Composting the social mess to balance the change we need

In the online spaces I navigate, there’s no shortage of #fashernistas crowding the conversation, diverting focus from the native #openweb paths we urgently need to explore. They take up space and ultimately block more than they build. Then there’s the #geekproblem: while geeks get things done within narrow boundaries, they’re rigidly resistant to veering beyond…

Trump is more Italian #fascism than German fascism

A century ago, Mussolini’s rise in Italy laid the blueprint for fascism, exploiting fear and weaponizing power to obliterate political opposition. Fast-forward to today, and #Trump’s rhetoric and promises echo this history of mess and lies leading to war. In the closing stretch of 2024, Trump’s agenda to use military force against political adversaries mirrors…

People are talking about this subject

From an Oxford talk I attended recently https://hamishcampbell.com/blavatnik-book-talks-the-forever-crisis/ Governance both horizontal, federated and #FOSS native is a hot subject at the moment. It’s a good time for people to look at this project: The Open Governance Body (#OGB) project is an innovative approach for developing native #FOSS governance, grounded in years of on-the-ground organizing and…

Hope not hate, in tech

Reflecting on the last 40 years, it’s clear that the trajectory toward #climatechaos has been pushed by the entrenchment of corporate power and increasing capital-driven approach to global challenge. This era, the “neoliberal” era, normalized policies that favoured deregulation, privatization, and financialization. This shift didn’t just allow corporations to thrive; it redefined our social priorities,…

Blavatnik Book Talks: The Forever Crisis

This is my reaction from the talk, have not read the book. In The Forever Crisis, the author presents complex systems thinking as a framework for addressing the world’s intractable challenges, particularly at the level of global governance. The book critiques the traditional top-down approaches that are pushed by powerful institutions like the #UN, highlighting…

We need to compost the current culture of lying

“We don’t need to talk about the climate, we don’t need to talk about change. What we need to talk about is power and criminality and evil.” Lying as a tool for blocking change has become the pervasive issue, especially when people use it to protect the status quo and avoid facing uncomfortable truths. This…

A “liberal” path to mediate the growing #climatechaos mess

The idea of nationalizing the fossil fuel industry as a climate solution has had some attention in recent years, though it hasn’t yet broken into #mainstreaming policy discussions. Proponents argue that taking control of the industry allows for a managed, planned decline of fossil fuel production, aligned with climate goals and fair treatment for workers.…

Help trolls move out from under bridges to become part of a community

Feeding trolls is not helping anyone, yes, trolls are not all evil, though some are. Trolls are often insecure and inadequate, this can be from lack of respect, a lack of confidence, narrow imagination feeding dogmatic fixation on self vs other, this in the end becomes nasty, when attacking people is used to mask this.…

The victim card, always check who is playing this, you will likely find mess to compost

When people attack using identity, race, sex or victimhood as a tool rather than for dialogue, it reflects deeper social and personal dynamics, feelings of powerlessness, fear of disagreement, or frustration over statues. people resort to this approach to quickly assert moral authority and silence opposing views, assuming that others will concede rather than face…

The #geekproblem might kill meany of us, mediating it matters

#climatechaos, in twenty years, the global trajectory faces a grim reality, #geoengineering will have been attempted, driven by the need to stave off #climatecollapse while maintaining the capitalist path for the privileged. However, its effectiveness is questionable. Geoengineering operates on the linear logic of immediate technological fixes, while our climate’s complexity is non-linear and unpredictable.…

The Activist History of the Web: Lessons we can learn

Over the last few decades, the web’s evolution has been shaped by competing ideals. Early on, we witnessed the shift from the “better” #closedweb corporate controlled paths to an #openweb #DIY explosion—a time when collaborative, decentralized approaches thrived. #Mainstreaming efforts to recapture this #4opens spirit failed for years, but eventually, corporate-driven dotcons platforms captured the…