Dear Martin,<br><br>I 'get' your irony and implied condescension for the hacker and free software community, those poor unconscious folks who lack the true awareness,<br><br>have a look at Hacking Capitalism from Johan Soderbergh if you have not read it yet, perhaps you'd see that there are a bit of thoughtful hackers out there<br>
<br>Please be assured, I"m going to abstain to disturb you in your commanding intellectual heights in the future, this has been my last attempt to try to have a civil discussion about perspectives that differ from your absolute certainties,<br>
<br>In the future, please consider that my messages are in no way directed to you, I acknowledge from now on your immense superiority and apologize for the unthoughtful intrusion that have drawn your ire and irony and disturbed your peace of mind<br>
<br>my sincere hope is that you would publish your Collected Writings as a lasting gift for humanity, in these dark times, your Enlightenment is sorely needed,<br><br>from the department of Pedersenian irony, which has one an extra convert<br>
<br>Michel<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Feb 9, 2011 at 6:24 AM, j.martin.pedersen <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:m.pedersen@lancaster.ac.uk">m.pedersen@lancaster.ac.uk</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<br>
Yes, I agree. I was being simplistic. Let us go with what hackers want -<br>
their political analysis seems sound.<br>
<br>
My apologies to the list for suggesting otherwise.<br>
<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
On 08/02/11 21:10, Michel Bauwens wrote:<br>
> the situation is a lot more complex than that<br>
><br>
> many different corporate players contribute to Linux, and the Linux<br>
> Foundation consists for example of different players<br>
><br>
> though 75% of Linux contributors are paid, 25 % are still volunteers<br>
><br>
> I've heard from free software developers that a substantial number of IBM<br>
> Linux workers can self-determine the areas they contribute to, depending not<br>
> just on the corporate needs of IBM<br>
><br>
> I have yet to hear strong, or even weak, critiques of free software<br>
> developers towards the general attitude of IBM in this matter, though they<br>
> have 'specific' critiques about specific actions; in general, I think the<br>
> opinions of those knowledge workers directly involved in such projects,<br>
> should be taken into account<br>
><br>
> of course, the corporatisation of a commons is a matter of concern, and<br>
> changes the rules of the game, but it remains a matter of community vs.<br>
> corporate dynamics, not at all a simple and straight enclosure and<br>
> programmed defeat, but a dynamic co-adaptation and struggle; nevertheless,<br>
> it is a commons that continues to grow and create value for society; that<br>
> creates sustainability and social reproduction for a very large fraction of<br>
> contributors; the overwhelming majority of free software workers considers<br>
> this important progress, not an enclosure in which they lost<br>
><br>
> nevertheless, this is why open source communities should ideally strive<br>
> towards the creation of independent entities, use a logic of preferential<br>
> attachment towards corporate entities that maximally share commons values,<br>
> and fight for community autonomy in the governance of such commons; it's a<br>
> construction and a struggle, not a fixed and idealized situation of total<br>
> defeat<br>
><br>
> your analysis would suggest that voluntary contributors that can't make a<br>
> living, is a superior situation where 75% percent of workers can make a<br>
> living, an analysis and appreciation not shared by said commoners<br>
><br>
> free software workers do not share your ironic idealization of IBM, but they<br>
> appreciate a social compact that reflects a current balance of power that is<br>
> not experienced as something wholly negative, but as a realistic advance in<br>
> the view of current circumstances; wnen this compact is broken, they<br>
> frequently react, and frequently win these conflicts (see<br>
> <a href="http://delicious.com/mbauwens/P2P-Conflicts" target="_blank">http://delicious.com/mbauwens/P2P-Conflicts</a>); commoners aware of<br>
> contradictions within the present political economy also create their own<br>
> autonomous cooperatives (<a href="http://p2pfoundation.net/Free_Software_Cooperatives" target="_blank">http://p2pfoundation.net/Free_Software_Cooperatives</a>)<br>
> and actively propose alternatives (such as the Venture Communism of<br>
> Telekommunisten)<br>
><br>
> Our own <a href="http://p2p.coop" target="_blank">p2p.coop</a> is in process of adopting the latter's peer production<br>
> license, which creates a commoners-only commons, i.e. an active and mutually<br>
> supportive counter-economy; however, it comes at the price of a much slower<br>
> growth of said commons, and actually 'closes' the commons to a significant<br>
> degree; there is a real irony in that a real commons operating purely on<br>
> commonist principles, is open to appropriation by capital, while a closed<br>
> commons has a non-commercial clause which prohibits such appropriation<br>
><br>
> in such a context, a conclusion like, No commons without commoning, no IBM<br>
> involvement without enclosure, would appear to deny such complexities; in<br>
> fact, commoning and enclosure can co-exist in complex and paradoxical ways,<br>
> in which the advantage of the one is not always a zero-sum game leading to<br>
> the loss of another<br>
><br>
> which why I prefer the paradoxical conclusion: no real enclosure without<br>
> real enclosure, and no enclosure without the majority of commoners<br>
> experience such enclosure; of course such a conclusion would warrant that we<br>
> take the experience and points of view of such workers seriously<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> On Tue, Feb 8, 2011 at 11:51 PM, j.martin.pedersen <<br>
> <a href="mailto:m.pedersen@lancaster.ac.uk">m.pedersen@lancaster.ac.uk</a>> wrote:<br>
><br>
>><br>
>><br>
>> On 08/02/11 12:14, Michel Bauwens wrote:<br>
>>> so does IBM and at the same time, it is also strengthening<br>
>>> the free software commons.<br>
>><br>
>> On the premise that there are no commons without commoning, IBM does not<br>
>> strengthen the software commons.<br>
>><br>
>> Rather, IBM converts the (re)production of the *resource* that software<br>
>> commoners have created/established into a matter of wage labour.<br>
>><br>
>> Command over wage labour - and the means of production required to<br>
>> capitalise on it - are thus used to subsume control of what was<br>
>> previously a commons, - a process also known as enclosure. This is the<br>
>> first step. They claim ownership, by acquiring decision-making powers,<br>
>> by claiming de facto leadership of the organisation (and future<br>
>> direction) of the resource. Software - like most things - is movement,<br>
>> and IBM moves it in a direction away from common ground.<br>
>><br>
>> Due to way in which the GPL sits on the fence, this is possible without<br>
>> the immediately apparent destruction of the commons. Hence, for the<br>
>> uncritical observer it might appear as if IBM are adding to the commons,<br>
>> but their interaction with the commons actually results in the<br>
>> minimisation/marginalisation of commoners in the development of the<br>
>> commons: they are rendered marginal: they may still play with the code,<br>
>> i.e. the resource, but their commoning is ever less significant in the<br>
>> development of the resource, while waged labour and corporate planning<br>
>> increasingly determines the trajectory of the resource.<br>
>><br>
>> No commons without commoning, no IBM involvement without enclosure.<br>
>><br>
>> Unless, of course, we say that IBM is such a nice trustworthy outfit<br>
>> that like our Open Source friends at Google "do no evil"(TM) and who<br>
>> would never help computing another holocaust.<br>
>><br>
>> m<br>
>><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
<br>
--<br>
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<br>
"...I thought we were an autonomous collective..."<br>
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