The New Socialism

I've benn meaning to blog this for ages. It is essentially making a connection between the bottom up, 'creative commons', copyleft ethos of the 'hacker plus' communities and more global political movements. The full title says a bit more: The New Socialism: Global Collectivist Society Is Coming Online And I judge that the best summary quote is this: "When masses of people who own the means of production work toward a common goal and share their products in common, when they contribute labor without wages and enjoy the fruits free of charge, it's not unreasonable to call that socialism."
In the bad old days when Maggie Thatcher's blue rinsed minions were squandering north sea oil and making short-trem profits for the state by selling back to the ideologically primed sections of British society what we all once collectively owned (some might call that stealing), the main alternative was a version of state-monopolistic capitalism which some sections of the Labour party and people like the SWP embraced. The other alternative of co-operatives was mainly propounded by the Liberals and the Co-operative party (who bizarrely, imo, make common cause with the Labour party which consistently ignores opportunities to encourage co-operatives): namely co-operatives. The article referenced here is essentially talking about informal, 'liquid' co-operatives. Of such is the Kingdom of heaven ...

Fungal diesel could revolutionise fuel production

These are the days of miracle and wonder: well maybe ... Fungal diesel could revolutionise fuel production - earth - 04 November 2008 - New Scientist Environment: "A fungus that can convert plant waste directly into diesel could allow us to generate biofuel without sacrificing food production."
The big issue will be about how easy it could turn out to be to scale it up and whether it would really be true that it needn't cost food production to do it. Signs are positive on the latter and the jury's out on the former.
Also read Wired's article on it. Original paper (pdf) here.

Lewes, printing its own money

This is why a growing number of towns and cities worldwide are creating local currencies (the article has a few more details): "According to one analysis, 80 per cent of the money that goes into a supermarket till leaves the local economy immediately. By backing local stores such trends can be reversed"
In the case of Lewes, I liked this connection;

it is no coincidence that the town's most famous resident is the radical political pamphleteer Thomas Paine, credited with sowing the intellectual seeds of American independence. Etched under a painting of Paine on a wall of one of Lewes's churches is one of his most famous aphorisms: 'We have the power to build the world anew.'

Lewes, the proud town that is printing its own money | Business | The Observer:

Money and finance alternatives: TerraTRC

A few years back, I found myself preaching and, looking to illustrate faith, took our monetary system as an example. It works because we have faith that if we accept as payment the tokens we call money, then in turn we will be able to tender them in payment. This caused more of a ripple than I'd anticipated. It hadn't occured to me that, in the first place, lots of people wouldn't have already realised this and in the second place that it would be somewhat unsettling. The article I've referenced (just click the post header), gives a good overview of how currency works and the summary statement is this: "Ultimately, money (especially money that is not backed by real goods or services) is in essence a trust that lives and dies only in human hearts and minds. Money systems, including our current one, are filled with mechanisms and symbols that aim at keeping that trust alive. Civilizations are built on trust, because it is at the core of the self-confidence required for a civilization to grow and survive.
Conversely, when a society loses confidence in its money, it loses confidence in itself. Entire civilizations have collapsed with the collapse of their money system".
But the really important point of this site is to highlight the great instability of our current free-floating currencies (they are not tied to anything tangible, the gold standard having been abandoned some 30 odd years ago), the speculative frenzy that this has created in the financial markets and the dangers inherent in this system. It is for these reasons the alternative is offered. Now I have to confess, also, that as a child/teenager, I thought that the system being proposed in this article, was in fact what must happen in order to determine the relative values of currencies against one another. It just seemed a logical way to proceed. I was surprised, doing A level economics, to discover it wasn't the way things worked. So what is this plain and logical alternative? Basically, to use a basket of goods and services as a standard to determine relative values of currencies. This would bring a number of advantages.
"The TRC™ is poised to dramatically change barter and counter-trade along with creating, stability and predictability in the financial and business sectors by providing a standard of value for international trade. This will be the first time since the gold-standard days that a robust international standard of value that is inflation-resistant would become available. Most importantly, it will resolve the current conflict between short-term financial interest and long-term sustainability. This mechanism would work in parallel with national currencies. Finally, this proposal would need no new legislation or international agreements to become operational."

TerraTRC:

Shopping? They just don't buy it

Interesting idea; this articcle explores an anti-conusumerist action in the USA "six months into a one-year pledge not to buy anything new - underwear and a few other essentials aside. Kesel and 10 of her friends bought no new items in 2006, and many have renewed the 'compact', as their pledge is called, this year."Apparently, it's growing and people are finding it easier than they thought they might.
One of the founding figures responding with disgust to the "show 'em you're not afraid: shop" response to the fall of the Twin Towers;

She decided to try 'an experiment' not to shop. 'One of the long-term effects was that it showed me that I could happily live on a lot less, and that has made me better able to save and to plan my financial future without thinking "to hell with it, I'll never retire".' She also cleared her $8,000 Visa bill.

Here's the basics info.

The rule
· Don't buy new products - borrow or buy used. The exceptions are food, drink, medicine (no elective treatments like Viagra or Botox), necessary cleaning products but not equipment (a new Dyson, for example, is not allowed), socks and underwear (utilitarian only) and pyjamas for the children.
To find out more about the compact http://sfcompact.blogspot.com/

Shopping? They just don't buy it | Cash | The Observer:

So that's what you call it

"'counterfactual thinking,' or the re-imagining of major historical events, with the variables slightly tweaked."
Interestingly enough, it's this kind of fiction that has made me more interested in real history. But on the basis of this article, I'm thinking that the computer game might be really interesting. Of course, such a game is only as good as the parameters fed in at the start: gigo is still the rule.
Why a Famous Counterfactual Historian Loves Making History With Games: MAKING HISTORY®: The Calm & the Storm is a true grand strategy game that puts players in control of global conflict,