P2P Book of the Year 2011: Difference between revisions

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Planning page. Done: July-August blog category P2P-Books


continue down from http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/page/7?cat=36
=The Selection=


Book of the Year:
==[[First Five Thousand Years of Debt]]==


**
The P2P Foundation Book of the Year for 2011:


* Money and Slavery, Debt Obligations and Hierarchy


http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/money-and-slavery-debt-obligations-and-hierarchy/2011/10/22
'''1. On Debt, hierarchy and p2p dynamics'''


Very interesting quotes of a review of David Graeber’s book on Debt, by Matt Cropp:


A debt between two individuals thus creates a temporary hierarchical relationship between them, and in societies in which the alienation of relationships pioneered by slavery has been internalized, such debts can then be transfered to, or even originated by, a creditor with no interest at all in the wellbeing of the debtor as long as the debt continues to be serviced. As a result, debts in such societies can make the status of debtor virtually a form of slavery as they are pushed to do things that would have been unthinkable had the need to pay off their debts not been hanging over their heads.
*  ''Debt: The First 5,000 Years. David Graeber. Melville House Publishing, 2011'' [http://p2pfoundation.net/First_Five_Thousand_Years_of_Debt]


Without any doubt, this is the most important book of the year, and not just for the p2p/commons community. Not only is debt the key issue in the present structural crisis, but David Graeber has uncovered how this is a key thread running through human history.


LAST YEAR: http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/details-about-the-p2p-foundations-book-of-the-year-for-2010-civilizing-the-economy/2011/01/05
Matt Cropp has an interesting quote on the 'hierarchy' aspect of debt:


whole list at http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/the-ten-best-p2p-books-of-2010/2011/01/04
"A debt between two individuals thus creates a temporary hierarchical relationship between them, and in societies in which the alienation of relationships pioneered by slavery has been internalized, such debts can then be transfered to, or even originated by, a creditor with no interest at all in the wellbeing of the debtor as long as the debt continues to be serviced. As a result, debts in such societies can make the status of debtor virtually a form of slavery as they are pushed to do things that would have been unthinkable had the need to pay off their debts not been hanging over their heads."


Civilizing the Economy. A new economics of provision. Marvin T. Brown. Cambridge University Press, 2010  
(Reminder, last year's pick was: Civilizing the Economy. A new economics of provision. Marvin T. Brown. Cambridge University Press, 2010  
[http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/details-about-the-p2p-foundations-book-of-the-year-for-2010-civilizing-the-economy/2011/01/05]; the whole 2010 list is here [
http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/the-ten-best-p2p-books-of-2010/2011/01/04]


**Economics
==Sacred Economics==


* On the enclosure and depletion of social capital
'''2. Understanding P2P Economics'''


http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/on-the-enclosure-and-depletion-of-social-capital/2011/08/06
* ''Charles Eistenstein. [[Sacred Economics]]: Money, Gift, and Society in the Age of Transition. EVOLVER EDITIONS/North Atlantic Books, 2011'' [http://p2pfoundation.net/Sacred_Economics]


An excerpt from the book, Sacred Economics, by Charles Eistenstein:
A really great and important book, which also delves into the economics of usury, and pays attention to the anthropological and spiritual aspects of economic ordering.


The Strip-Mining of Community
See: Disintermediation and the P2P Revolution [http://p2pfoundation.net/Sacred_Economics#Disintermediation_and_the_P2P_Revolution]


“The most important type of capital for purposes of this discussion is social capital. Social capital refers primarily to relationships and skills, the “services” that people once provided for themselves and each other in a gift economy, such as cooking, child care, health care, hospitality, entertainment, advice, and the growing of food, making of clothes, and building of houses. As recently as one or two generations ago, many of these functions were far less commoditized than they are today. When I was a child, most people I knew seldom ate at restaurants, and neighbors took care of each other’s children after school. Technology has been instrumental in bringing human relationships into the realm of “services,” just as it has brought deeper and more obscure pieces of the earth into the realm of goods. For example, the technology of the phonograph and radio helped turn music from something people made for themselves into something they paid for. Storage and transportation technologies have done the same for food processing. In general, the fine division of labor that accompanies technology has made us dependent on strangers for most of the things we use, and makes it unlikely that our neighbors depend on us for anything we produce. Economic ties thus become divorced from social ties, leaving us with little to offer our neighbors and little occasion to know them.


The monetization of social capital is the strip-mining of community.
'''2.b Runner-Up on P2P Economics'''


* ''[[New Capitalist Manifesto]]. Building a Disruptively Better Business, Umair Haque. Harvard Business Press, 2011'' [http://p2pfoundation.net/New_Capitalist_Manifesto]


* New Capitalist Manifesto. Building a Disruptively Better Business, Umair Haque. Harvard Business Press, 2011
Umair Haque makes the case for a new type of inclusive capitalism, that takes the common good into account.
 
http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/book-of-the-week-umair-haques-new-capitalist-manifesto/2011/02/13 [http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/book-of-the-week-2-umair-haque-on-how-to-become-a-constructive-capitalist/2011/02/15]


“So here’s the twenty-first-century capitalists’ agenda, in a nutshell. To rethink the “capital” — to build organizations that are less machines, and more living networks of the many different kinds of capital, whether natural, human, social, or creative. And second, to rethink the “ism”: how, when, and where the many different kinds of capital can be most productively seeded, nurtured, allocated, utilized — and renewed. Put both together, and the promise is for companies, countries, and economies to climb to a higher level of advantage, to scale a steeper apex of achievement.”
“So here’s the twenty-first-century capitalists’ agenda, in a nutshell. To rethink the “capital” — to build organizations that are less machines, and more living networks of the many different kinds of capital, whether natural, human, social, or creative. And second, to rethink the “ism”: how, when, and where the many different kinds of capital can be most productively seeded, nurtured, allocated, utilized — and renewed. Put both together, and the promise is for companies, countries, and economies to climb to a higher level of advantage, to scale a steeper apex of achievement.”




* From an Economics of Power and Greed to an Economics of Compassion and the Common Good
(also have a look at: Economics Unmasked: From power and greed to compassion and the common good. By Philip B. Smith & Manfred Max Neef, Green Books, 2011) [http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/from-an-economics-of-power-and-greed-to-an-economics-of-compassion-and-the-common-good-2/2011/07/07]
 
http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/from-an-economics-of-power-and-greed-to-an-economics-of-compassion-and-the-common-good-2/2011/07/07
 
Book: Economics Unmasked: From power and greed to compassion and the common good. By Philip B. Smith & Manfred Max Neef, Green Books, 2011
 
Excerpted, via Ethical Markets TV, from a review, by Nic Marks, founder of the Centre for Well-being:
 
“This is a radical book – in fact it is a book to re-radicalise those of us who perhaps over the years have lost some of our edge!
 
…
 
Philip … has done a great job at creating with Manfred a compact classic. In fact having a physicist poke holes in economics theory – with its oversimplification of human behaviour in a desire to be like the ‘hard’ physical sciences – is all the more fun and indeed powerful. His deconstruction of Bentham and Utilitarianism in chapter five is worth the price of the book alone.
 
In some ways the book goes over ground that those of us who have critiqued economics are already familiar with, but there is something about their directness that genuinely does ‘unmask’ economics. What do they suggest is behind the mask? A system that uses quasi scientific theory and language to reinforce and protect the power and wealth of the rich. Their treatise moves easily from philosophy to physics, from economics to environment and argues passionately for more compassion.
 
They identify what they consider to be the foundations of a new economics … :
 


** Urbanism and Design


* Peer to Peer Urbanism, Fractal Hierarchy, and Future Permatecture
==Algorithmic Sustainable Design==


http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/peer-to-peer-urbanism-fractal-hierarchy-and-future-permatecture/2011/06/25
'''3. On P2P Urbanism and Design'''


- By now the permaculture movement has focused upon patterns (pattern languages), and that’s good, but now it’s time to focus more upon forms (form languages). With this new toolbox from Nikos we have the tools needed to truly reunite man with nature both through innate biophilic patterns and geometry. To respect and care for nature we have to create nature through infusing all we create with the geometry found in nature, and to obey the laws of nature. A reason why so many don’t care about nature today is that our cities and towns are anti-nature.
* ''Nikos A. Salingaros. Twelve Lectures on Architecture; [[Algorithmic Sustainable Design]].''
[http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/peer-to-peer-urbanism-fractal-hierarchy-and-future-permatecture/2011/06/25]


Book: Nikos A. Salingaros. Twelve Lectures on Architecture; Algorithmic Sustainable Design.
Øyvind Holmstad:


Øyvind Holmstad has written a long and well illustrated detailed review of Nikos Salingaros’ important new book, which is better read in the original here.
"With this new toolbox from Nikos we have the tools needed to truly reunite man with nature both through innate biophilic patterns and geometry. To respect and care for nature we have to create nature through infusing all we create with the geometry found in nature, and to obey the laws of nature. A reason why so many don’t care about nature today is that our cities and towns are anti-nature."


Excerpts:


“The goal of permaculture is to reunite man with nature and man with man through design systems, and here patterns play an important role. Still, patterns can only reunite humans with natural systems and with each other, not with the geometry of the universe. Surely in what I like to call permatecture, better known as biophilic architecture, biotecture or neurotecture, patterns are crucial. But for the creation of wholeness and life we need a whole range of tools.
'''3.b Runner up: Open Design'''


When “A Pattern Language” was first published in 1977, architects immediately assumed that it was a design manual, and used it to generate some very interesting buildings. Those buildings, despite their positive human qualities, lack an overall coherence, and people did not understand why this was happening. The reason is that the Patterns provide essential and necessary constraints, and not a design method in itself. The actual design algorithm was developed by Alexander, but only many years later. – Twelve Lectures on Architecture, by Nikos A. Salingaros, page 106


The new book by Professor Nikos A. Salingaros, Twelve Lectures on Architecture; Algorithmic Sustainable Design, is like a Swiss Army Knife of tools for creating ultimate human habitats, or EEAs. Nobody cares about something they don’t love, and nobody loves anything that contradicts nature, because the human biophilia is nature!
* ''[[Open Design Now]]: Why Design Cannot Remain Exclusive. Bas Van Abel, Lucas Evers, Peter Troxler, et al. BIS Publishers, 2011.'' [http://p2pfoundation.net/Open_Design_Now]


Open Design Now looks at design in the new creative commons, co-creation era. It presents practices, tools, and licensing systems, as open design is a way of designing everyone can participate in. It has been recommended by John Thackara [http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/why-design-cannot-remain-exclusive-a-milestone-book-on-open-design/2011/05/10]


* Book: Open Design Now: Why Design Cannot Remain Exclusive. Bas Van Abel, Lucas Evers, Peter Troxler, et al. BIS Publishers, 2011.
==Telekommunist Manifesto==


http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/why-design-cannot-remain-exclusive-a-milestone-book-on-open-design/2011/05/10


This is undoubtedly a very important book, and we are reproducting John Thackara’s remarks in full. Open Design Now looks at design in the new creative commons, co-creation era. It presents practices, tools, and licensing systems, as open design is a way of designing everyone can participate in.
'''4. Labor'''


John Thackara:
* ''Dmytri Kleiner. The [[Telekommunist Manifesto]].'' [http://p2pfoundation.net/Telekommunist_Manifesto]


“A new book from the Dutch publisher Bis, Open Design Now, includes essays, cases and visuals on various issues of Open Design. The book contains practical guidelines for designers, design educators and policy makers to get started with Open Design. It also includes a preface, contributed by me, that is reproduced here.
Dmytri Kleiner argues that capitalism is not compatible with peer to peer.


** Labor
This book is written for politically minded hackers and artists, especially artists whose work is engaged with technology and network cultures. M


* Dmytri Kleiner interviewed on the Telekommunisten Manifesto


http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/dmytri-kleiner-interviewed-on-the-telekommunisten-manifesto/2011/06/16
'''4.b Runner-up: Labor is not a commodity, but a commons'''


Excerpted from another excellent Furtherfield interview, conducted by Marc Garrett:
* ''[[Jobs, Liberty and the Bottom Line]]. Tom Walker.'' [http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/book-of-the-week-labor-is-not-a-commodity-but-a-commons/2011/08/08]


“MG: Who is the Manifesto written for?
Tom Walker considers employment as a common pool resource, i.e. advocates a labor commons instead of considering it as a commodity to be sold on the market.


DK: I consider my peers to be politically minded hackers and artists, especially artists whose work is engaged with technology and network cultures. Much of the themes and ideas in the Manifesto are derived from ongoing conversations in this community, and the Manifesto is a contribution to this dialogue.
==Barefoot into Cyberspace==


MG: Since the Internet we have witnessed the rise of various networked communities who have explored individual and shared expressions. Many are linked, in opposition to the controlling mass systems put in place by corporations such as Facebook and MySpace. It is obvious that your shared venture critiques the hegemonies influencing our behaviours through the networked construct, via neoliberal appropriation, and its ever expansive surveillance strategies. In the Manifesto you say “In order to change society we must actively expand the scope of our commons, so that our independent communities of peers can be materially sustained and can resist the encroachments of capitalism.” What kind of alternatives do you see as ‘materially sustainable’?
'''5. Emerging P2P Political  and Social Movements'''


DK: Currently none. Precisely because we only have immaterial wealth in common, and therefore the surplus value created as a result of the new platforms and relationships will always be captured by those who own scarce resources, either because they are physically scarce, or because they have been made scarce by laws such as those protecting patents and trademarks. To become sustainable, networked communities must possess a commons that includes the assets required for the material upkeep of themselves and their networks. Thus we must expand the scope of the commons to include such assets.
* ''[[Barefoot into Cyberspace]]: Adventures in search of techno-Utopia. by Becky Hogge'' [http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/book-of-the-week-barefoot-in-cyberspace/2011/09/26]


MG: The Manifesto re-opens the debate around the importance of class, and says “The condition of the working class in society is largely one of powerlessness and poverty; the condition of the working class on the Internet is no different.” Could you offer some examples of who this working class is using the Internet?
"Will the internet make us more free? Or will the flood of information that courses across its networks only serve to enslave us to powerful interests that are emerging online? How will the institutions of the old world – politics, the media, corporations – affect the hackers’ dream for a new world populated not by passive consumers but by active participants? And can we ever live up to their vision of technology’s, and its users’, potential?"


DK: I have a very classic notion of working class: Anyone whose livelihood depends on their continuing to work. Class is a relationship. Workers are a class who lack the independent means of production required for their own subsistence, and thus require wage, patronage or charity to survive.
“Barefoot into Cyberspace is an inside account of radical hacker culture and the forces that shape it, told in the year WikiLeaks took subversive geek politics into the mainstream. Including some of the earliest on-record material with Julian Assange you are likely to read, Barefoot Into Cyberspace is the ultimate guided tour of the hopes and ideals that are increasingly shaping world events."


* Book of the Week: Labor is not a commodity, but a commons
[barefootintocyberspace.com/book/]


http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/book-of-the-week-labor-is-not-a-commodity-but-a-commons/2011/08/08


Book: Jobs, Liberty and the Bottom Line. Tom Walker.
'''5.b On the new mobilizations in 2011'''


Author Tom Walker explains the motivation in writing this important book, which considers employment as a common pool resource, i.e. advocates a labor commons:


“The issue I grapple with in Jobs, Liberty and the Bottom Line is not so much “what is the best remedy for unemployment” or even “what is the case for shorter working time” but why and how has one particular set of policy options been excluded from the mainstream discourse. Of course that possibly translates into “why is the best remedy the forbidden one?”
* ''Springtime: The [[New Student Rebellions]]. Edited by Tania Palmieri, and Clare Solomon. Verso, 2011''. [http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/16653/2011/06/07]


Perhaps as much as or even more than problem solving, I am fascinated by the notion of taboo and its functioning as unwritten prohibition. How is the elusive ban transmitted and enforced in the absence of explicit instructions for such transmission and enforcement? The answer is through stock narratives that operate virtually as rituals, ignoring conflicting facts, inassimilable scientific theories and appalling outcomes.


'''5.c Runner-up: Global energy mobilizations'''


** The new mobilizations
* ''[[Sparking A Worldwide Energy Revolution]]. Social Struggles in a Transition to a Post-Petrol World. Ed. by Kolya Abramsky. AK Press, 2010'' [http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/book-of-the-week-sparking-a-worldwide-energy-revolution/2011/03/22]


*  The new student rebellions in the UK and beyond
http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/16653/2011/06/07
Book: Springtime: The New Student Rebellions. Edited by Tania Palmieri, and Clare Solomon. Verso, 2011.
A book wirst-hand accounts and analysis of “the momentous student movement that shook the world”. For atmospherics of the one-million march on March 26 in London, look at the brilliant video below.
* Book of the Week: Sparking A Worldwide Energy Revolution
http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/book-of-the-week-sparking-a-worldwide-energy-revolution/2011/03/22
Book: Sparking A Worldwide Energy Revolution. Social Struggles in a Transition to a Post-Petrol World. Ed. by Kolya Abramsky. AK Press, 2010


The above is really comprehensive book with many excellent chapters on social movements related to equitable energy provisioning:
The above is really comprehensive book with many excellent chapters on social movements related to equitable energy provisioning:
Line 149: Line 112:




==How Cooperation Triumphs over Self-Interest==


** Sharing and Human Cooperation


'''6. On the revolution in Sharing and Human Cooperation'''


 
* ''The Penguin and the Leviathan. [[How Cooperation Triumphs over Self-Interest]]. Written by Yochai Benkler. Random House, 2011'' [http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/how-cooperation-triumphs-over-self-interest/2011/10/01]
* How Cooperation Triumphs over Self-Interest
 
http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/how-cooperation-triumphs-over-self-interest/2011/10/01


Jean Lievens has written an extensive synthesis of Yochai Benkler’s new book:
Jean Lievens has written an extensive synthesis of Yochai Benkler’s new book:
Book: The Penguin and the Leviathan. How Cooperation Triumphs over Self-Interest. Written by Yochai Benkler. Random House, 2011
Jean Lievens:


“Here’s a quit extensive synthesis of “The Penguin and the Leviathan,” in my opinion a wonderful book for anyone who is interested in improving and transforming our economic and political institutions.
“Here’s a quit extensive synthesis of “The Penguin and the Leviathan,” in my opinion a wonderful book for anyone who is interested in improving and transforming our economic and political institutions.


Human motivation is a subject that ‘makes me tick’. I really enjoyed reading “The Penguin and the Leviathan”, not only because it paints a much nicer picture of “human nature” than the one used by the free marketeers, but also because it gives a glimpse of a future, higher form of society that will be much more based on human cooperation. I think it is important to see that the seeds of this future society are very much present today.
Human motivation is a subject that ‘makes me tick’. I really enjoyed reading “The Penguin and the Leviathan”, not only because it paints a much nicer picture of “human nature” than the one used by the free marketeers, but also because it gives a glimpse of a future, higher form of society that will be much more based on human cooperation. I think it is important to see that the seeds of this future society are very much present today."




* Rethinking Darwin to uncover the Evolutionary Roots of Morality


http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/rethinking-darwin-to-uncover-the-evolutionary-roots-of-morality/2011/10/28
'''6.b Runner-up:  Rethinking Darwin to uncover the Evolutionary Roots of Morality'''


Books by David Loye: 1) DARWIN’S LOST THEORY: BRIDGE TO A BETTER WORLD; 2) DARWIN’S 2nd REVOLUTION; Benjamin Franklin Press, 2010
* ''[[Evolutionary Roots of Morality|David Loye]]: 1) Darwin's Lost Theory: BRIDGE TO A BETTER WORLD; 2) DARWIN’S 2nd REVOLUTION; Benjamin Franklin Press, 2010''
[http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/rethinking-darwin-to-uncover-the-evolutionary-roots-of-morality/2011/10/28]


Excerpted from a longer review in Tikkun by Dan Levine:
Tikkun's Dan Levine writes:


“When most people think of evolution, the first thing that comes to mind is either survival of the fittest or selfish genes. Yet the psychologist and system theorist David Loye argues this is a misreading of the gist of evolutionary theory and the intent of that theory’s founder. Moreover, misreading Charles Darwin has severe social consequences: it fosters the belief that the worst side of humanity is bound to win.
“When most people think of evolution, the first thing that comes to mind is either survival of the fittest or selfish genes. Yet the psychologist and system theorist David Loye argues this is a misreading of the gist of evolutionary theory and the intent of that theory’s founder. Loye founded the Darwin Project, with a council of over sixty natural and social scientists, to promote the view that moral development is at the heart of evolution.


Darwin’s ultimate interest, Loye argues, was in the evolution of human moral sensitivity. He adds that Darwin’s celebrated principle of natural selection was just the first stage on the way to moral development. Loye founded the Darwin Project, with a council of over sixty natural and social scientists, to promote the view that moral development is at the heart of evolution.


* Book of the Week: Share or Die
'''6.c Runner-up: The sharing revolution amongst contemporary youth'''


http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/book-of-the-week-share-or-die-1/2011/08/22


Share or Die is the first collection of writing from Generation Y about post-college work and life in the 21st Century. It was recently published by Shareable.net, edited by Malcolm Harris.
* ''[[Share or Die]]. Edited by Malcolm Harris. Shareable.net, 2011'' [http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/book-of-the-week-share-or-die-1/2011/08/22]


A new economy based in collaboration rather than competition is growing, and young people are at the cutting edge. Unsatisfied with their parents’ communities, 20-somethings are using technology to build an entire infrastructure of social entrepreneurship dedicated to using less and sharing more. Share or Die chronicles some of these projects and gives readers the tools they need to join this new economy.
"Share or Die is the first collection of writing from Generation Y about post-college work and life in the 21st Century. ...  A new economy based in collaboration rather than competition is growing, and young people are at the cutting edge. Unsatisfied with their parents’ communities, 20-somethings are using technology to build an entire infrastructure of social entrepreneurship dedicated to using less and sharing more. Share or Die chronicles some of these projects and gives readers the tools they need to join this new economy."


==Counterpower==


** Politics


* Book of the Week: Barefoot in Cyberspace
'''7. What about power and governance in the P2P era?'''


http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/book-of-the-week-barefoot-in-cyberspace/2011/09/26


''* Tim Gee. [[Counterpower]]: Making Change Happen.'' [http://p2pfoundation.net/Counterpower]


Will the internet make us more free? Or will the flood of information that courses across its networks only serve to enslave us to powerful interests that are emerging online? How will the institutions of the old world – politics, the media, corporations – affect the hackers’ dream for a new world populated not by passive consumers but by active participants? And can we ever live up to their vision of technology’s, and its users’, potential?


Book: Barefoot into Cyberspace: Adventures in search of techno-Utopia. by Becky Hogge
“Tim Gee is an activist, a blogger and a campaigns trainer. His first book Counterpower: Making Change Happen is published today. It looks at the strategies and tactics that have contributed to the success (or otherwise) of some of the most prominent movements for change, from India’s Independence Movement to the Arab Spring. He discussed the ideas in the book with NLP’s Ed Lewis."


(Purchase copies via barefootintocyberspace.com/book/)
Mobilizations and occupations are never sufficient:


To introduce our book of the week, please the publisher’s summary, an excerpt from the introduction, as well as the author’s motivation.


1. The summary:
"To maintain their dominance, elites need people to accept their ideas, they need a flow of finance and they need instruments of coercion to enforce their will. Demonstrations can help turn opinion against a ruling elite. But it is by undermining the flow of finance and the physical ability to enact laws that a movement really begins to show its might. In the book I call these three categories of resistance ‘Idea Counterpower’, ‘Economic Counterpower’ and ‘Physical Counterpower’. If we use all three we improve our chance of success."
[http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/tim-gee-on-building-counterpower/2011/11/02]


“Barefoot into Cyberspace is an inside account of radical hacker culture and the forces that shape it, told in the year WikiLeaks took subversive geek politics into the mainstream. Including some of the earliest on-record material with Julian Assange you are likely to read, Barefoot Into Cyberspace is the ultimate guided tour of the hopes and ideals that are increasingly shaping world events.


* Tim Gee on Building Counterpower: are there lessons for #OccupyWallStreet?
'''7.b Runner-up: internet governance'''


http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/tim-gee-on-building-counterpower/2011/11/02


- To maintain their dominance, elites need people to accept their ideas, they need a flow of finance and they need instruments of coercion to enforce their will. Demonstrations can help turn opinion against a ruling elite. But it is by undermining the flow of finance and the physical ability to enact laws that a movement really begins to show its might. In the book I call these three categories of resistance ‘Idea Counterpower’, ‘Economic Counterpower’ and ‘Physical Counterpower’. If we use all three we improve our chance of success.
* ''[[Networks and States]]. The Global Politics of Internet Governance. Milton L. Mueller. MIT Press, 2010'' [http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/clay-spinuzzi-reviews-networks-and-states/2011/03/07]


Republished from the New Left Project. The interview is conducted by Ed Lewis.
Clay Spinuzzi says this is an excellent book on the network form:


“Tim Gee is an activist, a blogger and a campaigns trainer. His first book Counterpower: Making Change Happen is published today. It looks at the strategies and tactics that have contributed to the success (or otherwise) of some of the most prominent movements for change, from India’s Independence Movement to the Arab Spring. He discussed the ideas in the book with NLP’s Ed Lewis.
“He’s interested in the question of global Internet governance; “the problem of Internet governance has produced and will continue to produce institutional innovations in the global regulation of information and communications” (p.2). The Internet, he says, puts pressure on the nation-state in a number of ways:




* Book: Networks and States. The Global Politics of Internet Governance. Milton L. Mueller. MIT Press, 2010
'''7.c Transparency as the new default'''


http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/clay-spinuzzi-reviews-networks-and-states/2011/03/07


Spinuzzi’s site remains one of the best sources for detailed reviews of internet and p2p related books.
* ''Micah Sifry. [[WikiLeaks and the Age of Transparency]]. ORBooks, 2011'' [http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/why-the-wikileaks-backlash-is-futile/2011/02/24]


An excerpt from his review of Milton Mueller’s excellent book on the network form:
"why the anti-WikiLeaks backlash is futile. The transparency movement is not going away."


“He’s interested in the question of global Internet governance; “the problem of Internet governance has produced and will continue to produce institutional innovations in the global regulation of information and communications” (p.2). The Internet, he says, puts pressure on the nation-state in a number of ways:


==Radical Gardening==


**P2P Practices
'''8. Nowtopian efforts in arts and urban gardening'''


* Radical as a radish: on the politics of urban gardening
* ''[[Radical Gardening]]. George McKay. France Lincoln, 2010'' [http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/radical-as-a-radish-on-the-politics-of-urban-gardening/2011/08/24]


http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/radical-as-a-radish-on-the-politics-of-urban-gardening/2011/08/24


Book: Radical Gardening. George McKay. France Lincoln, 2010
George McKay in Stir magazine:


Excerpted from the introduction by George McKay in Stir magazine:
“Radical Gardening is about the idea of the ‘plot’, and its alternate but interwoven meanings in the garden. There are three. First there is the plot of the land, the garden space itself, how it is claimed, shaped, planted, and how we might understand some of the politics of flowers. Then there is the plot as narrative or story, whether historical or contemporary. The book draws on a small but persistent tradition of writing which sets itself against the dominant narratives of gardening. I trawled through many old and new anarchist and socialist magazines and leaflets to find some of these. Third, there is the notion of the plot as the act of politicking, sometimes a dark conspiracy but more often a positive, humanising gesture in a moment of change. So the ‘plots’ of Radical Gardening are the land itself, the history of the struggle, and the activism of the political conspiracy."


“Radical Gardening is about the idea of the ‘plot’, and its alternate but interwoven meanings in the garden. There are three. First there is the plot of the land, the garden space itself, how it is claimed, shaped, planted, and how we might understand some of the politics of flowers. Then there is the plot as narrative or story, whether historical or contemporary. The book draws on a small but persistent tradition of writing which sets itself against the dominant narratives of gardening. I trawled through many old and new anarchist and socialist magazines and leaflets to find some of these. Third, there is the notion of the plot as the act of politicking, sometimes a dark conspiracy but more often a positive, humanising gesture in a moment of change. So the ‘plots’ of Radical Gardening are the land itself, the history of the struggle, and the activism of the political conspiracy.


'''8.b Runner-up: the peer production of art'''


**Art and Culture
* ''Dark Matter: Art and Politics in the Age of Enterprise Culture, Gregory Sholette, Pluto Press, 2010'' [http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/book-of-the-week-dark-art-matters-radical-social-production-in-the-contemporary-art-world/2011/01/03]
 
* Access to Knowledge in the Age of Intellectual Property. by Gaelle Krikorian and Amy Kapczynski (eds.). Zone Books, 2010
 
http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/book-of-the-week-access-to-knowledge-in-the-age-of-intellectual-property-1/2011/01/10
 
 
* http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/book-of-the-week-dark-art-matters-radical-social-production-in-the-contemporary-art-world/2011/01/03


This book directly addresses the peer production of art, and how this dark matter could move from the current ‘free labour’ and precarity position in the art world, to become its core.
This book directly addresses the peer production of art, and how this dark matter could move from the current ‘free labour’ and precarity position in the art world, to become its core.
Dark Matter: Art and Politics in the Age of Enterprise Culture, Gregory Sholette, Pluto Press, 2010


A summary from the publisher:
A summary from the publisher:
Line 262: Line 204:




* Book of the Week (3): the Situationist tactic of ‘detournement’
'''8.c. On the Situationist tactic of ‘detournement’'''
 
http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/book-of-the-week-3-the-situationist-tactic-of-detournement/2011/07/29
 
- Not the destruction of the sign, but rather destruction of the ownership of the sign.
 
Book: The Beach Beneath the Street: The Everyday Life and Glorious Times of the Situationist International. McKenzie Wark. Verso, 2011.
 


** P2P Infrastructure
* ''The Beach Beneath the Street: The [[Everyday Life and Glorious Times of the Situationist International]]. McKenzie Wark. Verso, 2011.''


[http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/book-of-the-week-3-the-situationist-tactic-of-detournement/2011/07/29]


==Insect Media==


* Book of the Week (3): Towards an interconnected Collaborative Civilization


http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/book-of-the-week-3-towards-an-interconnected-collaborative-civilization/2011/05/27
'''9. Towards alternative P2P Infrastructure'''


Book / Report: Fast Thinking. a Research and Education Network Renaissance. Gordon Cook. Volume XIX, No.s 11-12, XX, No.s 1-5 February – August 2011


* ''[[Insect Media]]. An Archaeology of Animals and Technology. Jussi Parikka. University of Minnesota Press,2010'' [http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/book-of-the-week-2-excerpts-from-insect-media-our-animal-internet/2011/03/01]


* Book: Insect Media. An Archaeology of Animals and Technology. Jussi Parikka. University of Minnesota Press,2010
Jussa Parrika‘s book looks at how the internet and media are extensions of animality, rather than of our humanity:


http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/book-of-the-week-2-excerpts-from-insect-media-our-animal-internet/2011/03/01


In our final installment dedicated to Jussa Parrika‘s book, two excerpts showing how the internet and media are extensions of animality, rather than of our humanity:
'''9.b Runner-up: building blocks for an interconnected Collaborative Civilization'''


Genesis of Form: Insect Architecture and Swarms
* Report: [[Fast Thinking]]. a Research and Education Network Renaissance. Gordon Cook. Volume XIX, No.s 11-12, XX, No.s 1-5 February – August 2011 [http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/book-of-the-week-3-towards-an-interconnected-collaborative-civilization/2011/05/27]




** The new epistemologies
Gordon Cooks maps out the building blocks for an interconnected Collaborative Civilization




* Why the Wikileaks backlash is futile
'''9.c Runner-up, a reader on the continuing IP wars'''


http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/why-the-wikileaks-backlash-is-futile/2011/02/24
* ''[[Access to Knowledge in the Age of Intellectual Property]]. by Gaelle Krikorian and Amy Kapczynski (eds.). Zone Books, 2010''


Book: Micah Sifry. WikiLeaks and the Age of Transparency. ORBooks, 2011
[http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/book-of-the-week-access-to-knowledge-in-the-age-of-intellectual-property-1/2011/01/10]


“Here’s why the anti-WikiLeaks backlash is futile. The transparency movement is not going away.
A classic reader with best-of-class essays on the topic.


Today, the wall between powerful elected officials and the people they want to represent has started to come down. In America, political campaigns at every level make strenuous efforts to engage in direct and open dialogue with their supporters. They hold special conference calls for political bloggers, they do live chats on Facebook, they respond to direct questions on Twitter, and they engage in video question-and-answer forums on YouTube. Much of this interactivity is aimed at showing that the candidate is “listening to the public” in the same way that a photo-op supposedly shows that a candidate cares about some issue, but sometimes they even give supporters tools to organize themselves on behalf of the campaign and invite them to help shape their agenda. This behavior has become so commonplace in politics that we’ve forgotten how big a cultural shift it represents.


The change isn’t only coming from campaigns and other organizations or figures opening themselves up from the top down. It’s also being created from the bottom up, as we literally carry in our pockets and on our laps the ability to connect and collaborate directly with each other, without requiring permission from the people formerly known as the authorities. And when you combine connectivity with transparency–the ability for more people to see, share, and shape what is going on around them–the result is a huge increase in social energy, which is being channeled in all kinds of directions.
==Planning with Complexity==


Transparency is the fuel; connectivity is the engine;
'''10. The new epistemologies and spiritualities'''




* Planning with Complexity. An Introduction to Collaborative Rationality for Public Policy. By Judith E. Innes, David E. Booher. Routledge, 2010.
* ''Planning with Complexity. An [[Introduction to Collaborative Rationality for Public Policy]]. By Judith E. Innes, David E. Booher. Routledge, 2010.''


http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/from-instrumental-rationality-to-collaborative-rationality/2011/12/16
[http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/from-instrumental-rationality-to-collaborative-rationality/2011/12/16]


A review by Larry Susskind:
A review by Larry Susskind:
Line 319: Line 253:




**Spirituality
'''10.b  Jose Arguelles’ Manifesto for the Noosphere'''
 
 
* Jose Arguelles’ Manifesto for the Noosphere


http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/jose-arguelles-manifesto-for-the-noosphere/2011/04/26


Book: José Argüelles. Manifesto for the Noosphere: The Next Stage in the Evolution of Human Consciousness. Evolver Editions/North Atlantic Books, 2011.
* ''José Argüelles. [[Manifesto for the Noosphere]]: The Next Stage in the Evolution of Human Consciousness. Evolver Editions/North Atlantic Books, 2011.''


This book of the recently deceased Jose Arguelles will be published in October this year. Reality Sandwich pre-published this excerpt from the introduction.
[http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/jose-arguelles-manifesto-for-the-noosphere/2011/04/26]


by Jose Arguelles:
by Jose Arguelles:


“We must enlarge our approach to encompass the formation taking place before our eyes … of a particular biological entity such as has never existed on earth-the growth, outside and above the biosphere, of an added planetary layer, an envelope of thinking substance, to which, for the sake of convenience and symmetry, I have given the name of the Noosphere. –Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Future of Man
“We must enlarge our approach to encompass the formation taking place before our eyes … of a particular biological entity such as has never existed on earth-the growth, outside and above the biosphere, of an added planetary layer, an envelope of thinking substance, to which, for the sake of convenience and symmetry, I have given the name of the Noosphere." –Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Future of Man


Manifesto for the Noosphere is the result of forty years of study, contemplation, investigation, and synthesis. While the noosphere may be beyond the grasp of conventional science, it is a deep and pervasive intuition that has gripped the minds of scientists, philosophers, poets, and artists since the concept first emerged in 1926. It is an evolutionary concept posited by studies in both biogeochemistry and paleontology. It is a whole-systems paradigm that melds prophecy and analysis of current world trends. It is a perception that the transformation of the biosphere is inevitably leading to a new geological epoch and evolutionary cycle, and it is due to the impact of human thought on the environment that this new era — the Noosphere — is dawning.




* What Technology Wants, by Kevin Kelly:
[[Category:Books]]


http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/on-the-goodness-of-technology/2011/02/17
[[Category:P2P Theory]]
 
 
=Older Books Rediscovered in 2011=
 
* When dominator systems can’t respond to the challenges of the time, mutuality-based systems become a necessity
 
http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/when-dominator-systems-cant-respond-to-the-challenges-of-the-time-mutuality-based-systems-become-a-necessity/2011/09/13
 
- We are emerging from a long dominator era into one that demands mutuality. The dominator (hierarchical) mode appears strong, but in reality is too slow to respond to the crisis of the time. Mutualism, on the other hand, is liable to be too fragile in the face of dominator pressures: the only way to resist these, based on intricacy, “is for small circles to join hands in a collaborative network that is broader and tighter than anything domination can provide.(p 286)” The keys to doing this, which she works out through many practical examples, are “education, empowerment, infrastructure, support networks, liberation and love.
 
I only discovered Sally Goerner’s work at the Integral Science Institute now, but it seems hugely important for theorizing p2p systems:
 
Book: After the Clockwork Universe: The Emerging Science and Culture of Integral Society. S. J. Goerner. 1999
 
Summary:
 
“We are in the midst of the most dramatic cultural shift in three hundred years. This book explains why a great change is simmering in all facets of our civilization, from economics and politics to science and spirituality. Our inherited concept of a machine world – the clockwork universe – is giving way and the vision of a web world is rising to take its place.
 
The author weaves current realities and new scientific insights into a fascinating vision of history and science progressing through upheavals and rebirths up to the present day. Humankind, too, is bound into the patterns and processes of this web world, and Goerner describes the already visible signs of an emerging Integral Society in which head, heart and soul need no longer to be at odds.”
 
Review from Network magazine:
 
“This is a revolutionary book for conservatives or rather, for “cultural creatives”: for that group of people, making up a quarter of the US population, who “seek a new society in which science and spirit, technology and community work together for the salvation of all,”(p.10). The science is contemporary but restrained (no quantum theory, no extra dimensions). The spirituality is very discreet (no mysticism, no souls, no feminism). And yet Dr Goerner gently builds up a truly revolutionary, and truly practical, picture of the transformation that humanity can now choose to take, and must take if it is to flourish or even survive. Through this book she dramatically broadens the platform of those seeking this transformation, so that a middle ground of concerned individuals can now work alongside those of us who start from a more radical metaphysics.
 
Her starting point is the idea, now familiar, that civilisations periodically undergo “Big Changes” which involve changes in the overall view of the nature of the world; and that we are on the cusp of such a change, involving the replacement of the “Clockwork” (Newtonian) view by a “Web” view of a universe marked by interconnected intricacy. She begins with a rather scary high-speed drive through Big Changes of the past (historians of science should take a stiff gin before reading this part), and then expounds the scientific core of her thesis. Her approach is governed by the realisation that “the main reason the new science failed to take root is that it remained arcane. … the only way the new science is going to take root is if it is: firstly, clear; secondly, relevant to everyday life; and thirdly, linked to a deeply felt, motivating vision (spiritual).” (p 112)
 
 
* Book of the Week (3): Towards civil democratic institutions in a world of watershed commons
 
http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/book-of-the-week-3-towards-civil-democratic-institutions-is-a-world-of-watershed-commons/2011/07/22
 
Book: Toward a Bioregional State. Mark Whitaker, 2005.
 
Two days ago, we presented the ‘Commodity Ecology” as one of the two core concepts of the book above. Here is the second core concept, with which we conclude our book of the week treatment.
 
The Civic Democratic Institution form (CDI) is a structure for defensibly maintaining and registering local sentiment in a form of a ‘living poll,’ if you will, to recognize any individuals who are admired or culturally trusted in social relations.
 
As proposed by Mark Whitaker:
 
“The CDI ‘grounds’ coalition building into existing cultural networks. It uses existing thoughts and feelings towards other citizens, pools them together and delivers a tally to the people of whom they find representative or admire, as a group. This brings local politics into integration with local cultural forms. As a consequence, it makes state elites work to maintain their power. Instead of local actors working to get the state’s or a political party’s attention, the latter groups have to acquiesce more when there is a stronger and more vocal local cultural milieu which is less dependent and more resistant to external ideas about what is ‘good policy.’
 
 
Book of the Week: The Divine Right of Capital
 
http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/book-of-the-week-the-divine-right-of-capital/2011/03/28
 
Book: The Divine Right of Capital: Dethroning the Corporate Aristocracy. By Marjorie Kelly. Berrett-Koehler, 2001.
 
The key thesis of this classic is: the corporation is a feudal structure ; Gideon Rosenblatt, who provides summaries for each chapter here, calls it “one of those mind-opening books that deserves to be read by a large audience”
 
Gideon Rosenblatt offers 12 principles that summarize each chapter of the book:
 
 
 
* The participatory turn as the most significant philosophical turn since Kant
 
http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/the-participatory-turn-as-the-most-significant-philosophical-turn-since-kant/2011/01/17
 
The title above is inspired by a review of the book edited by Jorge Ferrer and Jacob Sherman, The Participatory Turn.
 
The first excerpt is from a review by Chris Clarke in Network Review: Journal of the Scientific and Medical Network, 101 (2009)
[[Category:Books]]

Latest revision as of 09:45, 18 July 2019

The Selection

First Five Thousand Years of Debt

The P2P Foundation Book of the Year for 2011:


1. On Debt, hierarchy and p2p dynamics


  • Debt: The First 5,000 Years. David Graeber. Melville House Publishing, 2011 [1]

Without any doubt, this is the most important book of the year, and not just for the p2p/commons community. Not only is debt the key issue in the present structural crisis, but David Graeber has uncovered how this is a key thread running through human history.

Matt Cropp has an interesting quote on the 'hierarchy' aspect of debt:

"A debt between two individuals thus creates a temporary hierarchical relationship between them, and in societies in which the alienation of relationships pioneered by slavery has been internalized, such debts can then be transfered to, or even originated by, a creditor with no interest at all in the wellbeing of the debtor as long as the debt continues to be serviced. As a result, debts in such societies can make the status of debtor virtually a form of slavery as they are pushed to do things that would have been unthinkable had the need to pay off their debts not been hanging over their heads."

(Reminder, last year's pick was: Civilizing the Economy. A new economics of provision. Marvin T. Brown. Cambridge University Press, 2010 [2]; the whole 2010 list is here [ http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/the-ten-best-p2p-books-of-2010/2011/01/04]

Sacred Economics

2. Understanding P2P Economics

  • Charles Eistenstein. Sacred Economics: Money, Gift, and Society in the Age of Transition. EVOLVER EDITIONS/North Atlantic Books, 2011 [3]

A really great and important book, which also delves into the economics of usury, and pays attention to the anthropological and spiritual aspects of economic ordering.

See: Disintermediation and the P2P Revolution [4]


2.b Runner-Up on P2P Economics

Umair Haque makes the case for a new type of inclusive capitalism, that takes the common good into account.

“So here’s the twenty-first-century capitalists’ agenda, in a nutshell. To rethink the “capital” — to build organizations that are less machines, and more living networks of the many different kinds of capital, whether natural, human, social, or creative. And second, to rethink the “ism”: how, when, and where the many different kinds of capital can be most productively seeded, nurtured, allocated, utilized — and renewed. Put both together, and the promise is for companies, countries, and economies to climb to a higher level of advantage, to scale a steeper apex of achievement.”


(also have a look at: Economics Unmasked: From power and greed to compassion and the common good. By Philip B. Smith & Manfred Max Neef, Green Books, 2011) [6]


Algorithmic Sustainable Design

3. On P2P Urbanism and Design

[7]

Øyvind Holmstad:

"With this new toolbox from Nikos we have the tools needed to truly reunite man with nature both through innate biophilic patterns and geometry. To respect and care for nature we have to create nature through infusing all we create with the geometry found in nature, and to obey the laws of nature. A reason why so many don’t care about nature today is that our cities and towns are anti-nature."


3.b Runner up: Open Design


  • Open Design Now: Why Design Cannot Remain Exclusive. Bas Van Abel, Lucas Evers, Peter Troxler, et al. BIS Publishers, 2011. [8]

Open Design Now looks at design in the new creative commons, co-creation era. It presents practices, tools, and licensing systems, as open design is a way of designing everyone can participate in. It has been recommended by John Thackara [9]

Telekommunist Manifesto

4. Labor

Dmytri Kleiner argues that capitalism is not compatible with peer to peer.

This book is written for politically minded hackers and artists, especially artists whose work is engaged with technology and network cultures. M


4.b Runner-up: Labor is not a commodity, but a commons

Tom Walker considers employment as a common pool resource, i.e. advocates a labor commons instead of considering it as a commodity to be sold on the market.

Barefoot into Cyberspace

5. Emerging P2P Political and Social Movements

"Will the internet make us more free? Or will the flood of information that courses across its networks only serve to enslave us to powerful interests that are emerging online? How will the institutions of the old world – politics, the media, corporations – affect the hackers’ dream for a new world populated not by passive consumers but by active participants? And can we ever live up to their vision of technology’s, and its users’, potential?"

“Barefoot into Cyberspace is an inside account of radical hacker culture and the forces that shape it, told in the year WikiLeaks took subversive geek politics into the mainstream. Including some of the earliest on-record material with Julian Assange you are likely to read, Barefoot Into Cyberspace is the ultimate guided tour of the hopes and ideals that are increasingly shaping world events."

[barefootintocyberspace.com/book/]


5.b On the new mobilizations in 2011



5.c Runner-up: Global energy mobilizations


The above is really comprehensive book with many excellent chapters on social movements related to equitable energy provisioning:

“a major contribution to the movement working for a transition from carbon capitalism to an ecologically sound energy system. Its sixty chapters document the present energy crisis, describe alternative technologies, and introduces us to the people who worldwide are fighting for a healthy planet and the recreation of the earth’s commons”


How Cooperation Triumphs over Self-Interest

6. On the revolution in Sharing and Human Cooperation

Jean Lievens has written an extensive synthesis of Yochai Benkler’s new book:

“Here’s a quit extensive synthesis of “The Penguin and the Leviathan,” in my opinion a wonderful book for anyone who is interested in improving and transforming our economic and political institutions.

Human motivation is a subject that ‘makes me tick’. I really enjoyed reading “The Penguin and the Leviathan”, not only because it paints a much nicer picture of “human nature” than the one used by the free marketeers, but also because it gives a glimpse of a future, higher form of society that will be much more based on human cooperation. I think it is important to see that the seeds of this future society are very much present today."


6.b Runner-up: Rethinking Darwin to uncover the Evolutionary Roots of Morality

  • David Loye: 1) Darwin's Lost Theory: BRIDGE TO A BETTER WORLD; 2) DARWIN’S 2nd REVOLUTION; Benjamin Franklin Press, 2010

[16]

Tikkun's Dan Levine writes:

“When most people think of evolution, the first thing that comes to mind is either survival of the fittest or selfish genes. Yet the psychologist and system theorist David Loye argues this is a misreading of the gist of evolutionary theory and the intent of that theory’s founder. Loye founded the Darwin Project, with a council of over sixty natural and social scientists, to promote the view that moral development is at the heart of evolution.


6.c Runner-up: The sharing revolution amongst contemporary youth


"Share or Die is the first collection of writing from Generation Y about post-college work and life in the 21st Century. ... A new economy based in collaboration rather than competition is growing, and young people are at the cutting edge. Unsatisfied with their parents’ communities, 20-somethings are using technology to build an entire infrastructure of social entrepreneurship dedicated to using less and sharing more. Share or Die chronicles some of these projects and gives readers the tools they need to join this new economy."

Counterpower

7. What about power and governance in the P2P era?


* Tim Gee. Counterpower: Making Change Happen. [18]


“Tim Gee is an activist, a blogger and a campaigns trainer. His first book Counterpower: Making Change Happen is published today. It looks at the strategies and tactics that have contributed to the success (or otherwise) of some of the most prominent movements for change, from India’s Independence Movement to the Arab Spring. He discussed the ideas in the book with NLP’s Ed Lewis."

Mobilizations and occupations are never sufficient:


"To maintain their dominance, elites need people to accept their ideas, they need a flow of finance and they need instruments of coercion to enforce their will. Demonstrations can help turn opinion against a ruling elite. But it is by undermining the flow of finance and the physical ability to enact laws that a movement really begins to show its might. In the book I call these three categories of resistance ‘Idea Counterpower’, ‘Economic Counterpower’ and ‘Physical Counterpower’. If we use all three we improve our chance of success." [19]


7.b Runner-up: internet governance


Clay Spinuzzi says this is an excellent book on the network form:

“He’s interested in the question of global Internet governance; “the problem of Internet governance has produced and will continue to produce institutional innovations in the global regulation of information and communications” (p.2). The Internet, he says, puts pressure on the nation-state in a number of ways:


7.c Transparency as the new default


"why the anti-WikiLeaks backlash is futile. The transparency movement is not going away."


Radical Gardening

8. Nowtopian efforts in arts and urban gardening


George McKay in Stir magazine:

“Radical Gardening is about the idea of the ‘plot’, and its alternate but interwoven meanings in the garden. There are three. First there is the plot of the land, the garden space itself, how it is claimed, shaped, planted, and how we might understand some of the politics of flowers. Then there is the plot as narrative or story, whether historical or contemporary. The book draws on a small but persistent tradition of writing which sets itself against the dominant narratives of gardening. I trawled through many old and new anarchist and socialist magazines and leaflets to find some of these. Third, there is the notion of the plot as the act of politicking, sometimes a dark conspiracy but more often a positive, humanising gesture in a moment of change. So the ‘plots’ of Radical Gardening are the land itself, the history of the struggle, and the activism of the political conspiracy."


8.b Runner-up: the peer production of art

  • Dark Matter: Art and Politics in the Age of Enterprise Culture, Gregory Sholette, Pluto Press, 2010 [23]

This book directly addresses the peer production of art, and how this dark matter could move from the current ‘free labour’ and precarity position in the art world, to become its core.

A summary from the publisher:

“The premise of this book is that the formal economy of contemporary art is dependent upon a previously suppressed sphere of informal, non-market, social production involving systems of gift exchange, cooperative networks, distributed knowledge, and collective activities, which is becoming increasingly visible and potentially threatening to the symbolic and fiscal cohesion of high culture, especially in its most politicized form as interventionist art.


8.c. On the Situationist tactic of ‘detournement’

[24]

Insect Media

9. Towards alternative P2P Infrastructure


  • Insect Media. An Archaeology of Animals and Technology. Jussi Parikka. University of Minnesota Press,2010 [25]

Jussa Parrika‘s book looks at how the internet and media are extensions of animality, rather than of our humanity:


9.b Runner-up: building blocks for an interconnected Collaborative Civilization

  • Report: Fast Thinking. a Research and Education Network Renaissance. Gordon Cook. Volume XIX, No.s 11-12, XX, No.s 1-5 February – August 2011 [26]


Gordon Cooks maps out the building blocks for an interconnected Collaborative Civilization


9.c Runner-up, a reader on the continuing IP wars

[27]

A classic reader with best-of-class essays on the topic.


Planning with Complexity

10. The new epistemologies and spiritualities


[28]

A review by Larry Susskind:

“In their extraordinary new book, Planning With Complexity (Routledge, 2010), Judith Innes and David Booher make the case for a new way of knowing and deciding. They call this new approach collaborative rationality. Instrumental rationality — the traditional way of making the case for what needs to be done and why in the public arena — has given way to collaborative approaches to generating and justifying decisions.


10.b Jose Arguelles’ Manifesto for the Noosphere


  • José Argüelles. Manifesto for the Noosphere: The Next Stage in the Evolution of Human Consciousness. Evolver Editions/North Atlantic Books, 2011.

[29]

by Jose Arguelles:

“We must enlarge our approach to encompass the formation taking place before our eyes … of a particular biological entity such as has never existed on earth-the growth, outside and above the biosphere, of an added planetary layer, an envelope of thinking substance, to which, for the sake of convenience and symmetry, I have given the name of the Noosphere." –Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Future of Man

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