Why Darwinian Economics Is so Threatening to Libertarians. The Case For A 21-Hour Work Week. By Michael J. Coren / fastcoexist.com Time, like work, has become commodified, a recent legacy of industrial capitalism, where a controlled, 40-hour week (or more) in factories was necessary. Our behavior is totally out of step with human priorities and the nature of today’s economy.
To lay the foundations for a "steady-state" economy—one that can continue running sustainably forever—a recent paper argues that it’s time for advanced developed countries transition to a normal 21-hour work week. This does not mean a mandatory work week or leisure-time police. People can choose to work as long, or short, as they please. It’s more about resetting social and political norms. The New Economics Foundation (NEF) says there is nothing natural or inevitable about what’s considered a "normal" 40-hour work week today. The NEF argues to achieve more satisfying lives we need to challenge social norms and reset the industrial clock in our heads. The challenges are great. Why Darwinian Economics Is so Threatening to Libertarians. Before Copernicus, mankind knew that the earth sat motionless at the very center of the universe with the sun and stars turning around it.
After Copernicus, we knew the earth was just a minor planet orbiting an unremarkable star. He was the first of the scientific revolutionaries, but he was not the last. He has been followed by a long and glorious list of imitators. These copycat revolutionaries borrowed his scientific methods and to a surprising degree also used very similar imaginative tricks to turn their own fields into sciences.
It is worth pondering what Copernicus did and what he did not do. All that Copernicus did was to describe the universe in a simpler, more logical way. Drawing a parallel between the confused state of economics today and the state of astronomy prior to its revolution, I argue that trying to fix the confusion in economics requires that we dig down to the level of paradigms—in the manner outlined by philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn. Liked this article?
Jeremy Rifkin: "The Zero Marginal Cost Society" | Authors at Google. Natural Economics and Community Governance with Gary Williams. 5 US Cities Begin Building Cooperative Economies. Top image: Jacksonville, Florida. Credit: Krazy Diamnd. Article cross-posted from Community-Wealth.org. The past few weeks have seen a flurry of impressive activity at the level of city government, all around policies designed to build community wealth and encourage the growth of cooperative local economies. It's encouraging to see that the work of grassroots developers, local foundations, community activists, and field builders is beginning to gain a foothold in the world of municipal policy. While certainly many of the models that have currently proven themselves on the ground have done so with the invaluable support and close cooperation of local policymakers, what's new and exciting in 2014 is the way an increasing number of city governments are stepping into leadership roles and catalyzing new projects and initiatives.
Concentrated urban poverty remains a pressing issue; 2012 data shows that nearly one in six people living in major metropolitain areas lives below the poverty line. The Solution. From Sharing Economy To Gift Ecology. Couple weeks back, Sam and I spoke at a local gathering in Oakland. In casual conversation, the convener of our circle, Syra tells us: "I love that so many people are talking about sharing. See, I'm always campaigning for it," handing us a card for local sharing event. "But you know, I tried to get into this sharing conference, and it was 500 bucks!
Doesn’t that just feel wrong? Most of us can’t afford that kind of sharing. " Like many, Syra consolidated two ideas into one: sharing and giving. Traditionally, sharing has much in common with giving, but in the booming phenomena of a ‘Sharing Economy’, they are significantly different. Sharing has elements of inter-connectedness, of a village-like community, of a transformative altruism. It's a pattern we've seen before. Now, it seems like sharing is having its turn. On paper, it seems like a good idea to build an app to share my lawn mower with everyone on my block.
Looking at the trajectory, I now wonder about gift economy. Økonomien er baseret på falske principper om endeløs vækst. Eva Gladek (tw: @emgladek) har polske rødder, er vokset op i New York, har gået i en international skole, bor nu i Amsterdam. Hun kalder sig selv verdensborger. Alligevel arbejder hun nu på at realisere den ny grønne økonomi, hvor lokal selvforvaltning, størst mulig selvforsyning, lokal bytteøkonomi og den slags er i centrum. Det sker via firmaet Metabolic Lab, startet for halvandet år siden og nu med omkring 20 medarbejdere.
Et »handlingskontor for samfundsmæssig omstilling« kalder Eva Gladek det. »Jeg var direktør i et andet konsulentfirma, men jeg var så frustreret over, at de råd og analyser, jeg producerede, aldrig blev implementeret. »Det er et af mange eksempler på det, vi laver. »Mennesker i min generation er ekstremt trætte af den traditionelle vækstøkonomi. En reaktion på det er den såkaldte Makers Movement, der ifølge Eva vokser frem i en række lande. LÆS: Opgør med ’brug og smid væk’ kulturen Der er ingen endeløs vækst »Det kan lyde hippieagtigt, men vi er ikke hippier. Sacred Economics with Charles Eisenstein - A Short Film. Charles Eisenstein -- Money, Values & Trust [LIVE in Zurich] The Gift Economy and the Commons. Enough Is Enough: Full Film. Teaching Community, Family, and Social Skills as Elements of Educational Curriculum for Life. This page outlines teaching curriculum ideas for Community, Family, and Social Skills as elements of the “Play” category of the Curriculum for Life component of the open source Education for Life Program.
This curriculum is meant as a globally collaborative and ever-expanding archive of ideas to be combined with the Teaching Strategies for Life component, and Learning Tools and Toys for Life component, to create endless Lesson Plans for Life purposed to grow and evolve what we feel will be the most comprehensive, effective, and diversely applicable free-education program and open source and free-shared project-launch usable education blueprint in the world.
The following is a list of community, family, and social skills curriculum topics divided into 3 categories: “Community,” “Family,” and “Social Skills.” If you have an idea or section that you believe should be included here, please send it to us using our Suggestions Page. Community What is a community? Family What is a family? Novaglobe | Don't wait for politicians, just create a new world our selves. PARADIGM DOCUMENT FROM: THE TREASURY FINANCE AG, INDUSTRIESTRASSE 21, CH-6055ALPNACH DORF, SWITZERLAND. TEDxPannonia 2011 - Prof. Franz Hörmann - Society 2.0 - Entering a World Without Money. Read Online | Sacred Economics | Charles Eisenstein. Subscribe to Charles Newsletter Connect on Facebook Read Online Welcome to the HTML version of Sacred Economics.
The full version is here in English, along with full and partial translations into other languages. More translated material comes on-line all the time, so check back often. Sacred Economics Full text of Sacred Economics in Romanian can be found here. Introduction: (German) (Swedish) (French) (Hungarian) (Italian) (Dutch) (Greek) (Polish) Chapter 1: The Gift World (German)(Swedish) (Polish) (Dutch) (Italian)(Greek – Part 1)(Greek – Part 2) Chapter 2: Greed and the Illusion of Scarcity (German) (Swedish) (Polish) (Dutch) (Greek Part 1) (Greek Part 2) Chapter 3: Money and the Mind (German) (Swedish) (Polish)(Dutch) (Greek Part 1) (Greek Part 2) Chapter 4: The Trouble with Property (German) (Swedish) (Polish) (Greek Part 1)(Greek Part 2) Chapter 5: The Corpse of the Commons (German) (Swedish) (Polish) (Greek Part 1) (Greek Part 2) Chapter 23: A New Materialism (German) (Swedish)(Greek)
Quants: The Alchemists of Wall Street (Marije Meerman, VPRO Backlight 2010)