Capitalism out of Justifications

You know, there really is not much of a justification of capitalism anymore. The system is supposed to improve the conditions of the poor, thus making inequalities acceptable. It is no longer the case. It is supposed to produce greater security. It is no longer the case. It is supposed to sustain democracy. It is no longer the case. All the classic positive justifications are gone. Moral arguments are all that is left: working is good, one has to pay one’s debts – and there is no other way. We have reached a point where these two arguments are leading to the system’s self-destruction. The ship is sinking because of an overload of work and debt.

This is from this interview with David Graeber

http://ouishare.net/2013/10/graeber-morality-debt/

To read deeper, find his book The Democracy Project

Reflections on April & Working in the Commons Sector: Day 1

Mothers hands in the fertile soil of a fallen tree.

Earlier in April I wrote that I was dedicating the remainder of the month to relaxation+reflection+future planning. I'm both pleased and disappointed to report the results. Similar to the passing of 2012, or of university flying by, I'm wondering: Where did April go?

Relaxation: I think I was quite successful here. With my partner in crime, Alexandra, we spent 4 days truly revelling on my farm in the absence of work and school, enjoying the animals, the woods, the sunshine, and the river. We even took a trip up to the Scandinave Spa up by Collingwood, which I highly recommend. Having her around helped force me into a state of much needed non-productivity. Over the month, walks through the forest and time spent outdoors doing chores helped refresh my body and mind. Building physical things with my hands certainly has its very distinctive sense of reward versus the digital artifacts I'm used to producing that you can never hold on to, they're just code. Also the critical factor of reconnecting with my family. My mom, superwoman, handling the stress of my older brothers mental health challenges, and younger sisters physical disability, while managing the 100 acre farm is always an inspiration. Not to mention my sister who, despite her disability, is set on becoming a motivational speaker. They're both a lot of fun and its a blessing to be able to spend time with them again.

The blog posts I had hoped to write covering my stories, learnings and experiences from Knowledge Integration, Emerging Leader Labs, the Commons Seminars, and the Household As Ecology didn't emerge. I think it's important to acknowledge and learn from failures, so I guess what I'm taking away is that in order to truly reflect on past experiences I have to let go of my obsession with the future.

That said, I was successful in doing a decent amount of future planning including planning to attend the Emerging Leader Labs collaboration that will be from June 17th - Aug 8th. Going as a participant, you receive all kinds of support for a project of your choice that you want to incubate, so of course it is the perfect place for me to go and work on Metamaps, while embodying a practice of commoning and growing the gift economy. That brings me to Metamaps.

Today is my first day in a new job. Metamaps. Making the fledgling platform truly usable and useful is, as of right now, my full time endeavor. Metamaps is not a business persay, but is being produced by a value network (http://p2pfoundation.net/Value_Network) of which I am a key part. Please keep this in mind as you think of me, as most of my time will be dedicated to the ongoing creation of the platform, and will require of me a structure and self-discipline in my life. By choosing to create value in the world through the value network model, rather than choosing to work at a job just created for a jobs sake, I'm withdrawing to the extent that I can my participation from our highly dysfunctional job market/economic system and thus using my 'voting' power to begin the creation of a more functional one, in which everyone creates value in the world doing the work that fulfills them. For me, I work on metamaps so that communities can better manage their knowledge, and humanity as a whole can improve our knowledge management in service of tackling the many wicked problems we face. Check out this blog post for our current position, trajectory, and what we're looking for in collaborations: http://blog.metamaps.cc/?p=569

So there you have it, the next phase of my life and journey into what some are calling the Creative Economy. I call it the Commons Sector, where we grow and protect the global commons, all kinds of commons: Social, Cultural, Intellectual, Solar, Natural, Genetic, and Material.

An excerpt from an email to my father about metamorphosis

"...Amazing things happening in the dialogue here, concerning transformation of our economic and political systems to ones that actually benefit and replenish the commons (natural, cultural, spiritual) rather than deplete them. An infinitely more advanced conversation than is going on anywhere in North American politics. The major thing concerns ceasing to claim ownership over those things, so that they can be managed rather through trusteeships and we can consider ourselves stewards of the earth, rather than owners who will do with 'our property' as we please. Much of what's being said requires us to expand our sense of self to include others, so that we remember that what is good for them, is also good for us, so not only is it virtuous to give to others, but in a way, a kind of enlightened self-interest as well.

Today I made a connection between 'common sense' and the commons, and considered sensibility as a commons (that has also been depleted). Your age old question of a hotel visitor, who uses as much water and leaves the window wide open with air conditioning on, just because they don't have to pay more, 'it's not their problem', but it feels like common sense to not do that. I thought to myself, it's not like the ideas being tossed around are out of this world brilliant, they feel like common sense, and yet I think as it is all unfolding hardly anyone can believe the dialogue is actually taking place, because as few as 5 years ago or less, it would have seemed absurd. There was only 1 MP there today, who convened this James Quilligan seminar in the House of Commons, but I feel that much more confident in the transformation of things, knowing that he's in parliament, and working towards common sense change. 

I just wanted to give you a sense of what I'm really doing here, and here to talk about :) Exciting stuff, for those of us interested in restoring sanity to this ol' world, eh chap! ..."