus output by destroying it through a permanent war economy, sinking it into an Interstate Highway System, etc. -- or maybe just making stuff to fall apart. The opposite of mass-production is distributed production on the Emilia-Romagna model, with the capital infrastructure distributed to the point of consumption and output geared to local demand. The transnational corporate model of outsourcing is an attempt to put this new wine in old bottles. It distributes the production facilities, but does so on the basis of local labor cost rather than the location of market demand. So it still relies on the centralized wholesale/retail infrastructure of warehouses on wheels/containerships, scaled to peak load, to transfer goods from the distributed production sites to the point of final consumption. The pure and adulterated distributed manufacturing model, OTOH, does away with this infrastructure by siting production at the last-mile network of consumption. My last example, the one I suspect is more functionally related to distributed activism models, is the distributed model of stigmergic organization in Wikipedia or in open-source design as described by Eric Raymond. Individual contributions are coordinated entirely by endpoint users, coordinating their efforts with the finished body of work, without the intermediary of a centralized institutional framework as in old-line activist organizations. BTW, what's a good word for the opposite of "ephemeralization"? Maybe something that riffs off of gnostic concepts like sarx/sarcos? If so, does this mean that Alfred Sloan was the Demiurge? -- Kevin Carson Research Associate, Center for a Stateless Society http://c4ss.org Homebrew Industrial Revolution: A Low-Overhead Manifesto http://homebrewindustrialrevolution.wordpress.com Desktop Regulatory State: The Countervailing Power of Super-Empowered Individuals http://desktopregulatorystate.wordpress.com Organization Theory: A Libertarian Perspective http://mutualist.blogspot.com/2005/12/studies-in-anarchist-theory-of.html

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Re: [P2P-F] FW: Is Consumer Capitalism Outdated? | Laszlo Zsolnai
by Michel Bauwens 26 Oct '11

26 Oct '11

with pleasure, thank you so much, Michel On Wed, Oct 26, 2011 at 10:29 PM, Laszlo Zsolnai < laszlo_zsolnai(a)interware.hu> wrote: > http://laszlo-zsolnai.net/content/consumer-capitalism-outdated **** > > Dear Michel,**** > > The above article has been published in Los Angeles about “*Occupy Wall > Street*”, *Spirituality in Business*, *E. F. Schumacer’s human scale > economics*, *Steve Jobs’ legacy*, and my own work on *Buddhist Economics*. > You may wish to read it. **** > > Yours,**** > > Laszlo**** > -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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Simulation - Sustainability? : World3/2004 model ?
by Dante-Gabryell Monson 26 Oct '11

26 Oct '11

Implementation of the World3 model<http://www.modelica.org/libraries/SystemDynamics/releases/2.0> in the simulation language Modelica<http://fi.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Modelica&action=edit&redlink=1> // http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Limits_to_Growth the World3/2004 model used in the book Limits to growth: the 30 year update<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Limits_to_growth:_the_30_year_upd…> . Model The model consisted of several interacting parts. Each of these dealt with a different system of the model. The main systems were - the food system, dealing with agriculture and food production, - the industrial system, - the population system, - the non-renewable resources system, - the pollution system. /// - Interactive online World3 simulation <http://live.simgua.com/World> - The Institute for Policy and Social Science Research<http://www.unh.edu/ipssr/> - Macintosh version of the Simulation by Kenneth L. Simons<http://www.rpi.edu/~simonk/ESP/BTL4MacDownload.html> - Implementation of the World3 model<http://www.modelica.org/libraries/SystemDynamics/releases/2.0> in the simulation language Modelica<http://fi.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Modelica&action=edit&redlink=1> - *Dynamics of Growth in a Finite World*, by Dennis L. Meadows, William W. Behrens III, Donella H. Meadows, Roger F. Naill, Jorgen Randers, and Erich K.O. Zahn. 1974 ISBN 0-9600294-4-3<http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toiminnot:Kirjal%C3%A4hteet/0960029443> - *World Dynamics*, by Jay Wright Forrester. 1973 ISBN 0-262-56018-6<http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toiminnot:Kirjal%C3%A4hteet/0262560186> - The Limits to Growth <http://www.clubofrome.org/docs/limits.rtf> (Abstract, 8 pages, by Eduard Pestel. A Report to The Club of Rome (1972), by Donella H. Meadows, Dennis l. Meadows, Jorgen Randers, William W. Behrens III) - Limits to Growth, The 30-Year Update<http://www.chelseagreen.com/2005/items/ltgcd>, by Dennis Meadows and Eric Tapley. 2004 CDRom with World3-2004 model. ISBN 1-931498-85-7<http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toiminnot:Kirjal%C3%A4hteet/1931498857>

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Re: [P2P-F] do you want to be the first one ...
by Michel Bauwens 26 Oct '11

26 Oct '11

Dear Ulrike, unfortunately, I'm going to a really dry patch myself for the moment, but I'll do my best to advertise the campaign, starting with this list, you could also post a message to our Ning board, which I can tweet and facebook ... Michel On Thu, Oct 27, 2011 at 1:42 AM, ulrike reinhard <ulrike(a)ulrikereinhard.com>wrote: > .. to donate a little something for WE_The_Movie;-) > > http://www.we-the-movie.com/**donations/<http://www.we-the-movie.com/donations/> > > would be awesome;-) > > best, u* > > -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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art resistance to social media
by Michel Bauwens 26 Oct '11

26 Oct '11

http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/unlikeus/2011/10/13/museums-and-artists-tak… Dear Kevin, could you introduce this to our readers? Michel -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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tracking blockers
by Michel Bauwens 26 Oct '11

26 Oct '11

http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/unlikeus/2011/10/21/antisocial-integrations… Dear Sepp, could you introduce the 'tracking blockers' to our readers? Michel -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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Franco Berardi & Geert Lovink: A call to the Army of Love and to the Army of Software :: net critique by Geert Lovink
by Dante-Gabryell Monson 26 Oct '11

26 Oct '11

http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/geert/2011/10/12/franco-berardi-geert-lovin…

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Re: [P2P-F] swecw-list> More Green Now! critical review of DGR
by mp 26 Oct '11

26 Oct '11

A review of a deep green perspective, ending like this: > That said, this book is an interesting topic, but spends to much time > constructing and describing what the authors thinks is a perfect > society and fails to reconcile accurately the true hardship and > shortcomings of armed struggle groups. Then again, the GDR manifesto > is $19.95 new, not to mention $150-$500 workshops, so how serious can > you take the authors anyway? I recommend this book for nonprofit > employees or self-identified student activists. The reading will be > interesting no matter who you are, but has an authoritative leftist > current that may undo the success of Derrick Jensen’s Endgame. On 26/10/11 12:09, dr.woooo wrote: > More Green Now! > October 25, 2011 > By Tiger Attack > Deep Green Resistance: Strategy to Save the Planet > > > Derrick Jensen is at it again with his new book, Deep Green > Resistance: Strategy to Save the Planet (2011), except this time with > two co-authors taking the lead. The first is Lierre Keith, author of > the book, The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability > (2009). The second, Aric Mcbay, a previous co-author with Jensen in > the book, What We Leave Behind (2009) and author of Peak Oil Survival: > Preparation for Life after Gridcrash (2006) and Wake: A Collective > Manual-in-progress for Outliving Civilization (www.inthewake.org) > Jensen an author of countless books such as a Culture of Make Believe > (2004), Endgame (2006), and his new book Dreams (2011). Jensen now > takes a more passive role writing the introduction and answering > questions at the end of chapters. > > > > > > Keith and Mcbay seems to pick up and expand on the more militant > aspects where Jensen left off in Endgame. “The book is about fighting > back” to “save the planet” and the book completes its task for > proposing a strategy, but whether that strategy resonates and speaks > to people is an entirely different story. The book is broken into four > sections: resistance, organization, strategy and tactics, and the > future. The first and last sections are written primarily by Keith and > the second and third by Mcbay. > > > > The first section: resistance, establishes the problems and myths of > civilization and goes to some depth in historical currents of > resistance in history. Keith has a chapter called “Liberals and > Radicals” where she seeks to distinguish the difference between the > two and then demonstrates how both can operate in building social > movements based on legal remedies, direct action, withdrawal, and > spirituality. In this she describes a kind of socialist society she > wants to build and what it ought to be like. This analysis is build on > a Marxian definition of radical, Keith (p. 62) states, “[b]ut for > radicals, society is made up of classes or any groups or castes. In > the radical’s understanding, being a member of a group is not an > affront. Far from it; identifying with a group is the first step > toward political consciousness and ultimately effective political > action.” A Marxist feminist current is carried into a chapter titled a > “Culture of Resistance.” Mcbay ends the section with “A Taxonomy of > Action.” Mcbay categorizes the different actions, omission and > commission, giving a brief history on where they came from and how > they functioned. > > > > Organization written entirely by Mcbay, becomes a more technical > section in laying out conceptual tools for resistance. This section > beings with “The Psychology of Resistance” which lays out different > psychological studies and ideas to demonstrate who, how, and how many > may typically resist oppressive situations. One interesting notion > was“learned helplessness” by Martin Seligman. The section continues to > lay out a number different organizational models and demonstrates how > different models benefit certain situations. This is followed by a > discussion on decision making, recruitment, and security culture. The > French resistance in occupied France and U.S. Army field manuals are a > common source of reference. > > > > The third section strategy and tactics lays out a broad plan of attack > for a lethal natural environmental movement. This section summarizes > military strategy and tactic from a couple U.S. Army field manuals. > The strategic and tactical information is then synthesized and related > to the successes and failures of different social movements and armed > struggle groups. Starting from slave abolition to women suffrage, all > the way to Irish Independence, the Weather Underground (WU), and the > African National Congress (ANC). Then the concept of “Decisive > Ecological Warfare” is deployed to bring the strategic and tactical > necessity of underground cells to destroy industrial infrastructure > and aboveground groups to support the underground actions while > keeping a culture of resistance in mind. These ideas are explained at > some depth. > > > > The last section states the six principles of Deep Green Resistance > and the need for Decisive Ecological Warfare. This section continues > to tell a story of what could be and how, giving an example of these > ideas in actions and the difficulties, pleasures, and hardships that > could come from attacking the industrial system. And the book ends as > many sections do, reminding you that 200 species died today—your > inaction is complicit with ecocide. > > > > The book contains a number of interesting ideas and includes a diverse > range of material. The authors do well to expose the myths of > civilization and to explain military strategy and tactic for > dummies—the Hitler assassination diagram was clever. This book > provides a common ground, or set of terms, to understand important > methods of organization, security, strategy, and tactic. This may be > beneficial to an audience ignorant to the realities of an industrial > culture and power. That said, there are some significant shortcomings. > > > > A concentration of concern exist in chapters, “Liberals and Radicals” > and “Culture of Resistance.” These chapters seem to lack clarity, > explanation, and fail to tie together clear ideas presented in an out > of sequence structure. This continues in “Culture of Resistance” with > a weak historical genealogical approach to European counter cultures. > A further discrepancy is the definition of radical, stated above. This > definition of radical appears shortsighted. Radical, stemming from the > Latin word radix, meaning: root, the Marxian definition does not > address the systemic or root issues of industrial civilization. There > seems to be contradiction and confusion between the Marxist-feminist > society proposed by Keith and the anti-civilization agenda of the > book. The explanation of this indigenous friendly, socialist society > is one notch deeper than superficial—a difficult image to paint > nonetheless. > > > > The culture of resistance and society proposed suffers from a romantic > communism. Keith seems naive to power, an accusation she wages > correctly against other groups, but her authoritative leftism may have > unintended consequences. Keith, referring to spirituality in a > “Culture of Resistance” (p.166-7) writes: > > > A moral code may inscribe obedience to authority throughout society or > it may call us to fight injustice; we can find examples of both even > in the same religious traditions….We need that new religion to help > set the world right, and to nestle each human life in an unbroken > circle of individual conscience and longing, communal bonding, > connection to the multitude of members of this tribe called carbon…. > > > Keith concludes in the “Culture of Resistance”section (p. 190) stating: > > > The task of a culture of resistance include holding and enforcing > community norms of justice, equity, and commitment, and solidarity; > encouraging vibrant political discussion and debate; producing > cultural products—poems, songs, art—that create a mythic matrix > organized around the themes of resistance; building individual > character based on courage, resilience, and loyalty. > > > These could be words from a right-wing christian community. The > specifics of this culture of resistance are not developed much past > the adjectives of the last quote. There is continuous repetition of > positive adjectives and little elaboration on how these cultures will > develop there “own institutions”—many of that is put on the > “Permaculture Wing.” The authoritative leftism thrown around is enough > to turn most radicals away and discredit some of her finer points. > > > > This brings up the examples used. Many of these social movements and > armed groups are not radical in any deep sense of the word. Despite > the accurate criticism placed against Permacultureists, there practice > is more radical in many ways to the social movements and > Marxist-Lenninist groups cited. Just because a group uses guns does > not mean they are radical. These were points made it the book, but > contradiction ensued. The conditions in South Africa are argued by > many to be worse now than ever— parts of ANC leadership sold out to > the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund almost right off > the bat. Further, the demands of civil rights and women suffrage were > not radical, they were reasonable demands and concessions to be > accepted by capitalist society. More to the point, they talk about > Members for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), but not once > do they talk about the deal the Nigerian government made with MEND for > disarmament in exchange for amnesty, 1,500 dollars, and jobs. The > leadership took it, and guess what? The leadership sits rich in the > city while the foot soldiers still wait for their payments and jobs in > a government indoctrination camps. MEND has recovered and has declared > to resume attacks on June 2011, but the more complex lessons for > strategy, tactic, and hardship are not taught. The authors of DGR did > not even talk about the armed groups of Latin America from the 1960s > to 1990s. > > > > That said, this book is an interesting topic, but spends to much time > constructing and describing what the authors thinks is a perfect > society and fails to reconcile accurately the true hardship and > shortcomings of armed struggle groups. Then again, the GDR manifesto > is $19.95 new, not to mention $150-$500 workshops, so how serious can > you take the authors anyway? I recommend this book for nonprofit > employees or self-identified student activists. The reading will be > interesting no matter who you are, but has a authoritative leftist > current that may undo the success of Derrick Jensen’s Endgame. > > > –Tiger Attack > via http://theanvilreview.org > -- NOT sent from a flippin' "smart"phone - 'cause I like birds...

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