Category: Uncategorized

The Jewish Barber (Charlie Chaplin’s character): Hope… I’m sorry but I don’t want to be an Emperor – that’s not my business – I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible, Jew, gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another, human beings are like that.

We all want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone and the earth is rich and can provide for everyone.

The way of life can be free and beautiful.

But we have lost the way.

Greed has poisoned men’s souls – has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed.

We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in: machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little: More than machinery we need humanity; More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.

The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me I say “Do not despair”.

The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress: the hate of men will pass and dictators die and the power they took from the people, will return to the people and so long as men die [now] liberty will never perish…

Soldiers – don’t give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and enslave you – who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel, who drill you, diet you, treat you as cattle, as cannon fodder.

Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men, machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts. You are not machines. You are not cattle. You are men. You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don’t hate – only the unloved hate. Only the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers – don’t fight for slavery, fight for liberty.

In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written ” the kingdom of God is within man ” – not one man, nor a group of men – but in all men – in you, the people.

You the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy let’s use that power – let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give you the future and old age and security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie. They do not fulfil their promise, they never will. Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfil that promise. Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness.

Soldiers – in the name of democracy, let us all unite!

Look up! Look up! The clouds are lifting – the sun is breaking through. We are coming out of the darkness into the light. We are coming into a new world. A kind new world where men will rise above their hate and brutality.

The soul of man has been given wings – and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow – into the light of hope – into the future, that glorious future that belongs to you, to me and to all of us. Look up. Look up.”

http://www.clown-ministry.com/

interesting 5 minute hearing :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj0JAfq4esk

“Fed Vice Chair Donald Kohn testified before the Financial Services Committee today, along with John Bovenzi of the FDIC. The Fed’s balance sheet has expanded by $1.2 trillion since September 1. Where did the money go? Kohn wouldn’t say.”

and a news report on the same hearing, with better sound quality :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxuqmPyKqcs&feature=related

“So, you know about the Treasury’s $700 billion bailout plan. But you probably don’t know that the Federal Reserve has lent out about $2 trillion since September. Few do. And that is what’s irritating bulldog Congressman Alan Grayson. Will he be able to shed a light on the Fed’s secret spending?”

—

Gift Economy called “Dama” in Malian Culture

I like the complicity and shared passion between prof and pupil(?) in this video on “emergence of open design and manufacturing”

http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/marvellous-interview-with-eric-von-hippel-on-user-centered-innovation/2009/02/08

I look forward to the development of a inter-connected movement of engineers, namely programmers,

supported by all kinds of thinkers, facilitators, …

for the bloom of a new self-empowered  and empowering movement :

Open Source Public Licensed ” Programmable Financial Systems ”

following the development of other open source projects, such as Linux.

I also look forward to the emergence of open distributed data bases using such softwares

converging and sharing information about

offer and demand in the field of

” units representing needs of/offers in the pursuit of certain intentions measured by a certain measurable quantity ( time, energy, processing, data transfer, … ) and issued or asked by individual profiles ”

details:

here are some of the challenges I try to address :

The challenge is to manifest simple tools that enable greater complexity : enabling simplicity at higher levels of abstraction.

– I would like to see an economic measurement system which allows for a variety of units to be transferred ( units which have in common to define 1 ) an intention , 2 ) a unit of measure , and 3 ) profiles of groups or individuals pursuing them which issue them – each of these informations staying connected to the units )

In such a measurement system I imagine, people or groups do not owe to other people, they owe to ” intentions ” , and to serve the intentions, one can support the needs of the groups or individuals who serve certain intentions, by accepting their currency in exchange for what we can do.

By serving such intentions through accepting the units in exchange of our service, we show that we support the intention, and in turn others who want to support the intention can support us.

One could imagine that such economic intentional measurment system could be a complementary currency that could at first be used in the field of the volunteering economy – making it easier for voluntary people to find projects to support, and receive reputation points for it on their profile ( which in turn increases their credibility to issue units if and when they owuld need support ),
and receive intentional units which can be used or given on afterwords.

It could include time banks ( or some units connected to energy production , food production , etc )

but also other information systems which combine

1) defined intention in creation of currency

2 ) defined measurement unit

3 ) contain reputation of issuer, or of supporters of the issuer

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Dante-Gabryell Monson <dante.monson – at – gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Oct 18, 2008 at 2:08 PM
Subject: package for local autonomous infrastructure development ?

All kinds of solutions have already been designed or been experimented with ,

yet when I look locally , here in Brussels ,

I do not seem to know ( yet ? ) of any services , or communities of practice that could offer services between each other or to clients that pay for it ,

that combine a number of solutions into a package for the urban citizen

I imagine such ” service ” could be developed , not only for some real estate community development project , not only for DIY , but a combination of DIY with commercial , and perhaps even passionnate DIY s that can converge in communities of practice and that can then sell their services and even design more specific solutions that perhaps go beyond DIY

I do know platforms such as

http://www.appropedia.org/Welcome_to_Appropedia

http://www.google.be/search?hl=en&q=appropedia&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

and a number of individuals ( and anarchist communities ) that try to develop their solutions.

I also know of companies ( or cooperatives ) that try to offer isolated solutions regarding for example energy isolation , ” green ” energy production ( solar , wind , … )

but I am still looking forwards to , perhaps even leading its creation ,

into a combination between the open source solutions ( such as appropedia )
and local networks ,

with financial back up of ” clients ” ,

as to develop some kind of sustainable ” post financial crisis ” infrastructure ”
that takes into account all different dimensions related to the various impacts ,

while increasing local autonomous capability and infrastructure in energy , co-production ( including food within 20 km ? ) , water , transportation , logistics , waste management ( and re-use management ) , and through emergence , of trust information systems ( currencies ) that take into account all resources and individuals connected to the networks

etc

I imagine we could develop ” investment ” schemes , projecting potential savings even when there would be no financial crisis , and then add to that the increased ” insurance ” of access to living resources and systems even in the case of a financial system breakdown ( or other system breakdown )

It would be interesting to be able to play with figures , and to find ways of ” selling it ” ,
as to finance the emergence of cooperatives in urban areas , and thinknet ( cooperatives at local and transnational levels ) that support the local cooperatives.

It also leads to a post nationalist , post local government approach , where citizens empower and self organize themselves in collaboration , but not in dependency of other institutions.

Ideally , there would be no need for cooperatives , but simply networks.

Something I keep in mind and felt like sharing.

I would be happy to work on some business models ,
or if this already exists , to further interact with such project.

I do know that ecovillage communities do this for themselves ,
but in this case it would not be one specific ecovillage , it would be a community of practice that has a business model and that provides the tools and consultance to set up autonomous systems in urban ( and non urban ) areas through fudning of individuals that would be willing to pay for such ” insurance “.

So it is at first about setting up some kind of ” service ” , some ” insurance ” , …

How much would it cost to provide such service to a urban dweller in north west europe ?

I imagine it might very much depend on the level of complexity of the environment to process solutions for , and perhaps some system of ” credits ” that includes involvement of local residents into solution development could be created , so that people that have less time to invest in the area project can invest financially for others in the area to work on the project – others that would get credits for their work , and give them access to the infrastructures they build even when they do not have capital to invest ?

Greetings from Brussels

Dante

From: Dante-Gabryell Monson
Sent: Sunday, November 25, 2007 2:19 PM

Subject: Re: towards “commons” : synergies through meeting hubs , conferences , strengthening of collaborative networks …

Thomas , Steve , Josef , and all ( cc: I add Andrius to this thread )

this mail is about ” Syner-Jazz’ ing ” …

—-

quoting Thomas in hes last reply to this thread :

” If this idea has currency, I’d like for someone to take on the organizing of it so I can concentrate on the writing projects I need to complete. ”

Looks like we are at a stage of the thread where we find out more about who is doing what at this moment and what objects we already have at our disposal ,

and are reaching a stage where we find out what we intend to do ,

what we need to do it – including numbers ( aha ! money !?! )

and how we can work together to provide for each other what each of us needs

—-

As we dont ( yet ) have certain specific softwares and platforms to visualize this yet ( the ” open synergizer ” relational tool and platform 😉 ) ,

lets see how we manage to continue this with emails and wiki webpages …

We can create pages and profiles that allow us to openly and transparently gather , visualize , relate or compare
(perhaps some of us already have done this for themselves and in relation to their networks ? – http://ms.lt ? ) :

– options regarding ” places / hubs ” for meetings and potentially for living we mentionned on this thread – feel free to edit / re-arrange , or copy paste it anywhere you like , … :

– indications and links about what some of us are doing at the moment , or intend to do , and with what circle of influence

– what resources within our respective circle of influences can complement each other

– what needs we have , and … what we like 🙂

—————-

I make a online draft of my own so you can position me ( and it would be nice if each of us could visualize that with each of us , each of our intentions , and each of our projects ) :

http://oikoumene.coforum.net/SynerJazzingWithDante

( and you can add yours here http://oikoumene.coforum.net/Synergizer )

as to how I feel can contribute to your needs towards our common intentions ,
and so that you can understand what I need to be able to contribute ( to you ? ) ,
towards our common intentions .

Your suggestions on how you think I can contribute to our common intentions or to you
are also welcomed.

I also want to state that I intend this kind of holistic/complexity market place to go along ” intentions ” – what I call ” Intentional Economics ” / including gift economics within intentional social networks.

By this , I mean it is not ” Expectation/Control Economics “.

Example : I have an intention that includes specific actions and needs , and if you share this intention , you can empower yourself by empowering me to fulfill my needs as to be able to accomplish actions that correspond to your intention.

for example : I m passionate about ” singing ” , and you like to hear me sing. – so you support me by offering me some food so that I can spend more time practicing for my singing.

and NOT expectation economics where ” you pay me to sing one specific song in one specific place “.

in effect , I do not sing because you pay or support me , I sing because I ampassionnate about it , and you can empower me to do it better and more by covering some of my living expenses and needs.

I will sing anyway , because thats what I love to do , but by supporting me , more people can enjoy listening to me sing , including yourself

—————-
note to programmers and people interested in facilitating the funding of programmers :

It could be nice if we could have easily comparable and potentially relational data for each of our needs , current offer , and the needs for potential offer.

It could also be good to create separate profiles for needs of projects , and how these projects can relate to each of our separate offer and need profiles.

For example , a “optional ” project page for having a conference at the Goetheanum ,
and then other pages / objects for ” optional ” offer and needs of individuals according to the project object.

This last intention ( to create and compare objects / profiles of offer , demand , access , and needs to create potential – which itself could be a need for other potential creation )

is in itself a project object , for which we can clarify the needs , and write down grant applications for software and platform development.

Although this might still sound like some foreign language , I would be happy to present to interested programmers the functioning of ” process dimensions ” : http://oikoumene.coforum.net/processdimensions , which can also integrate such kind of functionality ( and much more )

———-

Let us know more what your situation , intentions , offer and needs are.

Dante