Latest revision as of 23:13, 3 September 2011

Introduction

This is a series of webconference sessions on the future of our economy. In this conference, we will be discussing key ideas on how to transform our economic infrastructure for the sustainable future. Due to the strong coupling between a proper treatment of this topic with necessary insight into current and future technological trends, this area has been poorly explored by mainstream economists, and will blossom with interdisciplinary perspectives.

Location and Time

Weekly meeting on Google+ or Skype, usually on a Thursday.

People

Mr Michel Bauwens, Founder of the P2P Foundation
Dr Marvin T. Brown, Professor, author of "Civilizing the Economy"
Dr Adam Arvidsson, Professor, author of "Ethical Economy"
Dr Christian Arnsperger, Professor, author of "Full-Spectrum Economics", creator of the "Eco-transitions" blog [1].
Mr Paul Fernhout, Post-scarcity intellectual.
Dr Meera Sitharam, Professor, Complexity expert
Dr Amit Dhurandhar, Machine Learning researcher at IBM
Mr Martin Bramwell, Creator of FactoRipo CC
Mohamad Tarifi, PhD candidate in Computer Science

Topics Outline

Please feel free to add new sessions, topics, modify existing ones, or otherwise change anything you want. I will act as moderator:

Session 1 (August 4): Technology and the Economics of Abundance and Scarcity.
- Overview of the conference
- Automation and Work
- Stability vs Efficiency and Environmental impact

Session 2 (August 11): The Relationship between the Individual and the Society
- What do we mean by Economy?
- Top-down, Bottom-up, P2P organization
- Philosophical, Environmental, Ethical considerations

Session 3: (August 25) Currency Systems
- Scarcity based systems: traditional, bitcoin, the terra, etc
- Abundance based systems: ripplepay, LETS, community hours, etc
- Lessons learned from currency experiments in Ecuador.

Session 4: (September 1) Economic transition in Egypt after the Arabic Spring (Part 1)

Session 5: Transition Challenges Ahead
- Political, Social and Economic barriers
- From possible to probable and preferable solutions

Session 6: Panoply
- Discussion on how the system works
- Implementation challenges: continuous versus discontinuous change

Session 7: Unscheduled

Pre-Reading list

List of short introductory material:

Session 1 Synopsis

The first session was introductory - with the participants getting to know each other. We debated how automation affects jobs and environmental sustainability concerns. The discussion was light and was designed to touch on current challenges rather than find solutions (which is left for the next sessions). A list of points discussed:

A fundamental economic shift need not rely on hypothetical future technology or trends - it can and should be achieved within current technological capabilities.
However, the rising impact of full automation, accelerating trends, and environmental concerns make the need for change ever more pressing.
Labor should be viewed as relatively abundant resource in the current world - whereas it is classically viewed as scarce. This is due to increased population, automation, and rise of the commons.
Pending a fundamental organizational shift, the job market will continue to decline in the short term especially for middle-income jobs. On the longer term, low and high income jobs are set to vanish as well.
Natural resources should be viewed as relatively scarce - whereas it is classically viewed as abundant. There was some debate on this point - with a refinement: natural resources are abundant to satisfy our basic "human needs" but not necessarily for our "wants/indulgences". A proposed system therefore must address resource allocation - debate on this is subject of future sessions.
The Biophilia hypothesis was debated - with the consensus that technological optimism must be balanced with a skeptical attitude demanding sustainability.
There is a tradeoff between efficiency and resilience in networks: current monetary system is structurally unstable.
The increased interconnectivity of the world poses security and stability challenges, but also establishes an opportunity for a global identity.

Session 2 Synopsis

TBD

Session 3 Synopsis

TBD

Session 4 Synopsis

TBD

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 =Introduction=
-=Location and Time (in progress)=
+This is a series of webconference sessions on the future of our economy. In this conference, we will be discussing key ideas on how to transform our economic infrastructure for the sustainable future. Due to the strong coupling between a proper treatment of this topic with necessary insight into current and future technological trends, this area has been poorly explored by mainstream economists, and will blossom with interdisciplinary perspectives.
-It is organized as a series of sessions during the first week of August (night or morning to accommodate timezones in Thailand, East Coast USA, Korea, West Coast USA - in the order from least to most flexible due to count). Location is Google+ hangout. There are many interested people suggesting to keep the discussion going a continuing basis, in the format of a 2 hour week session - we can announce that after the first meeting is successful.
+=Location and Time=
+Weekly meeting on Google+ or Skype, usually on a Thursday.
 =People=
-(we’ve hit the limit in num of people in G+ hangout  - multiple sessions required if we want to accommodate more people who've expressed interest):
 * Mr Michel Bauwens, Founder of the P2P Foundation
 * Dr Marvin T. Brown, Professor, author of "Civilizing the Economy"
 * Dr Adam Arvidsson, Professor, author of "Ethical Economy"
-* Dr Christian Arnsperger, Professor, Economist, Eco-transitions
+* Dr Christian Arnsperger, Professor, author of "Full-Spectrum Economics", creator of the "Eco-transitions" blog [http://www.eco-transitions.blogspot.com].
-* Dr James Hughes, Executive Director for Institute of Ethics and Emerging Technologies
+* Mr Paul Fernhout, Post-scarcity intellectual.
-* Dr Mark D. Whitaker, Socio-economist.
 * Dr Meera Sitharam, Professor, Complexity expert
-* Dr Linda Hermer, Neuroscientist, studying Healthcare Policy
 * Dr Amit Dhurandhar, Machine Learning researcher at IBM
+* Mr Martin Bramwell, Creator of FactoRipo CC
 * Mohamad Tarifi, PhD candidate in Computer Science
+=Topics Outline=
+Please feel free to add new sessions, topics, modify existing ones, or otherwise change anything you want.  I will act as moderator:
+* Session 1 (August 4): Technology and the Economics of Abundance and Scarcity.
+** Overview of the conference
+** Automation and Work
+** Stability vs Efficiency and Environmental impact
+* Session 2 (August 11): The Relationship between the Individual and the Society
+** What do we mean by Economy?
+** Top-down, Bottom-up, P2P organization
+** Philosophical, Environmental, Ethical considerations
-=Topics=
-Please feel free to add new sessions, topics, modify existing ones, or otherwise change anything you want.  I will act as moderator, but I think it’s better if you lead specific topics. Please write your name next to the topic you wish to lead:
+* Session 3: (August 25) Currency Systems
+** Scarcity based systems: traditional, bitcoin, the terra, etc
+** Abundance based systems: ripplepay, LETS, community hours, etc
+** Lessons learned from currency experiments in Ecuador.
-* Session 1: Economics of abundance and scarcity.
-** Automation and work (Lead by: Mohamad Tarifi)
-** Environmental impact
+* Session 4: (September 1) Economic transition in Egypt after the Arabic Spring (Part 1)
-* Session 2: Possibilities for Society
-** Top-down, Bottom-up, P2P organization
-** Philosophical, Environmental, Ethical considerations
-** The role of Technology
+* Session 5: Transition Challenges Ahead
+** Political, Social and Economic barriers
+** From possible to probable and preferable solutions
+* Session 6: Panoply
+** Discussion on how the system works
+** Implementation challenges: continuous versus discontinuous change
+* Session 7: Unscheduled
+=Pre-Reading list=
+List of short introductory material:
+* [http://p2pfoundation.net/In_a_Nutshell P2P in a Nutshell]
+* [http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/4818 Some Brief Thoughts on How to Ensure a Good Future]
+* [http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/introduction-to-the-new-world-of-alternative-currencies/2011/07/20 Introduction to Alternative Currencies]
+* [http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/what-is-abundance-based-money/2011/07/21 What is Abundance-Based Money?]
+* [https://ripplepay.com/ Ripplepay]
+* [http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/mapping-out-the-value-exchange-spectrum-2-applying-gregory-raders-quadrant-view/2011/07/13 Quadrant view of different kinds of exchanges]
+* [http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/on-the-necessary-concept-of-transition-to-get-from-here-to-there/2011/07/12 Transitioning ideas from Christian Arnsperger]
+* [http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100930143339.htm Collective Intelligence: Number of Women in Group Linked to Effectiveness in Solving Difficult Problems - or please leave your ego behind]
+* [http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_sandel_the_lost_art_of_democratic_debate.html An example of good multi-party debate (although this is more one sided than what we want)]
+* [http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2Ys6yO/www.good.is/post/americans-are-horribly-misinformed-about-who-has-money/ Americans are misinformed about distribution of money]
+* [http://www.pdfernhout.net/media/FiveInterwovenEconomies.pdf Five Interwoven Economies: Subsistence, Gift, Exchange, Planned, and Theft]
+* [http://physicsoffinance.blogspot.com/2011/05/deep-discounting-errors.html Deep Discounting Errors?]
+* [http://singularityhub.com/2011/08/02/worlds-largest-electronics-manufacturer-foxconn-wants-1-million-more-robots-in-3-years-bye-bye-human-labor/ World's Largest Electronics Manufacturer Foxconn wants 1 million more robots in 3 years bye bye human labor]
+=Session 1 Synopsis=
+The first session was introductory - with the participants getting to know each other.  We debated how automation affects jobs and environmental sustainability concerns.
+The discussion was light and was designed to touch on current challenges rather than find solutions (which is left for the next sessions). A list of points discussed:
+* A fundamental economic shift need not rely on hypothetical future technology or trends - it can and should be achieved within current technological capabilities.
+* However, the rising impact of full automation, accelerating trends, and environmental concerns make the need for change ever more pressing.
+* Labor should be viewed as relatively abundant resource in the current world - whereas it is classically viewed as scarce. This is due to increased population, automation, and rise of the commons.
+* Pending a fundamental organizational shift, the job market will continue to decline in the short term especially for middle-income jobs. On the longer term, low and high income jobs are set to vanish as well.
+* Natural resources should be viewed as relatively scarce - whereas it is classically viewed as abundant. There was some debate on this point - with a refinement: natural resources are abundant to satisfy our basic "human needs" but not necessarily for our "wants/indulgences". A proposed system therefore must address resource allocation - debate on this is subject of future sessions.
+* The Biophilia hypothesis was debated - with the consensus that technological optimism must be balanced with a skeptical attitude demanding sustainability.
+* There is a tradeoff between efficiency and resilience in networks: current monetary system is structurally unstable.
+* The increased interconnectivity of the world poses security and stability challenges, but also establishes an opportunity for a global identity.
+Related Reading List:
+* [http://econ-www.mit.edu/faculty/dautor/publications Publications of David Autor]
+* [http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/miller20110808 Land-value tax]
+* [http://www.globalagoras.org/ Institute for 21st century Agoras]
+* [http://www.globalagoras.org/publications/co-laboratories-of-democracy Co-Laboratories of Democracy (Harnessing Collective Wisdom]
+* [http://www.workingwithstories.org/ Working with Stories]
+* [http://www.seriouseats.com/2007/11/the-subsidized-food-pyramid.html Subsidized Food Pyramid ]
+* [http://www.good.is/post/automation-insurance-robots-are-replacing-middle-class-jobs/ Automation Insurance: Robots Are Replacing Middle Class Jobs]
+* [http://www.smallisbeautiful.org/buddhist_economics/english.html Buddhist Economics ]
+* [http://listcultures.org/pipermail/p2presearch_listcultures.org/2009-November/005926.html Robot Videos and P2P ]
+* [http://www.pdfernhout.net/the-problems-of-being-self-determining.html The Problems of Being Self Determining ]
+* [http://paulgraham.com/addiction.html Acceleration of Addiction]
+* [http://knol.google.com/k/beyond-a-jobless-recovery Beyond a Jobless Recovery ]
+* [http://cleantechnica.com/2011/05/29/ge-solar-power-cheaper-than-fossil-fuels-in-5-years/ Solar may be cheaper than fossil fuels in 5 years]
+* [http://www.responsiblefinance.ch/appeal/  Sustainable and Responsible Finance. Appeal.]
+* [http://www.lets-linkup.com/ Lets-Linkup]
+* [http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2011/07/journal-central-planning-and-the-fall-of-the-us-empire.html Central Planning and The Fall of the US Empire]
+* [http://marshallbrain.com/robotic-nation.htm Robotic Nation]
+* [http://marshallbrain.com/robotic-freedom.htm Robotic freedom ]
+=Session 2 Synopsis=
+TBD
-* Session 3: Currency systems
+=Session 3 Synopsis=
-** Scarcity based systems: traditional, bitcoin, the terra
+TBD
-** Abundance based systems: ripplepay, community hours
-** Public commons
-* Session 4: Transition challenges
+=Session 4 Synopsis=
-** Political, Social and Economic barriers
+TBD
-** Proposed solutions
-* Session 5: Open discussion
+= Meta =
+We are constantly trying to improve this session series.
+New concrete suggestions:
-=Pre-Reading list:=
+* Meera Sitharam:
+** I would suggest to everyone to approach the whole thing as a thought experiment: "suppose a few of us decided to build a community that we would like,
+*** (a) what should the community achieve
+*** (b) what features should the community have
+*** (c) how would such a community operate and sustain itself, once it has constructed itself (add on hypothetical technologies that this community would possess, but only if such technologies become necessary)
+*** (d) how to go about constructing it
+*** (a), (b), (c), (d) are intertwined views, but different people might prefer different views.
+*** "Few" above is sufficiently many -- start with a community that is perhaps a network of cooperatives, each with a few hundred members. Each cooperative caters to one aspect/commodity in a member's life. This network of coops is supplemented by another HUGE cooperative,i.e,  today's traditional society/economy. We are allowed to keep increasing the size of the community (each cooperative, or number of cooperatives), as it becomes necessary.
+** 2. Keeping a running transcript of the discussion and split off threads corresponding to key questions that arise several times.
+** 3. Some people prefer audio/video. I prefer just chat. If you can have many threads in the chat, then people can move around to the different threads.
+** 4. Then after a few discussions, you can zero in on those questions that arise most often.
-* P2P in a Nutshell
+* Paul Fernhout:
-* Brief thoughts on insuring a better future
+** From co-Laboratories of Democracy: "We have all experienced the benefits of dialogue when we openly and thoughtfully confront issues. We have also experienced the frustration of interminable discussion that does not lead to progress. Co-Laboratories of Democracy enable large, diverse groups to dialogue and generate positive results. Many group processes engender enthusiasm and good feeling as people share their concerns and hopes with each other. Co-Laboratories go beyond this initial euphoria to:
-* Introduction to the New World of Alternative Currencies
+*** Discover root causes;
-* Ripplepay
+*** Adopt consensual action plans;
-* Quadrant view
+*** Develop teams dedicated to implementing those plans; and
-* Towards A Commodity Ecology
+*** Generate lasting bonds of respect, trust, and cooperation.
-* Non-representational politics
+*** Co-Laboratories achieve these results by respecting the autonomy of all participants, and utilizing an array of consensus tools including discipline, technology and graphics that allow the stakeholders to control the discussion."
-* Transitioning ideas from Christian Arnsperger
-* Criticism of bitcoin

Discussions on the Future of the Economy: Difference between revisions