#OSE Open Source Everything – Page 94 – Public Intelligence Blog

It's Time to Talk About the Next System

Cecilia Gingerich, TruthOut, 31 March 2015

EXTRACT

It follows that for a systemic crisis, relief will come only through systemic solutions. This means structural changes to the political and economic systems, and a radical shift in social and cultural norms. Of course, accomplishing this will be no small task and will not look anything like the short-term, financialized growth of the 1990s. The necessary solutions will be distinct from those offered in the past and will require a significant amount of creativity and cooperation. These systemic solutions are the focus of a new project titled the Next System Project.

Continue reading “Michael Kearns: TruthOut on Time to Talk About the Next System”

2015/04/022015/04/02

SchwartzReport: Peter Thiel on the Death of American Democracy – Where He Is Right — And Wrong

Access, Civil Society, Commerce, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government

This is about as clear a statement of the noncarbon generation high tech mogul perspective as I have read. The article also gives an accurate, I believe, critique as to where he is in error. Most fundamentally I think Thiel has confused process and specific circumstances. I think democratic government can work very well. It certainly does so in many other countries. There is a reason why Danes are happy, and Americans are not. It is not working well here because of corruption, unlimited money in politics, and the Republican gridlock that has produced, and the compromised nature of our regulatory agencies. There is nothing wrong with the Founders' vision, and everything wrong with its execution. American politics is to the Founders' democratic republic as Fundamentalist Pre-millennial Dispensationlist Christianity is to Jesus' teachings.

Why PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel thinks American democracy is dead

2015/03/302015/03/29

Shima Beigi: Resilience From Mindfulness Engineering© Perspective

Design

Resilience From Mindfulness Engineering© Perspective

Although framing the concept of resilience is not a straightforward process and various scientists have already tried to challenge the utility of the concept, in this post with a reference to my recently finished PhD, I share some of my thoughts on resilience of complex adaptive systems. As I demonstrated in the below figure, to be resilient we have to learn to think and speak in a shared space of collective understanding.

Extraordinary graphic below the fold.

Continue reading “Shima Beigi: Resilience From Mindfulness Engineering© Perspective”

2015/03/302015/03/29

Sepp Hasslberger: Energy Revolution — Solar Thermal with No Moving Parts &

03 Economy, 05 Energy, 11 Society, Economics/True Cost, Innovation

Thermoacoustics – there seems to be a lot going on in the field of the sound and heat (and magnetics) combination.

Clean Solar Thermal Energy Technology with No Moving Parts – Thermoacoustic Stirling Engine

So heat, sound and magnetic fields have been shown to influence each other. This adds to another recent post about students experimentally putting out fires with sound waves…

Landmark study proves that magnets can control heat and sound

2015/03/302015/03/29

Jean Lievens: Will Predatory Sharing Economy Experience a Revolt?

Economics/True Cost

Will there be a revolt in the sharing economy?

EXTRACT

It’s a revolution, for sure, but a decidedly one-sided one so far, driven by demand. What does that mean for all these sharers who are, in large part, working for big companies without ever being deemed employees? For now, they’re an unorganised group of suppliers. But that could change, with disruptive results.

2015/03/292015/03/27

Sepp Hasslberger: Engineering students use sound waves to put out fires

Advanced Cyber/IO, Innovation

Engineering students use sound waves to put out fires

Two engineering students at George Mason University have found a way to use sound waves to quash fires and have built a type of extinguisher using what they have learned that they hope will revolutionize fire fighting technology. Viet Tran a computer engineering major and Seth Robertson, an electrical engineering major, chose to investigate the possibility of using sound to put out fires as a senior research project and now believe they have found something that might really work. Read more.

2015/03/272015/03/26

Jean Lievens: Beyond the market-state – decentralising power in a sharing society

Access, Design, Economics/True Cost, Governance, P2P / Panarchy, Politics

This is broadly in line with what P2P theorist Michel Bauwens refers to as the partner state – a reformed governmental apparatus that builds on the welfare state…

Beyond the market-state: decentralising power in a sharing society

CONCLUSION: Resilient and socially inclusive communities can clearly play an immediate role in the great transition that still lies ahead, but it will remain impossible to establish economic systems that are structurally just and truly sustainable until political power is radically decentralised – especially at the national and global level – and wealth is distributed more equally throughout society. By recognising the global roots of our local struggles, those working towards local alternatives to economic globalisation therefore have a central role to play in democratising our governance systems from the top down as well as the bottom up.