Michel Bauwens
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Michel Bauwens | |
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Michel Bauwens in 2013 | |
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Occupation | Activist, Director and Founder of the P2P Foundation |
Website | http://p2pfoundation.net |
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Michel Bauwens (born 21 March 1958) is a Belgian theorist in the emerging field of peer-to-peer (P2P) collaboration, writer, and conference speaker on the subject of technology, culture and business innovation. Bauwens founded the P2P Foundation, a global organization of researchers working in open collaboration in the exploration of peer production, governance, and property.[1] He has authored a number of essays, including his thesis The Political Economy of Peer Production.[2]
Biography[]
Bauwens regularly lectures internationally on P2P theory, the resource commons and their potential for social change, taking a materialistic-conceptual approach.[citation needed]
In the first semester of 2014 Bauwens was research director with the FLOK Society (Free Libre Open Knowledge) at the National Institute of Advanced Studies of Ecuador (IAEN).[3] The FLOK Society developed a first of its kind Commons Transition Plan for the Ecuadorian government. Over fifteen policy papers the plan outlines policy proposals for transitioning Ecuador to what is described as a social knowledge economy based on the creation and support of open knowledge commons. One version of the plan is available online.
He currently lives in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
P2P theory[]
In The Political Economy of Peer Production Bauwens regards P2P phenomena as an emerging alternative to capitalism, although he argues that "peer production is highly dependent on the market for peer production produces use-value [sic?] through mostly immaterial production, without directly providing an income for its producers."[2][clarification needed] However, Bauwens goes on to argue that the interdependence is mutual: the capitalist system and market economies are also dependent on P2P production, particularly on distributed networks of information processing and production. Consequently, P2P economy may be seen as extending or already existing outside the sphere of free/open source software production and other non-rival immaterial goods.
This idea is explored also in the essay Peer to Peer and Human Evolution that expands the P2P meme beyond computer technology. It argues that egalitarian networking is a new form of relationship that is emerging throughout society, and profoundly transforming the way in which society and human civilization is organised.[4] The essay argues that new forms of non-representational politics are a crucial ingredient in finding the solutions to current global challenges; as well as a new and progressive ethos representing the highest aspirations of the new generations.
Honors and awards[]
- 2012 - Bauwen was nominated and included on the Post Growth Institute Enrich List – a parody of the Forbes List of Billionaires that aims to highlight influential post-growth thinkers "whose collective contributions enrich paths to sustainable futures".[5]
Controversy[]
As a principal moderator of the P2P Forum, Bauwens has taken a strong stand against identity politics as antithetical to egalitarian participation within a forward-looking post-racial community. Social justice movements in wealthy Western economies often depict post-racialism as a manifestation of white privilege. In March 2021, numerous former participants within the P2P Forum formally dissociated themselves in opposition to Bauwens' explicit anti-woke perspective.[6]
Works[]
Bauwens has written for Open Democracy[7] and Al Jazeera[8] and has been mentioned by the New York Times,[9] De Morgen,[10] and Living Green Magazine.[11]
Books[]
- 2013, "De wereld redden Met peer-to-peer naar een postkapitalistische samenleving", by Michel Bauwens and Jean Lievens, Houtekiet , ISBN 9789089242549
- 2014, "Network Society and Future Scenarios for a Collaborative Economy", by and Michel Bauwens, Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 9781137415066
- 2015, "Sauver le monde, Vers une société post-capitaliste avec le peer-to-peer", by Michel Bauwens and Jean Lievens, Les liens qui libèrent preface by Bernard Stiegler (at editionslesliensquiliberent), ISBN 979-10-209-0183-5
Essays[]
- Peer-to-Peer Relationality by Michel Bauwens, 4 March 2012, published on blog.p2pfoundation.net
- 2014, "From the Communism of Capital to Capital for the Commons: Towards an Open Co-operativism", Bauwens, Michel and , Triple-C: Communication, Capitalism & Critique, 12(1)
Reports[]
- A Synthetic Overview of the Collaborative Economy. By Michel Bauwens, Nicolas Mendoza and Franco Iacomella, et al. Orange Labs and P2P Foundation, 2012.[12]
Documentaries[]
- With Frank Theys, Bauwens is the co-creator of the 2006 documentary TechnoCalyps, an examination of transhumanism and the 'metaphysics of technology'.[13]
Speeches[]
- In September 2014 he gave a keynote at the Degrowth Conferences in Leipzig, Germany on "The Transition to a Sustainable Commons Society in Ecuador and beyond".[14]
See also[]
- Adhocracy
- Commons-based peer production
- Daemon & Freedom™, a novel series
- Digital revolution
- Distributed economy
- Knowledge commons
- Network economy
- Open design
- Open Source Ecology
- Open source hardware
- Open-source movement
- P2P economic system
- Post-scarcity economy
- Sharing economy
References[]
- ^ "P2P Foundation:About". p2pfoundation.net.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Michel Bauwens (2005-01-12). "The Political Economy of Peer Production". Ctheory.
- ^ "Michel Bauwens colabora con el IAEN en proyecto estratégico" (in Spanish). Instituto de Altos Estudios Nacionales. 19 September 2013. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013.
- ^ Michel Bauwens (2005-06-15). "Peer to Peer and Human Evolution" (PDF). Institute of Network Cultures.
- ^ "Michel Bauwens". The (En)Rich List.
- ^ Baranoff, Zvi (March 2021). "Letter of Dissociation". p2p-left.gitlab.io. P2P Left. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
- ^ "Michel Bauwens". openDemocracy.
- ^ Michel Bauwens. "A German Pirate Party could bring a European coalition". aljazeera.com.
- ^ Gene Marks, This Week In Small Business: The Employer Mandate, New York Times, (July 8, 2013).
- ^ Dirk Holemans. "Opinie: Scheer deelinitiatieven als Autopia en Uber niet over dezelfde kam - Opinie - De Morgen". De Morgen.
- ^ "What Burning Man Can Teach Us About Living in Community". Living Green Magazine.
- ^ "When the economy becomes collaborative". orange.com. Archived from the original on 2012-10-04.
- ^ TechnoCalyps, Documentary by Frank Theys
- ^ "The Transition to a Sustainable Commons Society in Ecuador and beyond - Events - Degrowth 2014". degrowth.org.
External links[]
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Wikiquote has quotations related to: Michel Bauwens |
- The Foundation for P2P Alternatives (official site)
- P2P: A blueprint for the future? - Interview by Richard Poynder,3 September 2006, published on poynder.blogspot.com
- Interview with Michel Bauwens - Interview by Prodromos Tsiavos, University of Oslo, spring 2008 (video, 30 min)
- De meest inspirerende belg - "The most inspiring Belgian", Interview, published by één, Café Corsari, 16 October 2013, in Belgian (video, 10 min)
- 1958 births
- Living people
- Integral thought
- Belgian activists
- Belgian political writers
- Intellectual property activism
- Belgian male writers
- 21st-century Belgian writers