The Cosmo-Local Revolution and the Internet 3.0

Thomas Steininger in dialogue with Michel Bauwens

The global financial industry and Big Data are working hard to overcome the dramatic civilizational and ecological crises that we witness today. They think that they can control the changes that are coming by developing new institutions that basically run on the old assumptions that created the problems in the first place.

Michel Bauwens is one of the most respected theorists in the emerging field of peer-to-peer (P2P) collaboration and a new economy of global commons. He has a different vision. He likens this critical moment of our history as similar to time when Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 15th century. It is a situation where new technologies can be used for different ends. Rather than being instruments of control in the hands of the few, they also can be used to create a future that cares for the planet, people and a democratic, open society.

He calls it the Cosmo-Local Revolution, a revolution where we focus our production again more  on our regions and our local environments but at the same time find new forms of global, decentralized forms of collaborations. This gives us the opportunity to work together beyond the logic of commodity and market.

In this week on Radio evolve, Dr. Thomas Steininger speaks with Michel Bauwens about the Cosmo-Local Revolution.