Open Conversations: Redefining the Commons: Global Coordination, Local Impact (Michel Bauwens)

I think what is so interesting about the web3 space is its constructive approach so we live in a world which is kind of polarizing fragmenting you know getting in very wild and unstable territory where people have a hard time dialoguing with people they disagree with and so basically in web 3 we're building a decentralized infrastructure that will be useful for everyone independently of what you think so this this is not a safe space where you can't say anything it's a safe space where you can say everything my name is Michelle Bowens I'm Belgian I live in changai and I'm the founder of the peer-to-peer Foundation which is like an observatory of everything that is peer-to-peer it's where Satoshi Nakamoto actually publishes white paper and I'm also the first person to treat about Bitcoin if I'm dead maybe that will be remembered so in the late 90s I was working as a try director on internet issues for big Telco in I was increasingly unhappy about my work I thought like am I solving anything or am I making things worse and I thought what can I do that's more positive for the world so I took a two years sabatical to think about this and to read about historical Transitions and I came up with a conclusion that social change depends on basically on what I call seed forms so people stepping outside of the system to create something new I know about funding the commons which is course a very great initiative to bring together all the people people and knowledge involved in trying to find funding mechanisms for this work for the like let's say the commons of crypto and so I was aware of it but I I I never had a chance before today to actually come and so it's great that you came here to irrigate the local situation so yeah I really think it's an important project if you look at the history of civilization you know until let's say modernity people were religious we're kind of looking up at something outside of ourselves in the 16th century especially in Europe because we had these religious Civil Wars we started thinking that's not a good way to do it let's recognize that we're selfish beings be realistic about human nature but I think the problem is that that's the only thing we could see for a long time and so with the return of basically digital Commons so people share knowledge share codes share designs together on a global scale we are rediscovering that we can actually cooperate just as much as we can compete in a way I think the this crypto world has found a new balance between both like recognizing that people can be greedy that they look for Advantage but not leaving it there at the same time designing systems that also allow people to work together easily to be non-h hierarchical it's kind of like recognizing the Dual nature of humanity we can be angels and we can be demons so why not kind of try to somehow align these different motivations in kind of one integrative system I think that's what we're trying to do [Music]