Jean Lievens: Jeremy Rifkin on Occupy–the upcoming third industrial revolution

Crowd-Sourcing, Culture, Economics/True Cost, Governance, Innovation, Knowledge, P2P / Panarchy, Resilience
Jean Lievens
Jean Lievens

There is something unfair in the way this world is organised. Why is our environment deteriorating? Why is unemployment rising? We want a new vision for the future. The upcoming third industrial revolution needs a new economic paradigm.

The economy is crashing because money is no longer relevant. We can produce more food for more people than there is currently living on earth. Every household usually has a lawnmower, a car, a hammer..etc that isn't being used 98% of the time, which means more accessibility to resources if people learned to share.

We don't need money. We need an intelligent way to manage resources.

 

Jean Lievens: Intentional Communities and Solidarity Economics — Grassroots Economic Organizing

Crowd-Sourcing, Design, Economics/True Cost

The Fall GEO Theme seeks to deepen awareness and understanding of the strong connections between solidarity economic activists and members of intentional communities through the common work they are doing.

Intentional Communities and Solidarity Economics | Grassroots Economic Organizing | Peer2Politics | Scoop.it

Jean Lievens: Enlivenment: Towards a Fundamental Shift in the Concepts of Nature, Culture, and Politics

Culture, Economics/True Cost, Governance, P2P / Panarchy, Politics, Resilience
Jean Lievens
Jean Lievens

Enlivenment: Towards a Fundamental Shift in the Concepts of Nature, Culture, and Politics

Our mono-cultural worldview is literally preventing us from understanding the deeper causes of our multiple crises. Author Andreas Weber, in the below essay, gives us a glimpse of the different scientific paradigm now coming into focus. He calls it “Enlivenment,” because the new sciences are revealing organisms to be sentient, more-than-physical creatures that have subjective experiences and produce sense.

Enlivenment: Towards a Fundamental Shift in the Concepts of Nature, Culture, and Politics | Peer2Politics | Scoop.itWeber sees Enlivenment as an upgrade of the deficient categories of Enlightenment thought – a way to move beyond our modern metaphysics of dead matter and acknowledge the deeply creative processes embodied in all living organisms. The framework of Enlivenment that Weber outlines is a promising beginning for all those who stand ready to search for real solutions to the challenges of our future.

Learn more.

Rickard Falkvinge: Economics 101 for Newcomers to Discussion on Sharing and the Sharing Economy

Economics/True Cost, Knowledge
Rickard Falkvinge
Rickard Falkvinge

Economics 101 For Newcomers To Discussion On Sharing

Infopolicy:  This is a primer on some fundamental concepts of economics: property, sale, goods, services. In the discussions around sharing of culture and knowledge, many words are thrown around that make no sense in the context of the discussion. Therefore, this is a reference article to use and link to in such discussions.

Our economy is a market economy. That means each and every person, over and above governmental welfare programs, is responsible for finding their own paycheck. This happens in one way, and one way only: a person makes a sale.

Continue reading “Rickard Falkvinge: Economics 101 for Newcomers to Discussion on Sharing and the Sharing Economy”

Tom Atlee: Surveillance and parasitism harm society’s collective intelligence

Crowd-Sourcing, Design, Economics/True Cost, Education, Governance, Innovation, Knowledge, P2P / Panarchy, Politics, Resilience, Security, Sources (Info/Intel), Transparency
Tom Atlee
Tom Atlee

Surveillance and parasitism harm society’s collective intelligence

What this post is about:  Society’s collective intelligence needs to be able to see clearly what’s going on and take action about it.  Both NSA surveillance and corporate suppression of activism interfere with that vital dynamic.  This post clarifies what’s going on in these dynamics and suggests strategies to counter them and increase society’s collective intelligence.

Any healthy living system will try to weed out challenges that threaten its functioning. That’s what immune systems do: they preserve business-as-usual in a body.

But this natural maintenance activity of a system can be counterproductive:
(a) when changing circumstances demand adaptive responses, when the system NEEDS to change its business-as-usual – and
(b) when the system has been parasitized by something that is using it for the parasite’s own purposes at the larger system’s expense.

Entire post below the line, with links.

Continue reading “Tom Atlee: Surveillance and parasitism harm society’s collective intelligence”

Jean Lievens: Is Economics on Verge of Paradigm Shift?

Economics/True Cost
Jean Lievens
Jean Lievens

Is economics on the verge of a paradigm shift? This is the question raised by David Orrell’s excellent book Economyths, in which he dissects the flaws at the heart of neoclassical economics and argues not onlythat it is not fit for purpose, but that it is responsible for many of society’s current problems. As a book that sets out to ‘change your world view’ it really fits the theme of this blog. While I had an existing scepticismof the state of economics when I began reading it, the book has really opened my eyes to the breadth and depth of the problems.

Is Economics On the Verge of a Paradigm Shift? David Orrell's Economyths and the Perils of Financial Engineering

Jean Lievens: Avaaz from Brazil — Voice of the People

Crowd-Sourcing, Design, Economics/True Cost, Governance, P2P / Panarchy, Politics, Resilience
Jean Lievens
Jean Lievens

Brazil’s Vinegar Revolution: Left in Form, Right in Content

Part 4 of 6: Avaaz – Be the Change the Global Elite Want

In 2006 another ‘democracy’ project made its debut throughout the world. The organization is called Aavaz. According to its website:

Avaaz—meaning “voice” in several European, Middle Eastern and Asian languages—launched in 2007 with a simple democratic mission: organize citizens of all nations to close the gap between the world we have and the world most people everywhere want.

Avaaz empowers millions of people from all walks of life to take action on pressing global, regional and national issues, from corruption and poverty to conflict and climate change. Our model of internet organising allows thousands of individual efforts, however small, to be rapidly combined into a powerful collective force.

Read rest of Part 4.

Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Gearóid Ó Colmáin is a political analyst based in Paris. He is a frequent contributor to Russia Today, Radio Del Sur and Inn World Report. His blog can be reached at Metrogael. Read other articles by Gearóid.