Hamish Campbell an #openweb organic intellectual and technologist
Interesting to see this metaphor take off, though the #mainstreaming have a very ignorant narrow view of this limited to the #otcons only. Here I focus on, #Feudalism, in Free and Open Source Software (#FOSS) governance, is not inherently native to the path, but is often found due to structural and cultural factors inside the … Continue reading Feudalism, #FOSS native governance?
The current #dotcons economy is not neutral, it is designed to centralise control in the interest of the #nastyfew, platform owners, server landlords, data hoarders. These are the financial intermediaries who extract value without producing social good, this is not an accident or a side effect, it is the business model. We are told that … Continue reading Radical Reductions in Inequality
A DRAFT story about markets, misfits, and taking back the commons (Tagline: “They came for the avocados. They left with revolution.”) by Hamish Campbell OutlineTHE MARKET STIRS Setting the scene: It’s a Saturday in East London. The smell of jerk chicken, sourdough, and incense wafts over Chatsworth Road. A young stallholder, Luna (17), sells upcycled … Continue reading Chatsworth Rd: Stalls and Code
The Godfather films, aren’t only stories about criminals, they’re stories about the world we live in – hierarchy pretending to be community, patriarchy pretending to be protection, capitalism pretending to be freedom, politicians pretending to be legitimate, family pretending to be love. To put it simply it’s the #deathcult mythos in cinematic form. They’re parables … Continue reading The Power of Film
We are having a tech reboot for the last few years, federated seems to be where it’s at right now, and it makes sense, the #fediverse is flourishing where so many “#web3” or pure #p2p projects stumbled. This isn’t to say #p2p is bad. But for a peer-to-peer social network to actually work and be … Continue reading The Fediverse is native to the open web
With the tyranny of the structureless path, every attempt to share the commons decays into a fog of personalities, cliques, and unspoken power. What needs composting here is that, at best, you end up with a smiling violent man as the backstop of governance. Without mediating structures, what emerges is not freedom but hidden hierarchy. … Continue reading Commons and the metaphor of “grow a backbone”
We need to start saying this more often, and without apology: there is a moral difference between left and right. Not just a difference in opinion, or strategy, or culture, but a real difference in the kind of people and world each side fights for. Left-wing politics, reflects our better human instincts: generosity, compassion, mutual … Continue reading We Don’t Need More Liberal Techno-Utopianism
Capitalism’s invisible hand has always relied on hidden data. In the digital age, that data is metadata the overlooked, under-the-hood information that tells us who, where, when, how often, and what next. It doesn’t matter what you say or do if someone else controls the context around it. That’s where the power lies. Let’s be … Continue reading Metadata and the #OMN Path: Who Controls the Invisible Hand?
It’s important to be honest about the messy world we’re working in. Just about every so-called “alternative tech” or #opensocialweb event – especially those run under the #NGO banner – is riddled with institutional parasites. They talk a big game about ethics, governance, and decentralisation, but their main role is to capture energy, not release … Continue reading A call-out for collective tech with teeth
Dear Michiel, At this point, it’s hard not to notice a pattern. You’ve received clear, thoughtful proposals aligned with your calls – yet no real engagement, year after year. I’ve said this gently before: your call-out text needs to be composted. If you’re not funding alternative, open, activist infrastructure – just say that. Don’t lead … Continue reading Composting the reboot funding
🎧 Listen on CBC The #mainstreaming narrative around power tends to centre on institutions – on policy boards, corporate elitists, and those privileged enough to claw their way up the slippery sides of crumbling hierarchies. But that’s not where most of us live, and more importantly, it’s not where real change and challenge takes root. … Continue reading Review: Who Broke the Internet? – Podcast with Cory Doctorow
Let’s get the shit-shoveling out of the way first. People get twitchy about the word Communism, waving their arms about “utopian” back-to-the-land communes or religious cults that gave up on society and ran off into the woods, on one side and on the other expansionist empires. That’s not what we’re talking about. Those were retreats, … Continue reading If I were a Communist