[p2p-research] Why Post-Capitalism is Rubbish

[Christian Siefkes]

Michel,

Michel Bauwens wrote:
> but it would take a whole radical step to re-introduce that particular
> logic for the whole of the economy ...
> 
> perhaps this is a interesting question for you: do you believe we don't
> need a transitional economy?
> 
> if not, why not

Well, in a sense my own model contains many transitional elements, such as
the mechanisms for distributing unwanted tasks (task weighting) and limited
resources (resource auctioning). These elements may prove unnecessary over
time when automation and stigmergetic self-organization become sufficient
for task sharing and when more efficient and responsible usage facilitates
the allocation of limited resources.

Of course, these can only be elements of a second transitional phase, since
the model I describe already assumes that all areas of life are based on
the principles of commons-based peer production, where the need to earn
money no longer exists. We certainly need other transitional steps until
we'll get there.

> if yes, then isn't that something to be tackled specifically in a
> political theory for a commons ...

It's an important topic, about which I talked a bit during the second part
of my Oekonux 4 talk, and about which I want to think and write and
discourse much more in the future.

> this is what some people, myself included, want to work on, when we say
> that existing peer production will inevitably need to co-exist with a
> equitable market ...

It will certainly need to co-exist with the market, and its important to
think about (and experiment with) how that can happen in a way that doesn't
hurt the logic of peer production too much.

About "equitable" I don't know -- in some ways, the market is already quite
equitable in the sense that markets tend to equivalent exchange whenever
free competition exists; in another sense, markets can *never* be equitable
since markets are based on private property which by definition will always
be distributed unequally. A market without private property cannot possibly
exist, so equitable markets in the second, deeper sense are impossible.

Therefore I think it makes much more sense to find out how we co-exist with
the really existing market (and at the same time find the ways to overcome
it), rather than dreaming about a market which doesn't and cannot exist.

Best regards
        Christian

-- 
|-------- Dr. Christian Siefkes --------- christian at siefkes.net ---------
|   Homepage: http://www.siefkes.net/   |   Blog: http://www.keimform.de/
|   Better Bayesian Analysis:           |   Peer Production Everywhere:
|   http://bart-project.com/            |   http://peerconomy.org/wiki/
|------------------------------------------ OpenPGP Key ID: 0x346452D8 --
More harm has been done by people panicked over societal decline than
societal decline ever did.
        -- xkcd

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