michel on pop up villages
michel bauwens on (jon on) pop up villages
via tweet [https://x.com/mbauwens/status/1842341434005074018]:
So we have the ten+ pop-up villages converging and confederating in Chiang Mai, the global capital of digital nomads at the heart of a region with 3 billion people; then we have DevCon in Bangkok when it is all over. But, that is not the end:
* Nov 10th – Nov 30th 2024, ZuGarden
“a 3-week immersive Zuzalu-style pop-up village in Thailand by the creators of ZuBerlin. We are bridging the gap between focused in-depth research discussions (Ethereum, AI advancement, decentralized governance, public goods funding, etc.) and genuine human connection in a co-created community-atmosphere.”
from zugarden site:
ZuGarden
Immersive residency fusing cutting-edge tech with human connection
how we gather in a space is huge.. need to try spaces of permission where people have nothing to prove to facil curiosity over decision making.. because the finite set of choices of decision making is unmooring us.. keeping us from us.. ie: whatever for a year.. a legit sabbatical ish transition
there’s a legit use of tech (nonjudgmental expo labeling).. to facil the seeming chaos of a legit global detox leap.. the unconditional part of left-to-own-devices ness.. for (blank)’s sake.. and we’re missing it
ie: imagine if we listened to the itch-in-8b-souls 1st thing everyday & used that data to connect us (tech as it could be.. ai as augmenting interconnectedness)
_________
week or so later [https://x.com/mbauwens/status/1843914031779995726]:
If you are familiar with the various Web3 pop-up villages taking place this month in Chiang Mai, you will have noticed some are quite expensive and therefore mostly reserved for those that have been successful in the crypto economy. Other villages have a more egalitarian ethos, and Invisible Garden is one of them. It has 100 full scholarships for young developers for example.
I will be in the opening panel on the 13th with Vitalik Buterin, and others.
* Scholarships for 100 builders, already 34 awarded!
“Receive six weeks of free accommodation, co-working space, and advanced courses on Ethereum, ZKP, and more. Join our vibrant community, collaborate with top mentors, and participate in hands-on projects and hackathons. Apply now to become part of the next generation of Ethereum builders!”
________
few days later [https://x.com/mbauwens/status/1845726824690782541]:
Yesterday, I was happy to participate in a panel with @VitalikButerin, at the opening of one of the 10 popup villages in Chiang Mai: Invisible Garden.
In a way, it was a complementary view of peer to peer from the technological (Vitalik) vs the ‘social’ point of view (human relationships). My feeling was that it was very well received and especially the mention of the Sarafu experiment in Kenya got a lot of interest.
So here some extra info on this project:
Dave Darby of the Stroud Commons interviewed Shaila Agha and Will Ruddick, on the Sarafu currency system in Kenya:
“* What kind of traders are they?
Will Ruddick: Mostly food / agricultural produce. Food sellers and farmers.
And what’s your role there?
I’m the incoming director, dealing with business development and funding.
And how well is it doing – what does the future hold?
It’s growing fast. We’re developing new businesses, like pressing coconut oil. Also ‘syntropic farming’ (see poster below) – a system of farming that includes trees, vegetables and grasses, and a lot of mulching and a lot less water than traditional farming. The trees form a barrier – monkeys are a pest in Kenya. Then there are different rows with grasses and other plants. We provide training in mulching and water pans as well. Kenya is arid / semi-arid, so we need resilience against times of drought. So we train people in that. All these services are then paid for using Sarafu, and people accept the Sarafu because they know they’ll be able to buy produce with it.
Yes – Grassroots Economics isn’t just about mutual credit is it? It’s about starting community businesses, and especially agriculture – community farms.
Yes, it creates this circular economy. There’s poverty-induced hunger in Kenya during droughts. This doesn’t make sense, because we live in such a resource-rich country. There are so many unemployed youth too, but I feel like we’re addressing this, because people don’t have the money to buy what they need, so if we can provide this supplementary currency, then they’re able to get agricultural produce with it (which combats both unemployment and hunger).
What do you think the Sarafu Network could achieve in future?
In Kenya we’d love to scale nation-wide. One of the barriers is the expense of the Telcos – telecommunications. The network uses texting – and all texts are paid for by Grassroots Economics. That’s doable with 52k people, but what’s going to happen when it’s a million people? That will be too expensive. Also, government acceptability – wouldn’t it be great to pay for parking, or other government fees with it as well? At the moment, only people with money can access government services, whereas if they could use Sarafu, there’s a huge number of unbanked people who could participate in the economy.”
(https://lowimpact.org/posts/how-chamas-mutual-credit-changing-africa)
perhaps let’s try/code money (any form of measuring/accounting/people telling other people what to do) as the planned obsolescence.. where legit needs are met w/o money.. till people forget about measuring..ie: sabbatical ish transition
oikos (the economy our souls crave).. ‘i should say: the house shelters day-dreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace.’ – gaston bachelard, the poetics of space
and this [https://x.com/mbauwens/status/1845733901005992230]:
One of the more ambitious workshops at the Edge City pop-up village is the one organized by Primavera de Filippi and team, on ‘network nations’, taking 2 full weeks, which is a critical approach to the currently more popular ‘network states’ movement initiated by Balajii Srivanasan.
I participated in the previous iterations in Montenegro, Healdsburg, and am sure I missed some others. Just to say this is a serious ongoing effort.
In that context, let me introduce the lesser known concept of :
* Sphere Sovereignty:
https://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/Sphere_Sovereignty
“This concept, rooted in the work of Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper, posits that different social spheres (such as family, education, church, state, etc.) have their own areas of authority, and no single institution (including the state) should dominate all aspects of life. Each sphere is autonomous and operates according to its own principles and responsibilities, with the state only intervening to ensure justice within its public legal sphere. Sphere sovereignty rejects both statism and extreme individualism, emphasizing the distinct roles and limits of various societal institutions.”
and this [https://x.com/mbauwens/status/1845734437159678107]:
Another related topic is:
* Network Sovereignties,
network sovereignties et al
also called: Functional Sovereignty
https://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/Network_Sovereignties
“This concept reflects a new form of sovereignty, especially relevant in the digital age, where authority is based on functions rather than territorial control. Network sovereignties are created by non-state entities such as international organizations or digital platforms, focusing on governance functions rather than geographic boundaries. These sovereignties allow for new forms of voluntary, decentralized governance, particularly in digital or cyber-communities, where membership is based on shared values and purposes rather than physical location. These networks often rely on decentralized technologies and principles like transparency, inclusivity, and consensus-building.”
___________
another [https://x.com/mbauwens/status/1848578896217969054]:
* Understanding the ‘Chiang Mai Pivot’:
(Chiang Mai is not only situated in the very middle of 60% of the world population, right now, it is in the middle of ‘accelerated spiralling time’)
If you want to understand the magic of what is happening in Chiang Mai right now, the convergence of over a dozen pop-up villages representing the various subtribes of the ‘Web3’ or ‘Crypto’ movement, you have to understand the underlying political and sociological, if not spiritual hopes, that are driving this convergence.
Consider the following:
* many threads emerging around the world, cosmo-locally, each with their own particular characteristics
* all these branches enriching each other in super-accelerated learning environments
* in turn, these are supercharged when they are ‘back home’, which is ‘everywhere in the world’.
This is an ‘egregore’ or ‘scenius’ which is rarely seen in human history.
scenius – creative intell of community
And one of the best articles so far to understand this, is the wonderful cultural and political analysis of Luo P/Acc:
I cannot not strongly enough recommend it:
“With the wave of AI agents triggered by ChatGPT, the concept of “super-individuals” has become popular. This concept can be seen as an advanced version of “digital nomads” and “slash youth” in the realm of AI.
“Super-individuals” can be defined as individuals who are proficient in multiple professional skills, detached from traditional employment relationships in companies, and independently engage in commercial activities for monetization. These individuals mostly master cutting-edge technologies, with AI tools serving as advanced productivity, Web3 tools shaping advanced production relations, and streaming media or the Metaverse acting as production domains. Super-individuals who establish profitable business models are then regarded as “one-person companies.”
will end in same song.. ie: 10-day-care-center\ness
need to try a sabbatical ish transition – the most acceleration ness we can have.. not to mention.. all others are accell ing to same song
From freelancers, slash youth, digital nomads, to super-individuals, all these are enticing but flawed promises for workers, as neoliberalism continues to construct increasingly extreme narratives of individual success. Completely free-flowing labor forces no longer strive for collective public welfare and social security. Instead, they rely on individual talent to drive profits, which is most favorable for the labor market under neoliberalism.
These narratives absorb the legacy of the 1960s youth cultural revolution and the resentment towards contemporary white-collar workers. Indeed, the majority of white-collar workers cannot seamlessly transition into digital nomads or super-individuals, as it requires the courage to face risks and the ability to stand alone. Quitting a job to chill for a while until savings run out, then returning to the office, is akin to a condensed version of the hippie history of the 1960s.
Decades of neoliberalism have led to the shrinkage of public welfare, extreme compression of labor remuneration rates, and a reduction in industry positions with excess profits. Being anti-office drone, anti-serf, quitting a crappy job become the prevailing youth ideology. “Lying flat” is a significant rejection of the biopolitics of capitalism. When politics no longer offers public solutions, work fails to sustain a respectable living, and the core family unit struggles to adapt to rapidly changing youth cultures. Breaking away from traditional institutions such as the state, corporations, and family, forsaking negotiation needs, losing publicness completely, also signifies the potential for establishing another form of publicness.
true.. but only if we legit ‘break away’.. walkaway.. et al.. to/via a nother way
Digital Nomads — super individuals are keenly aware that neoliberal employment relationships constrain productivity and deplete vitality. Therefore, they cleanse themselves of the mundane and come ashore. Starting from Deleuze’s theory, digital nomads — super individuals are distinctly flag-bearers of de-territorialized individuals, seeking escape routes within outdated relationships, reassembling their own production relationships (web3) and production spaces (streaming media — remote work), utilizing the most advanced means of production (AI) to uncover creative potential.
what we need is ‘the most advanced means’ of connection.. aka: ai as augmenting interconnectedness
Excluding the entrepreneurial path of capital reproduction, can this de-territorializing force lead to platform cooperation or anti-capitalist technological politics? In other words, how is it possible to reverse engineer the “super individual”?
humanity needs a leap.. to get back/to simultaneous spontaneity .. simultaneous fittingness.. everyone in sync..
we need global detox leap for that
Assuming that technologically conscious super individuals, through web3/AI technologies, *hold exclusive data to avoid monopolization by tech giants and form entrepreneurial communities among diverse skilled super individuals, liberating creativity. By driving projects in a **platform-cooperative manner while simultaneously establishing ***democratic autonomous digital nomad community networks worldwide, expanding individual data sovereignty into ****collective data sovereignty, and *****promoting universal Basic Income (UBI). ******Is this a potential pathway for the future?”
*makes no diff if still using non legit data (ie: whalespeak).. need to try self-talk as data
**platform coop ness and any form of ***democratic admin.. still a cancerous distraction
****need ‘data’ sans any form of m\a\p
*****need to try/code money (any form of measuring/accounting/people telling other people what to do) as the planned obsolescence w/ubi as temp placebo.. where legit needs are met w/o money.. till people forget about measuring..ie: sabbatical ish transition
******yeah.. but a same song future
__________
___________
__________
_________
liminal village et al
_________
_________
________
________
_________
be you. 