Category: Economics
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Will cooperation replace competition?
Enthusiasm has been growing in many places about new, more cooperative models for organizing society, replacing capitalism as we know it today. Advocates of these new models are convinced a broad transition to large-scale collaboration is “inevitable” and starting to happen. Those of us who have not drunk the cool-aid yet sympathize (everybody is cooperating…
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How complex systems fail, or the curious Brexit paralysis
After losing the Brexit vote, prime minister Cameron resigned. That sounds reasonable: he lost and so he resigned. But did you notice that nobody, absolutely nobody, wants to become the next prime minister? Not even senior politicians like Boris Johnson that campaigned in favor of Leave and wanted to be PM for a long time?…
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“World After Capital” Summary
When a Venture Capitalist writes a book “World after Capital“, it might be worth paying attention. If he happens to be a partner at Union Square Ventures in New York, you know it’s going to be good. Here are my notes about his draft book which is available for under a Creative Commons License in…
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The news is suddenly coming fast and furious
Many people have pointed out instabilities in the (financial) system and associated political and international arrangements. Since 2008, lots of money has been spent/printed, and lots of arrangements have been made to keep the system running, but it is doubtful that the instabilities have indeed been dramatically reduced system-wide. If they haven’t, how would we…
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A coffee-maker that refuses the “wrong” coffee?
Dan Gillmor writes about a Keurig coffee machine from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters that will simply not brew competitors’ coffee. Sorry, say what? The mind boggles. What’s next? Ford cars refusing to run on gas that isn’t Exxon? Microwaves refusing the heat up home-cooked food? Sidewalks refusing to let people jog on them who don’t…