The case for despair is made. Now let’s start to get out of the mess we’re in. “to be truly radical is to make hope possible, rather than despair convincing” With one breath, the friends of power told us that global capitalism was a dynamic, disruptive force, the source of constant innovation and change. With […]
How Civic Technology Can Help Stop a Pandemic
Taiwan’s Initial Success Is a Model for the Rest of the World The guiding principle was not top-down control but mutual respect and cooperation. Privacy was carefully protected, and the movements of an individual were not visible to others. This approach supported an astonishing degree of social coordination, which reduced transmission. And despite being an […]
The horror films got it wrong. This virus has turned us into caring neighbours
Across the world, Covid-19 has triggered community action on a vast scale. It’s a powerful riposte to both government and private money There is no guarantee that this resurgence of collective action will survive the pandemic. We could revert to the isolation and passivity that both capitalism and statism have encouraged. But I don’t think […]
Saving the Internet—and all the commons it makes possible
This is the Ostrom Memorial Lecture I gave on 9 October of last year for the Ostrom Workshop at Indiana University. Here is the video. (The intro starts at 8 minutes in, and my part starts just after 11 minutes in.) I usually speak off the cuff, but this time I wrote it out, originally in outline form*, which is germane […]
