michel on valley of commons ness
michel bauwens on valley of the commons ness
[note: same copied on michel on p4p ness page]
via tweet [https://x.com/mbauwens/status/2088985378308977129?s=20]:
On the occasion of the Valley of the Commons gathering, which is being preceded and prepared by the Crypto Commons Gathering, I have written this Substack article:
technocalyps ness et al
* Understanding the importance of the P4P moment in the long evolution of the commons.
https://4thgenerationcivilization.substack.com/p/understanding-the-importance-of-the
< “ First, in the Axial Age, we tried religion; then in the industrial age, we tried ideology, essentially socialism. But what now? Well, you know my (our?) answer here at the Crypto Commons Gathering, and later, at the Valley of the Commons: we construct the future, right here, right now, and instantiate the peer relations we wish for, right here, right now, person to person, community to community, the human with nature, and the human with the Divine Spirit (the latter only if you are so inclined). Three in one so to speak (cosmotheandry). We’re not waiting, neither for transcendent revelation, nor for immanent revolution, though some of us would welcome it (either/or). There is no time, literally and figuratively, to wait for. This is the time, which contains the past, the present, and the future. We are not anti-historical, not post-historical, but trans-historical. We are not modern, postmodern, nor even metamodern, but trans-modern. “ >
notes/quotes via substack linked:
Understanding the importance of the P4P moment in the long evolution of the commons. – A ‘Valley of the Commons’ special on the construction of the Archipelago of Regenerative Projects – april 16 2026 by michel bauwens
< “ First, in the Axial Age, we tried religion; then in the industrial age, we tried ideology, essentially socialism. *But what now? Well, you know my (our?) answer here at the Crypto Commons Gathering, and later, at the Valley of the Commons: we construct the future, right here, right now, and instantiate the peer relations we wish for, right here, right now, person to person, community to community, the human with nature, and the human with the Divine Spirit (the latter only if you are so inclined). Three in one so to speak (cosmotheandry). **We’re not waiting, neither for transcendent revelation, nor for immanent revolution, though some of us would welcome it (either/or). ***There is no time, literally and figuratively, to wait for. This is the time, which contains the past, the present, and the future. We are not anti-historical, not post-historical, but trans-historical. We are not modern, postmodern, nor even metamodern, but trans-modern. “ >
my answer would be: the thing we’ve not yet tried/seen: the unconditional part of left to own devices ness
[‘in an undisturbed ecosystem ..the individual left to its own devices.. serves the whole’ –dana meadows]
there’s a legit use of tech (nonjudgmental exponential labeling) to facil the seeming chaos of a global detox leap/dance
ie: whatever for a year.. a legit sabbatical ish transition
**that’s great.. but i can’t not.. from what i can’t unsee/unhear/unbe from on the ground ness ie: warning ness
***to me.. anything less is a cancerous distraction.. just perpetuating more survival triage.. ie: need all of us for the dance to dance.. for (blank)’s sake
- Michel Bauwens, at Valley of the Commons (Hirshwang, Austria)
Where are we now with the commons movement ?
First, let us remind ourselves of the very broad history of the commons,
- from the commons being the ‘background’ of social life in the participatory indigenous communities,
- to the significant place accorded to it in the premodern, pre-capitalist class-based societies, such as feudalism and imperial systems,
- to the systematic attempt to undo the existence of the commons under capitalism (the so-called Enclosures).
to me.. nothing to date.. and since that day.. has gotten to the root of problem.. to (to me) legit common\ing ness..
again..
findings from on the ground ness:
1\ undisturbed ecosystem (common\ing) can happen
2\ if we create a way to facil the seeming chaos of 8b legit free people
I’ve summarized this story a few times, here on the wiki for example.
But then came the internet, which, through the universalization of the Web, massively introduced shared digital commons, in the form of shared knowledge, free software, and open design. I consider October 1993, the day that the Web was made more user-friendly through the Mosaic browser, to be the pivot date which moved digital networking from a tool of the privileged corporate world and scientific elites, to the mass of the world population.
yes.. berners-lee everyone law et al.. but to me.. this hasn’t yet happened..
But it also accelerated human division and polarization
The history of the commons since then can therefore be understood as an attempt to answer a progressively deeper question:
How can a digital commons become a commons of material life?
we need a problem deep enough to resonate w/8b today.. via a mechanism simple enough to be accessible/usable to 8b today.. in an ecosystem open enough to set/keep 8b legit free
ie: org around a problem deep enough (aka: org around legit needs) to resonate w/8b today.. via a mechanism simple enough (aka: tech as it could be) to be accessible/usable to 8b today.. and an ecosystem open enough (aka: sans any form of m\a\p) to set/keep 8b legit free
for that.. there’s a legit use of tech (nonjudgmental exponential labeling) to facil the seeming chaos of a global detox leap/dance.. for (blank)’s sake..
ie: whatever for a year.. a legit sabbatical ish transition
otherwise we’ll keep perpetuating the same song.. the whac-a-mole-ing ness of sea world.. of not-us ness.. of part\ial ness.. perpetuating survival triage.. for (blank)’s sake..
so.. need 1st/most: means (nonjudgmental expo labeling) to undo hierarchical listening – so we can hear what’s already on each heart as global detox in order to org around legit needs
I will now describe that evolution as a movement through several stages:
- The stage of the digital commons and peer production
- A political-economic stage: from commons transition to cosmo-localism
- A regenerative stage involving bioregional, territorial regeneration
- A coordination-oriented stage, focusing on P4P federation, common infrastructure and bioregional and planetary coordination.
The important point is that these stages do not replace one another. They layer upon one another. The digital commons remains necessary, but it is increasingly becoming the nervous system of a much larger cyber-physical commons.
to me.. none of this is yet.. the root of problem
The ecological correction: cosmo-localism
michel on cosmo localism et al
The next breakthrough came from recognising that a purely digital theory of the commons was insufficient.
A planetary commons could be universal in its capacity to coordinate without being uniform in its institutions.
The missing scale: the bioregion
Yet cosmo-localism exposed another problem.
If we simply say “think local, share globally”, we have not solved the intermediate scale.
rather.. haven’t not gotten to root of problem.. to the missing pieces
This brings us to what I now think is the most important conceptual transition: from P2P to P4P. The P4P concept was formulated by my friend and associate Jeff Emmett.
My research investigates the intersection of mycelium and emancipatory technologies. I am interested in the potential of new convivial tooling as a medium for group consensus building and collective action, in order to empower communities of practice to address their own challenges.
My current focus is basic research into the nature of digital organisation, developing prototype toolkits to improve shared infrastructure, and applying this research to the design of new systems and protocols which support the self-organisation of knowledge and emergent response to local needs.
was on team human et al
and at valley of commons day 1 et al
P4P, meaning “Peer FOR Peer (collective) Infrastructure — peer-to-place, if you like, or more usefully the place-to-place/community-to-community networking paradigm— asks how autonomous regenerative communities can connect with one another.
The distinction is subtle but fundamental. A network merely says: We are connected. It can mobilize rapidly, but has no staying power, as we have for example seen through the Occupy and 15M mobilizations. They do not have the infrastructure to accrue capital and social power.
to me.. cancerous distractions
Benjamin Life, in his recent, The Infrastructure of Belonging, Life argues that our actual civic lives consist of overlapping, nested relationships — neighbourhoods, watersheds, ecological communities, energy cooperatives and other associations — that do not correspond to the rigid boundaries of conventional political geography. He proposes infrastructure that can allow these different communities to become legible and interoperable without requiring a central authority.
benjamin life et al
to me.. if legible.. already has some authority ness embedded..
brown belonging law.. jain naming the colour law.. de saint-exupéry essential law.. et al
and why we need tech w/o judgment for the dance to dance
The problem of coordination becomes the problem of the commons itself
coord is huge.. what we need tech for.. and what we keep missing.. how to coord legit ness
Michael Haupt makes a related observation from a somewhat *different intellectual direction.
*to me.. this is a huge red flag still not about legit ness.. ei: intellectness as cancerous distraction et al..
Following the TIMN model from David Ronfeldt, he describes the historical evolution of human coordination as moving through tribes, institutions, markets and networks, and argues that a fifth form — “Mycelial coordination” — may now be emerging: decentralised, bioregional, adaptive coordination organised around whole-system health rather than competition.
His most pointed formulation is:
“We have excellent nodes. We don’t yet have the mycelial network between them.”
That is perhaps the clearest description of the current predicament. The problem is the multitude of seed forms have largely remained isolated nodes. The next stage of the commons is therefore not necessarily to create more nodes. It is to create the mycelium between them.
to me.. either 1\ not the root of problem.. makes no diff what’s between/whatever.. if ‘data’ is non legit ie: whalespeak/whatever or 2\ mycelium between ness is legit free people.. talking legit self-talk as data via idiosyncratic jargon and we would need tech as it could be .. as nonjudgmental expo labeling.. either way.. but if nodes are people.. has to be all for the dance to dance.. nothing to date has been about all
But federation requires capital
This is where Will Ruddick’s Commitment Pooling becomes much more than an interesting complementary experiment.
yet.. still a cancerous distraction.. will on commitment pooling et al
Valley of the Commons: from projects to common infrastructure
This is why I think Valley of the Commons represents an important new phase. The Valley, which starts the week of August 23, in Hirshwang, Austria with our work on ‘civilizational transitions’ (in collaboration with Prof. Adam Arvidsson) is not simply another gathering of people interested in commons.
great.. but again.. if not sans any form of measuring, accounting, people telling other people what to do.. still a cancerous distraction
Its significance lies in the attempt to bring together place, production, regeneration, governance and finance.
ie’s of cancerous distraction s
It directly will tackle the question:
How do we create the shared infrastructure through which regenerative projects can become a coherent ecosystem?
what world need 1st/most: the energy of 8b alive people
humanity needs a leap.. to get back/to simultaneous spontaneity .. simultaneous fittingness.. everyone in sync.. the dance
We are no longer just ‘playing around’. For the techies, and the new age commoners, the message is: stop re-inventing the wheel by asking to be financed for software programs that already exist in dozens, and sometimes hundreds of iterations! Stop just dreaming the future in workshops and then remain passive. Align yourself, from now on, with actual regenerative projects, and help them interconnect, helping to create supportive common infrastructure. We need ‘barefoot coders’, truly at the service of actual regenerative capacity.
from on the ground ness.. to me.. if you still are talking any form of measuring, accounting, people telling other people what to do.. still a cancerous distraction .. still perpetuating the same song.. the whac-a-mole-ing ness of sea world.. of not-us ness.. of part\ial ness.. perpetuating survival triage.. for (blank)’s sake..
note: on survival ness: survival is a means to survive things as they are.. so to me.. not a legit alt.. it’s triage.. perpetuating survival triage.. so a temp band aide per se.. that will /can help now.. but only for short term.. because it still doesn’t get to the root of the problem.. so it won’t offer/lead-to legit change/life/freedom.. et al.. so.. to me.. it’s still a cancerous distraction to the dance
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be you. 