[Cut-and-pasted from the Comments which I left to her blog posting of this interesting link]

Way nifty cool!

Thanks for posting this comment and link.

FYI, here is a note prompted by your post which I just sent to some economist and philosopher friends at Boston University and Liberty Fund:


Hi-

I hope your holiday season was pleasant!

For your possible interest, this economically, socially, and philosophically interesting notion is picking up steam:

"It's about keeping the taxman out of it.
It's about learning to help each other again.
It's about getting ready for a post peak oil world.
It's about making dinner for a friend who was yesterday a stranger.
It's about keeping money out of the equation.
It's about communicating face-to-face and phasing out technological communication.
It's about putting the soul back into society."

In just this one snippet there are Libertarian, Quaker, and Heideggarian elements all interestingly chopped and stirred together. (It never ceases to amaze me how quite intelligent folks will naively, entirely earnestly, and with a completely straight face use cutting-edge cyberspace-supported technology to decry technological communication).

justfortheloveofit.org/index.php [click on "read more" at bottom right of the first paragraph for the whole text]

This sort of thing is a direct outcome of the so-called "gift economy" ethos of the Burning Man community as hundreds of thousands of Burners (generally highly active and involved individuals, dynamic movers and shakers in their spheres of concern and geographical localities) dispersed around the planet are leaning into it with local creative efforts. An online network (www.Tribe.net) was set up by members of this community and is dominated by it; notions such as this one have a fast launch via being introduced around and promoted by folks within Tribe (I am AlaskaSteven within Tribe).

As far as I can tell these sorts of proto-efforts are not anti-Capitalism or pro-Socialism/pro-Communism so much as anti-Banknote and pro-Goods & Servces. That is, it is part quarrel and part advocacy. The quarrel is with artificial tokens of economic exchange (coupons of any sort -such as banknotes or credit cards or other script) and the advocacy is for direct exchange of real goods and services, directly, cutting out the entire gamut of parasitic middlemen and parasitic growths from tax-collectors to reserve banks to a standing military. At least, on the marxist side of the equation that is what it is all ultimately about, I think. On the other side, of course, Marshall Sahlins would probably support the notion that the people involved here are motivated by the value they place on symbol and idea in their interactions; they are rational actors in economic exchange in that the ideals and values they ascribe to are supported, reinforced, and promoted by exchanges involving tangible goods as well. The whole machine in the garden resentment stems from a misattribution of alienation in modernity to technological causes, whereas the technological aspect is actually symptomatic and not causal.

While the petrochemical-based Orwellian military industrial complex attempts to focus attention on endless war with created enemies, diverse seeds of change such as this are beginning to germinate and take root all over the place. I find these small signs and portents to be encouraging, like that Jethro Tull song, Jack 'O the Green:
...does the green still run deep in your heart?
Or will these changing times,
Motorways, powerlines,
Keep us apart?
Well, I don't think so ---
I saw some grass growing through the pavements today.

Best wishes for an excellent new year ahead in 2008,
Steven


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"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. ... The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home."
Pres. James Madison


"...the 2008 US Budget shows a 0% increase in NIH funding, and just 1.1% increase at NSF, after years of being gutted by politicians who claim that we need to foster science innovation. We scientists are being choked off faster than al Quaida by these fools."
Kiel (in Comments at www.alternet.org/environment/72339/ )


A breath of fresh air, reason, and tolerance.
www.dennis4president.com/home/


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