Panarchy 101: A Syllabus
This page will undoubtedly change over time, but for now it is a first attempt at a “syllabus” of sorts for teaching about panarchy, i.e. a complex systems understanding of our collective future, maker culture, and distributed & cooperative “peer-to-peer” society.
Key Material
If you read nothing else, read these:
- “The Moment of Complexity: Emerging Network Culture”, by Mark Taylor (http://www.amazon.com/Moment-Complexity-Emerging-Network-Culture/dp/0226791181)
- “Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire”, by Hardt and Negri (http://www.amazon.com/Multitude-War-Democracy-Age-Empire/dp/0143035592/ref=sr_1_1)
- “Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution”, by Howard Rheingold (http://www.amazon.com/Smart-Mobs-Next-Social-Revolution/dp/0738208612/ref=sr_1_1)
- “Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age”, by Duncan Watts (http://www.amazon.com/Six-Degrees-Science-Connected-Age/dp/0393325423/ref=sr_1_1)
- “Harnessing Complexity”, by Robert Axelrod and Michael Cohen (http://www.amazon.com/Harnessing-Complexity-Robert-Axelrod/dp/0465005500/ref=sr_1_1)
- “Blueprint for P2P Society: The Partner State & Ethical Economy”, by Michel Bauwens (http://www.shareable.net/blog/blueprint-for-p2p-society-the-partner-state-ethical-economy)
Key Material Explained
What follows next is a brief explanation of why each text listed above was chosen. (You can skip to the next section if you just want the lists).
- “The Moment of Complexity: Emerging Network Culture”, by Mark Taylor
Art, Architecture, Culture. Taylor shows many connections including why “complexity” is a long-awaited step beyond “post-modernism”.
“[What postmodernists] cannot imagine is a nontotalizing system or structure that nonetheless acts as a whole.”
(posted on Incites: http://medium.com/incites/what-postmodernists-cannot-imagine-is-a-nontotalizing-system-or-structure-that-nonetheless-acts-b506051aa84b)
- “Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire”, by Hardt and Negri
Shows the new polity: the Multitude. A non-hierarchical non-“mass”.
“Network organization, by contrast, is based on the continuing plurality of its elements and its networks of communication in such a way that reduction to a centralized and unified command structure is impossible. The polycentric form of the guerrilla model thus evolves into a network form in which there is no center, only an irreducible plurality of nodes in communication with each other.”
(posted on Incites: http://medium.com/incites/network-organization-by-contrast-is-based-on-the-continuing-plurality-of-its-elements-and-its-7c4f2c876231)
- “Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution”, by Howard Rheingold
Technologies of cooperation allow for social organization and movement that is 1) faster, and 2) mobile.
- “Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age”, by Duncan Watts
Shows in detail how we are all connected: both what it means, and ways in which we can understand our networks.
“When it comes to epidemics of disease, financial crises, political revolutions, social movements, and dangerous ideas, we are all connected by short chains of influence. It doesn’t matter if you know about them, and it doesn’t matter if you care, they will have their effect anyway. To misunderstand this is to misunderstand the first great lesson of the connected age: we may all have our own burdens, but like it or not, we must bear each other’s burdens as well.”
(posted on Incites: http://medium.com/incites/when-it-comes-to-epidemics-of-disease-financial-crises-political-revolutions-social-movements-bb6a62ea2c7e)
- “Harnessing Complexity”, by Robert Axelrod and Michael Cohen
Still the best book about utilizing complex systems in your own field.
- “Blueprint for P2P Society: The Partner State & Ethical Economy”, by Michel Bauwens (http://www.shareable.net/blog/blueprint-for-p2p-society-the-partner-state-ethical-economy)
A crucial piece that outlines a realistic vision of a peer-to-peer future.
Additional Material
- Governing the Commons, by Elinor Ostrom, Chapter 2
- Michel Bauwens
- etc.
Videos
- Understand the Blockchain in Two Minutes (from The Institute for the Future) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r43LhSUUGTQ
- etc.
Authors
- Stuart Kaufmann
- etc.
