Peer2Politics

“Facts, not opinions” this is the inscription engraved on the gable at the entrance of an eccentric museum (http://blogs.nature.com/london/2008/09/24/facts-not-opinions) in the city centre of London. The museum hosts the machinery tried by David Kirkaldy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Kirkaldy), the first scientist who in 1865 tested industrial steel in order to make it a construction material for bridges, ships and railways. The inscription is a real declaration of intentions that describes the main role played by the scientific method and thinking within the paradigmatic shift occurred in the second half of the 19th century.

 

In a world where so much important work is being left undone, where needs are not being met and resources not being cared for appropriately, there should be no shortage of meaningful livelihoods anywhere on the planet.

 

When Edward Snowden reached his breaking point, the world saw the truth about the vast extent of spying by the NSA on Americans and people around the world. In an act of conscience, Snowden released secret information, saying “My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them.

Massive Open Online Courses might seem like best way to use the Internet to open up education, but you’re thinking too small. Technology can turn our entire lives into learning experiences.

"Helsinki Timebank (Stadin Aikapankki, formerly known under the name of Kumpula vaihtopiiri) was established as part of the CES network in October 2009. Since then, more then 1400 people in Helsinki have joined this Timebank, and 28 timebanks have been established in other localities, in which services are exchanged among members on the basis of Time credits. One hour of whichever service performed is renumerated with the currency of the Timebank, in the case of Stadin Aikapankki one tovi. In 2011 alone, some 2200 tovi’s were exchanged in Stadin Aikapankki. These new Timebanks in Finland operate on a fully online international CES system. As such Stadin Aikapankki is locally rooted but globally interconnected in a network of community currencies. Examples of services traded are childcare, garden work assistance, bakings, language lessons, bookkeeping, computer program skills, handicraft lessons and assistance in the solving of problems."

 

"Off the Network is a fresh and authoritative examination of how the hidden logic of the Internet, social media, and the digital network is changing users’ understanding of the world—and why that should worry us. Ulises Ali Mejias suggests how we might begin to rethink the logic of the network and question its ascendancy."

 

Councils in the UK and around the world are starting to recognise how local currencies keep money in their areas, says John Rogers

Steven Sashen and Lena Phoenix are the co-founders of Xero Shoes, husband and wife, and long-time entrepreneurs who recently appeared on the ABC television show, Shark Tank. Steven is an All-American Masters sprinter and award-winning entertainer. Lena is an award winning fiction writer. They live in Boulder, CO, with their cats, Lily and Lula.

Explores fundamental changes occurring in the circulation and ownership of scientific information.

The Turkish government launched yesterday a study to restrict social media, an attempt that has been inspired by the Gezi protests that have spread across the country. 

Looking for some good books to read this summer? We’ve rounded up 10 titles that inspire, educate and entertain, Shareable-style. From underground societies and futuristic sci-fi, to the first Earth Day and citizen-driven government, these titles offer an engaging look at where we are, how we got here, and how we can help determine where we’re headed.

 

The Critical Art Ensemble (CAE) is a collective of artists and activists based in the USA that work on the boundaries between science, technology and radical politics. In 2004 Steve Kurtz, one of the members of CAE, was arrested by the FBI under the charge of bioterrorism after the police found the home lab and the bacteria cultures that were used for CAE projects on the politics of biotechnology. Their book Molecular Invasiontheorized the use of do-it-yourself biology as a tool to challenge the structures of power within the biotech industry and the role of biotechnology in today’s capitalist societies. In this interview, Kurtz explores the differences between CAE and the emergent movement of garage biology – such as the DIYbio network – its political role and its future.

 

Who controls the Internet? To explore this question I participated in the five day NETworkshop Behind the Screens of the Internet. The question is too multilayered to yield a singular definitive answer but the crash course in computer networking made one thing painfully clear: it isn’t We The People.

The new economy will be an economy of renewable resources, that’s why access to land and soil will become one of the main sources of abundance again if it will be combined with access to new information technologies and information exchange, argues Michel Bauwens. Countries with heavy exposure to solar input and large reserves of land and biomass will be particularly well placed in this transition.

 

ERT will not keep the Greek state  from sliding down the slope. Those, who obediently accept positions given by the government, will be regime’s cannon fodder. Despised by citizens, selling their souls for a decreasing dole of privileges, will be thrown away when the state – new, strong state – gets its legs again. If not, they will be easy sacrifice to the revolted masses, buying some time for their masters to escape.

Biohackers explores fundamental changes occuring in the circulation and ownership of scientific information. Alessandro Delfanti argues that the combination of the ethos of 20th century science, the hacker movement and the free software movement is producing an open science culture which redefines the relationship between researchers, scientific institutions and commercial companies.