January 2013 - P2P-Foundation - lists.ourproject.org

Fwd: Another Greece conference-Collective ventures, solidarity economy and the urban space
by Michel Bauwens 16 Jan '13

16 Jan '13

CHANGING CITIES’**** Spatial, morphological, formal, & socio-economic dimensions**** Skiathos, Greece, 18-21 June 2013**** special session on**** Collective ventures, solidarity economy and the urban space**** ** ** Call for Papers**** ** ** Concepts and practices related to social and solidarity economy, complementary currencies, time banks, consumers’ cooperatives, cooperatives of production and distribution, social management of water, social management of waste, crowdsourcing, microfinance, open source, commons and P2P production, manufacturing on small scale, community supported agriculture, social groceries, social medical centres, etc. show a remarkable expansion. While this kind of alternative collective ventures have appeared in some countries already some decades ago, in Greece there has been a rapid development of these ventures only in recent years. However, there has been a remarkable proliferation of them at global level, with considerable geographical diversity, on the advent of the new millennium. Associated debates deal with the specific features of this kind of ventures and corresponding practices that emerged under the condition of a shrinking Keynesian welfare state and the transition to a post-fordist era. To some degree this debate is also associated with the emergence and institutionalization of New Social Movements. It is also acknowledged that the abovementioned ventures transform the geography of urban spaces in several ways.**** ** ** Thus relevant research questions may regard different aspects such as: issues about the kind and grade of alterity of these ventures with respect to diverse practices in everyday life in the cities, the role of urban areas for the evolution of such ventures, the relation with sustainability issues, the transformation of social relations in the course of these ventures entailing the creation of new future visions for the cities, the role of citizenship, participation and democracy and the impact on planning issues, the “transition cities” debate, alternative approaches to urban development (e.g. post-development, de-growth), localization issues in the era of globalization, the impact of alternative ventures’ networking on urban space, the role of e-networking and ICT, revisiting creativity and “smart cities” approaches under the focus of such alternative collective practices, the role of suburban areas with the mixture of land uses and any emerging contradictions with conventional agricultural practices. ** ** The aim of the Special Session is to bring together researchers from across a wide spectrum of disciplines geographers, spatial planners, political scientists, economists, sociologists, anthropologists, engineers, psychologists, philosophers, etc. who are interested in collective ventures, solidarity economy and the urban space. This multi-disciplinary call for papers intends to highlight the inter-disciplinary approaches that these ventures need for a comprehensive and integrated interpretation. At the same time, it aspires to facilitate academic networking and be the sparkle for a debate on policy issues around alternative routes in the era of crisis.**** ** ** Please send your title to the session organisers by 14 January 2013:**** Giogos Gritzas, ggritzas(a)auth.gr<mailto:[email protected]> <ggritzas(a)auth.gr> **** (School of Spatial Planning & Development, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)**** ** ** Karolos Kavoulakos kkavoula(a)gmail.com<mailto:[email protected]><kkavoula(a)gmail.com> **** (School of Political Science, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)**** For more information on the conference please visit its website: http://www.changingcities.prd.uth.gr/**** ** ** ------------------------------**** Dr Gill Seyfang**** Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Consumption**** Science, Society and Sustainability (3S) Research Group**** School of Environmental Sciences**** University of East Anglia**** Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK**** ** ** tel: +44(0)1603 592956**** ** ** 3S: www.3s.uea.ac.uk<http://www.3s.uea.ac.uk><http://www.3s.uea.ac.uk> **** Personal: www.uea.ac.uk/~e175/<http://www.uea.ac.uk/~e175/><http://www.uea.ac.uk/~e175/> **** Research: www.grassrootsinnovations.org/ <http://www.grassrootsinnovations.org/><http://www.grassrootsinnovations.org/> **** -------------------------------------------**** IMPORTANT NOTICE - This email is intended for the named recipient only. It may contain privileged and confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, notify the sender immediately and destroy this email. You must not copy, distribute or take action in reliance upon it. Whilst all efforts are made to safeguard emails, The School of Environmental Sciences cannot guarantee that attachments are virus free or compatible with your systems and does not accept liability in respect of viruses or computer problems experienced.**** ** ** [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]**** ** ** ------------------------------------**** Community email addresses:**** Post message: ijccr(a)yahoogroups.com**** Subscribe: ijccr-subscribe(a)yahoogroups.com**** Unsubscribe: ijccr-unsubscribe(a)yahoogroups.com**** List owner: ijccr-owner(a)yahoogroups.com**** ** ** IJCCR website: http://www.geog.le.ac.uk/ijccrYahoo! Groups Links**** ** ** <*> To visit your group on the web, go to:**** http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ijccr/ -- Thomas H. Greco, Jr. thg(a)mindspring.com PO Box 42663, Tucson, AZ 85733 Mobile phone (USA): 520-820-0575 Beyond Money: http://beyondmoney.net Tom's News and Views: http://tomazgreco.wordpress.com Archive Website: http://www.Reinventingmoney.com Photo gallery: http://picasaweb.google.com/tomazhg Skype/Twitter name: tomazgreco My latest book, "The End of Money and the Future of Civilization" can be ordered from Chelsea Green Publishing, Amazon.com, or your local bookshop. -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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Re: [P2P-F] Fwd: Ancient Athens didn't have politicians. Is there a
by Michel Bauwens 16 Jan '13

16 Jan '13

Karl, noted re reductionism, we agree, and indeed it's always present for all of us, Michel On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 6:01 PM, < p2p-foundation-request(a)lists.ourproject.org> wrote: > Re: Fwd: Ancient Athens didn't have politicians. Is there a -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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Re: [P2P-F] Fwd: Ancient Athens didn't have politicians. Is there a lesson for us?
by Darren 15 Jan '13

15 Jan '13

A few of recent (ish) web resources I have found interesting and I think would feed nicely into this discussion posted recently on this list by Dante https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HHhGKgYUGY&list=UU7DXwgSFOgXkKQwEKY2GTnQ&i… The future of democracy (written by a mathematician) http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/speroni20120427 extensive criticisms of representative and direct democracy systems as they are currently understood (think this may have been previously blogged on P2PFoundation) https://georgiebc.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/the-problems-with-democracy-2/

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Re: [P2P-F] Spanish translation of the P2P Manifesto
by Nicolás Reynolds 15 Jan '13

15 Jan '13

resending, i used the wrong address El 14/01/13 11:06, Nicolás Reynolds dijo: > Hi, just to let you know that we[0] have started to work on the spanish > translation of the p2p manifesto as published on the wiki[1], here you can > find the work in progress[2] and another text from Michael we already > published[3]. > > > > [0]: http://endefensadelsl.org/ > [1]: http://p2pfoundation.net/Manifesto > [2]: http://endefensadelsl.org/git/endefensadelsl.org.git/log/?h=p2p-manifesto > [3]: http://endefensadelsl.org/tesis_sobre_el_trabajo_digital.html > > -- > :{ -- :{

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Re: [P2P-F] Fwd: Ancient Athens didn't have politicians. Is there a lesson for us?
by Michel Bauwens 15 Jan '13

15 Jan '13

I am quite sceptical regarding evolutionary psychology as well, which seems a very speculative discipline to me, and a new 'reductionism', but I would be equally critical of mathematical or 'technocratic' reductionism any algoritm that would govern human social processes is a protocol and subject to human power struggles, you are displacing the locus of that struggle to which mathematical model to use, see http://p2pfoundation.net/Protocollary_Power that is not to say it is useless, but it's not a miraculous solution to human fraily, Michel xxx Message: 1 Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2013 12:14:30 +0200 From: Apostolis Xekoukoulotakis <xekoukou(a)gmail.com> Subject: Re: [P2P-F] Fwd: Ancient Athens didn't have politicians. Is there a lesson for us? To: P2P Foundation mailing list <p2p-foundation(a)lists.ourproject.org> Message-ID: <CAOX4E5Ec4TvZHzeRoGe-iVqXwMQng=y4Wq7+JaY=6W9iHqUoMQ(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Michel, I want people to engage in politics. But we should not view reality through our own political prejudices ,as many actually do. Every social structure has internal properties that can be analyzed mathematically. To avoid messy sciences, like evolutionary biology, you would have to be as general as possible. This makes the problem harder to solve but also more difficult to contradict, if proved. I wouldnt use biological studies unless I was really desperate. I dont think that the power law applies to every structure. ex. Lets say that we randomly select 300 people as representatives of a society. The probablity that half of them are corrupt can be precisely computed from the average probability a person is corrupt. The messy thing here is that we believe that an average threshold of probable corruption will never be reached. We cant easily find that probability. But this system has certainly more guarantees than representative democracy. ex. Bitcoin can only work if the majority(in computation power) is not corrupt. This is a technical solution and it is precise. ex. There has been a paper here in the p2p-f mailing list a year ago that described proxy voting and was looking into possible ways that someone can game the system. The difficulty to game a system is also a property of a good social structure. With the advent of the internet and computers, social connections can be more easily formalized in a way that more precise technical social structures can emerge that have stronger guarantees on their ability to protect themselves. -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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A Perezian Framework for the P2P Techno-Economic Paradigm - By Vasilis Kostakis
by Michel Bauwens 14 Jan '13

14 Jan '13

http://p2pfoundation.net/Perezian_Framework_for_the_P2P_Techno-Economic_Par… Dear Vasilis, I'd love to excerpt from your paper, and it would be great if you could scribd it, so we can embed it as well, Michel ** Paper: At the Turning Point of the Current Techno-Economic Paradigm: Commons-Based Peer Production, Desktop Manufacturing and the Role of Civil Society in the Perezian Framework. tripleC 11(1): 173-190, 2013. By Vasilis Kostakis.* URL = http://triplec.at/index.php/tripleC/article/view/463/447 [edit<http://p2pfoundation.net/Perezian_Framework_for_the_P2P_Techno-Economic_Par…> ]Abstract "Following the theory of techno-economic paradigm shifts (TEPS), this paper calls attention to the phenomenon of Commons-based peer production (CBPP). In the context of the current paradigm, it argues that civil society can play an important role in creating favourable conditions for a more sustainable global knowledge society. Approaching tentatively the ways in which 3D printing and other desktop manufacturing technologies can be used in CBPP, it also explores the ways in which the partnership with the state may provide a supportive innovative institutional basis for taking the maximum advantage of the emerging synergies in the vein of TEPS theory." ( http://triplec.at/index.php/tripleC/article/view/463) [edit<http://p2pfoundation.net/Perezian_Framework_for_the_P2P_Techno-Economic_Par…> ]Excerpts[edit<http://p2pfoundation.net/Perezian_Framework_for_the_P2P_Techno-Economic_Par…> ]Introduction This paper uses the theory of techno-economic paradigm shifts (TEPS) theory – gradually developed by Kondratieff (1979), Schumpeter (1982/1939; 1975/1942), Freeman (1974; 1996), and in particular Carlota Perez (1983; 1985; 1988; 2002; 2009a; 2009b) – as its framework to develop its narrative. This choice arguably helps recognise the dynamic and changing nature of the capitalist system in order to avoid any particular’s period extrapolation as “the end of history” in the fashion of Francis Fukuyama (1992). The Perezian framework, as discussed later in more detail, can be considered as a neo-Schumpeterianist approach influenced by (neo-)Keynesiasm policies, that understands capitalism as a creative destruction system. Therefore, the aim is not to make capitalism crisis-free but to manage crises and soften blows or, in other words, to make a successful “creative destruction management” (Kalvet and Kattel 2006). One should be aware of many other theoretical alternatives, such as the Marxist ones, in understanding and acting within certain social, technological and economic processes. It would be interesting to mention that both Marxist and neoSchumpeterianist theoretical approaches consider capitalism prone to crises which are basic features of its normal functioning. However, the neo-Marxist critique (see Wolff 2010; Harvey 2007; 2010) puts emphasis on the inherent unsustainability of capitalism aiming at a different system – “modern society can do better than capitalism”, Wolff (2010) writes – whereas neoSchumpeterians, such as Carlota Perez (2002) or Christopher Freeman (1974; 1996), see crises as a chance for moving the capitalist economy forward. The take of this paper is integrative trying to highlight the potential of new modes of social production which are immanent in capitalism but, in the long term though, might be transcendent to the dominant system. That is why we chose to develop our narrative within the Perezian framework applying the interpretative theory of TEPS." -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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New essay on peer production in TripleC journal
by Vasilis Kostakis 12 Jan '13

12 Jan '13

For those interested in the discussion of peer production in the context of techno-economic paradigm shifts, you may read a new essay titled "At the Turning Point of the Current Techno-Economic Paradigm: Commons-Based Peer Production, Desktop Manufacturing and the Role of Civil Society in the Perezian Framework" here: http://triplec.at/index.php/tripleC/article/view/463 Vasilis -- kostakis.org <http://p2pfoundation.net/Vasilis_Kostakis>

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Re: [P2P-F] Fwd: Ancient Athens didn't have politicians. Is there a lesson for us?
by Michel Bauwens 12 Jan '13

12 Jan '13

Hi Mark, As far as I understand it the original western democracies, and especially the U.S., were designed as Republics, and explicitely anti-democratic, i.e. designed to defend the power of the enlightened property owners against the 'mob'. All the more real elements of democracy, such as universal suffrage of all genders, were imposed later through long-standing social mobilizations ... The Electoral College is just one example of an technique specifically aimed at not having the people directly decide ... Michel XXX Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2013 16:05:04 -0600 From: Mark Janssen <dreamingforward(a)gmail.com> Subject: Re: [P2P-F] Fwd: Ancient Athens didn't have politicians. Is there a lesson for us? To: P2P Foundation mailing list <p2p-foundation(a)lists.ourproject.org> Message-ID: <CAMjeLr-K=13yqx3x2Z3LOw7ESQT-56xrkQ7+rg=MdGi1NNWt5Q(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 9:19 AM, George Dafermos - TBM <G.N.Dafermos(a)tudelft.nl> wrote: > i suppose that was probably meant as a joke, right? > x, Hah, I guess I should have clarified. I mean "nominally" or legally it has a government of, by, and for the People since the Constitution remains the "highest" Law of the United States. Such as it is, if one were to take the issues to court on where it was failing, the courts would have to uphold this standard and ideal. The fact that the People have let their government deteriorate through neglect, and the void of power, left thereby, be filled by those with less noble ideals is a shame. But, nonetheless, I don't think it can copy Greece's model of democracy, where it was supposed to be an indivisible unit. mark -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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Re: [P2P-F] Fwd: Ancient Athens didn't have politicians. Is there a lesson for us?
by Michel Bauwens 12 Jan '13

12 Jan '13

Dear Apostolis, I don't believe you can simpliy wish politics away, and look for technocratic solutions based on mathematics, and I also think it has been shown that the Power Law operates in every distiributed network. In my opinion, what is needed are 'counter-measures' that balance power law tendencies with their opposite, which is exactly what the greek democracy did, but also the free cities in medieval Europe. But all of these were also a direct result of politics. The greek democracy was based on the revolt of the people against debt slavery, and because the sailors-proletarians were armed; the medieval councils were based on the power of the guilds and the city militias which could act against the nobility ... It's less mathematics that will help us, than 'group threshold' anthropology and other in-group vs out group findings of evolutionary psychology, which show more precisely when democratic ingroup processes start to break down. The Norwegian Terje Bongard, in his book Biological Man, has recently published a whole book outlining such an approach. Peer production has shown us that the global scaling of small group dynamics is now possible; can we apply this to politics as well? Some ideal combination of permanent individual expression of choices (such as the liquid feedback system of proxy voting), small-group deliberation, could augment any system of representation that is still needed where down-scaling is not possible .. All of this is however, dependent on popular mobilization, as much as on real-life experimentation of real peer production communities that have successfully defended their autonomy, or in other words: messy politics Michel XXX Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2013 21:14:07 +0200 From: Apostolis Xekoukoulotakis <xekoukou(a)gmail.com> Subject: Re: [P2P-F] Fwd: Ancient Athens didn't have politicians. Is there a lesson for us? To: P2P Foundation mailing list <p2p-foundation(a)lists.ourproject.org> Message-ID: <CAOX4E5F+744hzv4fX8pfC9Ly4G84tJA5n29F4Nmv8CFqOjeQpg(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Letting people literally become the state is the best way to protect Democracy. But how efficient is this? The good thing is that today we have the internet and thus it is much easier to have a decentralized state by the people, thus solutions like these could for some things scale without costing a lot. I wonder if there has been any mathematical research for the amount of decentralization that is required so that a hegemonic class doesnt emerge. I'd prefer it to be mathematical because I know a lot of opinions on this matter which are always interrelated with one's political agenda.(reformist,anarchist,revolutionary marxist,capitalist) -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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Re: [P2P-F] Fwd: evolution of cognition : metaphor, metalingual definition, algorithm, and control (Anna Harris)
by Michel Bauwens 09 Jan '13

09 Jan '13

Interesting comments Anna. I think this is a general difficulty with evolutionary schemes; whether they are true or not, they easily lead to interpretations of superiority, at the same time, I do think there is such a thing as the evolution of the complexity of consciousness, which has been noted by many researchers (even if the need for such complexification may be a result of disfunctions of the society in which they occur) my way out of this conundrum is the concept of Equipotentality, http://p2pfoundation.net/Equipotentiality, i.e. the social design of contributory projects where everyone brings something to the table which is exactly right for the particular project, and hence can and has to be honoured, Michel -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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