Michel Bauwens

We recently published a comprehensive collection of free online courses: http://www.guidetoonlineschools.com/online-.... It includes thousands of links to courses in subjects ranging from architecture to chemistry to women’s studies and these courses are prepared by top institutions such as MIT, Yale University and University of California. - Michel Bauwens

Should we move away from the current monetary-based system? - Michel Bauwens

Common good banks will be the cornerposts of a new economic system -- a democratic, community-based system that can support and empower ordinary people everywhere to put an end to war, poverty, hunger, unemployment and global warming, before it is too late. - Michel Bauwens

who should best control new energy systems, a special issue of the Innovations says a "new institutional structure" is needed if emerging solutions are to be deployed effectively. Nobel laureate Thomas Schelling, joint editor of the special issue, proposes the equivalent of a Marshall Plan for energy to coordinate assistance from advanced industrialized countries to developing countries. Another contributor, Bill Drayton, founder of Ashoka and of Get America Working, writes that "it makes no sense to subsidize the use of machines by keeping energy prices low while penalizing the use of labor through payroll taxes". He urges structural changes in the economy "to favour people, not things". - Michel Bauwens

Is the profit-driven society ideal, or should we should we move away from it? - Michel Bauwens

The Venus Project presents a bold, new direction for humanity that entails nothing less than the total redesign of our culture. There are many people today who are concerned with the serious problems that face our modern society: unemployment, violent crime, replacement of humans by technology, over-population and a decline in the Earth's ecosystems. As you will see, The Venus Project is dedicated to confronting all of these problems by actively engaging in the research, development, and application of workable solutions. Through the use of innovative approaches to social awareness, educational incentives, and the consistent application of the best that science and technology can offer directly to the social system, The Venus Project offers a comprehensive plan for social reclamation in which human beings, technology, and nature will be able to coexist in a long-term, sustainable state of dynamic equilibrium. - Michel Bauwens

So if we have a plentiful, universal source of energy – why aren't we totally solar powered?" Writing in Material Connexion's newsletter, van der Zouwen says one explanation is "our, to-date, clumsy and inefficient (compared to nature at least) methods for harnessing that power". Solar cells have taken many years to improve their efficiency range from a mere six per cent in 1954 to 30 per cent by 2007. The article goes on to describe innovations in the shape of new materials and device structures that are "putting the means for energy generation in the hands of consumers rather than 'big energy'". - Michel Bauwens

Security firm Tiversa Inc. has provided the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee with more reasons to ban the use of peer-to-peer networks in government -- it recently accessed some 200 sensitive military documents via P2P technology. - Michel Bauwens

Much has been made of a so-called “Republican Comeback” by rightwing pundits and the mainstream media. If they are to be believed, Obama’s overly liberal policies have been rejected by the independent (i.e., suburban and ex-urban white) voters who were responsible for his victory in the first place. This analysis is blatantly false. - Michel Bauwens

We hear over and over again the idea that our online experiences are impersonal, disembodied experiences, and that therefore a full education, which necessarily involves bodily experiences, is impossible online. It is impossible because we are in an important sense detached from the physical world, and therefore unable to distinguish between the significant and the trivial, because there is no causal connection between ourselves and cyberspace, no consequences to our actions. This view of learning and living online not only misrepresents cyberspace, it also misrepresents how we experience and how we learn generally. - Michel Bauwens

There is a new wave of young people drawn to basic human skills of growing one’s own food, building one’s own home, and creating face-to-face communities. I am thrilled to see it. It’s happening all over. - Michel Bauwens

A story is being circulated to explain Obama’s political difficulties, especially the losses in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York. According to this story, Obama ran an idealistic campaign, but then encountered the practical difficulties of governing, thereby disillusioning many “independents,” and leaving the way open for the Republican scoundrels to attack him. Like most political spins, this one implicitly portrays “idealists” as naïve, unpractical, and irrelevant. It’s important, therefore, to have a counter-narrative, especially since it also has the merit of being true. - Michel Bauwens

We find that the extent of social isolation has hardly changed since 1985, contrary to concerns that the prevalence of severe isolation has tripled since then,” Pew researchers report. The survey, released yesterday, also found that the overall diversity of the average person’s social network — including close family and friends as well as acquaintances — is greater through usage of social networks such as Facebook: “For instance, frequent Internet users and those who maintain a blog are much more likely to confide in someone who is of another race.” - Michel Bauwens

A number of articles have surveyed the use of Gardner's ideas and conclude that there is no evidence that his ideas work in practice. Steven A. Stahl found that most of the previous studies which claimed to show positive results had major flaws - Michel Bauwens

thesis - Michel Bauwens

profile of noreena hertz and her work on ethical capitalism - Michel Bauwens

"Toward a Civilization of Collective Intelligence" identifies the most important changes that have happened in our society. The slides introduce the necessity of a new language that can set a link between the machine process of cyberspace and the human collective intelligence, which is dynamic, in constant change and made in different languages, from different approaches. We need a language that represent the essence of Collective Intelligence as a Virtual World, understanding this term not only as a space where we can interact as avatars but as a global space that is formed by the human actions, their objects and interaction." - Michel Bauwens

A wise approach to copyright revision might inspire us to rethink the model. If both creators and readers are ill-served by distributor-centric copyright, and if the economics of digital distribution now makes it possible to engage in mass dissemination without significant capital investment, perhaps it is time to reallocate the benefits of the copyright system. The consolidation of control in distributors' hands does not appear to have made life easier or more remunerative for creators. Copyright lobbyists have not shown that recent enhancements to copyright have made it easier or more rewarding for readers, listeners and viewers to enjoy copyrighted works. Perhaps the classic picture of copyright is too far removed from its reality to be useful - Michel Bauwens

helping organizations avoid costly pitfalls, vague assumptions and lofty expectations of unsuccessful online collaboration strategies. - Michel Bauwens

RS Labs has created a technology it calls Behavioral Analytics. It uses cognitive reasoning, much like the human brain, to process visual data and to identify criminal and terroristic activities. Built on a framework of cognitive learning engines and computer vision, AISight, provides an automated and scalable surveillance solution that analyzes behavioral patterns, activities and scene content without the need for human training, setup, or programming. - Michel Bauwens

RS Labs has created a technology it calls Behavioral Analytics. It uses cognitive reasoning, much like the human brain, to process visual data and to identify criminal and terroristic activities. Built on a framework of cognitive learning engines and computer vision, AISight, provides an automated and scalable surveillance solution that analyzes behavioral patterns, activities and scene content without the need for human training, setup, or programming. - Michel Bauwens