I'm a free software developer, musician, and philosopher. I live in Berlin and like Anarchy.
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The Culture - a human/machine symbiotic society - has thrown up many great Game Players, …
The external exploration of a fascist empire from the point of view of a culture game player gives deep insights into the political philosophy of both, and the author himself. The ending leaves a sour taste in your mouth, with a lot of moral ambiguity on who was "right".
The world is overdue for a completely new system of governance. If there was ever …
This book gives a wonderful introduction into the problems of modern society to people who may not be aware of some of the shortcomings of representative democracy, monetary markets, nation states, and community governance.
A lot of the ideas that Heather brings forth are based on anarchic principles of self governance, with the acknowledgment of limitations of true flat organisations (for example based on difference in experience and expertise), and proposes models to account for these differences that don't lead to "hidden oligarchies".
Where I find her analysis extremely lacking are in relation to human psychology (both existing and utopian), the relegation of labels as something undesired instead of as a byproduct of language, and analysis of markets that replace wealth with a kudos system that leaves almost no room for rehabilitation.
Furthermore she proposes mechanisms of shunning, with optional prison sentences without an analysis of why prisons are fundamentally …
This book gives a wonderful introduction into the problems of modern society to people who may not be aware of some of the shortcomings of representative democracy, monetary markets, nation states, and community governance.
A lot of the ideas that Heather brings forth are based on anarchic principles of self governance, with the acknowledgment of limitations of true flat organisations (for example based on difference in experience and expertise), and proposes models to account for these differences that don't lead to "hidden oligarchies".
Where I find her analysis extremely lacking are in relation to human psychology (both existing and utopian), the relegation of labels as something undesired instead of as a byproduct of language, and analysis of markets that replace wealth with a kudos system that leaves almost no room for rehabilitation.
Furthermore she proposes mechanisms of shunning, with optional prison sentences without an analysis of why prisons are fundamentally flawed and unethical in any society, and that no "good implementation" of this "rehabilitation mechanism" exists.
In the end, the book left me feeling uninspired. And while I would still recommend it to someone to learn more about the basics of global collaboration tools, I am left wondering what a more reality-grounded exploration of these ideas would look like...
For the weeping warriors, for the savage saints, for the bleeding mothers with fire in …
A collection of poetry on the meaning of being alive in a dying world, and the changes in ourselves we need to embrace to stop the apocalypse