[ox-en] Smári McCarthy * The End of (artificial) Scarcity (was: [ox-en] Conference documentation)
- From: Stefan Merten <smerten oekonux.de>
- Date: Fri, 23 Apr 2010 18:44:14 +0200
Hi list!
Below is a plain text version of Smári's presentation. However, the
slides at the conference site at
http://www.oekonux-conference.org/documentation/texts/
have lots of pictures not references here. You may want to check this
out.
Grüße
Stefan
=== 8< === 8< === 8< === 8< === 8< === 8< === 8< === 8< === 8< === 8< ===
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The End of (artificial) Scarcity
================================
--------------------------------------------------------
Failures in our society's structure, and how to fix them
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v1.0
Smári McCarthy <smari at anarchism dot is>
http://www.yaxic.org/talks/2009/03oekonux/slides.odp
* Increasingly, our Freedoms are hinging on our Digital Freedoms
Fab Labs
========
* Democratizing innovation
* What would you make if you could make *anything*?
* Where are the limits of peer to peer design?
Hobbes' Lie
===========
* From Leviathan (1651)
Without a strong ruler, chaos will ensue
* *Bellum omnium contra omnes*
Malthus' Lie
============
Without restrictions on human behaviour, we will overpopulate,
deplete our resources, and chaos will ensue
* Viz the Tragedy of the Commons (Hardin)
The illusion of scarcity
========================
* The fundamental assumption of all major economic dogmas is the
inherant scarcity of "products"
* Roughly twice the amount of food needed to feed all humans produced
in the west - Two thirds of it thrown out.
* Rerouting "wasted" food to areas of poverty considered too *costly*.
http://www.wastedfood.com/
-------
* On the one hand, distribution will happen naturally. On the other
hand, it is the alpha and omega of the system.
* So why then are there so many laws governing trade and distribution?
* According to the men who designed the systems that we purport to
live by, distribution is extremely important and should not be
stifled at any cost. And yet, this is being done.
-------
* Freeganism is the ultimate social phenotype for this:
- Kids dumpster diving for food and clothing, not because they must,
but because they can.
- Able to sustain a higher standard of living by foraging for waste
than by working low paying jobs.
- It doesn't take a genius to
see that this does not scale.
http://www.freegan.info/
http://www.dumpsterdiving.net/
http://www.dumpsterworld.com/
#define
=======
Scarce is any thing or concept, the supply of which can be depleted
with sensible use. Abundant is anything not scarce.
#define
=======
Rival is any thing or concept, the use of which precludes the use of
the same by others.
The story so far
================
* Scarcity of basic human requirements was made extinct by the
industrial revolution.
* Scarcity is artificially maintained by faulty political and economic
systems.
* More freedom from
* Less violence
* More education
* Less poverty
* More food
* Less censorship
* More freedom to
Social Change
=============
* Consumerism is trashing our planet and making people miserable
* Economical underpinnings rely on continued subserviance
* The context of Malthus' and Hobbes' lies needs to be broken
Industry 2.0
============
* P2P design and small scale democracy
* A new paradigm for industrial production
* Probably won't change our society in a fundamental way, but it will
force us to reconsider our assumptions
* Eliminating scarcity for non-exotic objects
What is the Law?
================
* Social software project
- software that runs on society
* Open Source
- everybody can read it
* Public domain
- the legal code is free and not under copyright
* Developed by:
- Committee elected by users (in republics)
- Malevolent dictators & his cronies (in dictatorships)
Self-modifying code?
====================
* Changing legal code is tricky, because society is running on it in
real time.
- Any changes that are checked in to the code base take effect
immediately, and can render the system unusable.
* Peer review is done in real time, and most minor crashes are
salvageable.
Modern "democracy"
==================
* "Nice idea, but it doesn't work"
* Nevermind Switzerland...
* "People can't keep up with every issue"
* ... with the exception of Parliamentarians...
Proxying
========
Proxying can happen in three different ways
* General ("I'm apolitical, but I trust you.")
* Categorical ("I know nothing of agriculture, but I trust you.")
* Per issue ("I have no opinion on this, but I trust you.")
All forms of government ever seen are possible states in this system
* And a plethora of new (previously unthinkable) states become
available.
* One state for every concievable set of proxies.
Changing your mind
==================
* To change one's mind is human
- Modern democratic systems don't assume it's possible to change
one's mind
- In fact, it's not technically possible!
- But public key crypto makes it easy
* By allowing people to change their minds, to follow their
convictions irrespective of instant, we get lots of free features...
#1
==
No longer can opinions be forced on people.
#2
==
Changes in trust lead to changes in structure
#3
==
Democracy evolves over time
http://direct.democracy.is
Who gets to make motions?
=========================
Why not everybody?
----------------
* Anybody can raise a motion
- The legal code becomes like a Wiki where the "official version" is
decided by vote
* A free market of motions - everybody can participate.
* Popularity roundoff: good motions bubble up, poor ones recieve less
attention.
How long to motions stay open?
==============================
Why put arbitrary limits?
* Motions become law when they have enough support. (>50%?)
* Laws stop being law when they lose support. (<50%?)
- A dampening rule can be put in place to ensure that laws don't
fluctuate in and out of existence.
- This is *very* unlikely, and grows increasingly unlikely as the
society grows.
- Polarization on issues gives hints as to larger problems in the
society
Who can vote?
=============
How about everybody who's *alive*?
* We can discuss at length whether or not children have a right to
have opinions...
* More importantly: votes of the deceased stop counting.
*Living* law
============
* The oldest laws currently in force in Iceland are from 1275.
- No living Icelander has agreed to this law
- A recent "poll" suggested that most people think it's an absurd
piece of legal code
- And most people simply don't know what the law says
More responsive society
=======================
* It is important for plutocrats and bureaucrats that most people
don't understand the law, much less know what the law is.
* Direct democracy means that people must be well informed about what
the laws are
- And maybe are more willing to obide by them?
Fork motions
============
* If significant disagreement exists on a matter, demographic
distribution might suggest forking a good idea.
- Different geographical regions completely polarized
- Different SIGs wanting different legal code
- Microstates emergent, possibly franchises.
How do we democratize money?
============================
Turns out, it's easy
Money has a few features
1. Geographically defined
2. Money is created from nothing
3. It is created through loans
4. Interest is payed on debt
Source: The Future of Money, Bernard Liataer
What happens if we change that?
===============================
How about this...
So how does this work?
I'm going to let you in on a little secret
(A few books)
=============
* Post-Scarcity Anarchism by Murray Bookchin
* The Second Industrial Divide by Michael Fiore &al
* The Wealth of Networks by Yochaï Benkler
* Democratizing Innovation by Eric von Hippel
* Ephermalization by R. Buckminster Fuller
* www.globalswadeshi.net
* www.openfarmtech.org