Previously on the DisCO Elements... In the last chapter ( we argued that technology is never neutral, it serves the interests of those who finance it. This is clearly illustrated by the problematic features of blockchain-based Distributed Autonomous Organizations  (DAOs), which DisCOs were designed to address. How to Account for the Future of Work: Automation, Blockchain, and the Knowledge Economy ) The DisCO Lowdown DisCO stands for . This is an accessible approach to people working together to create value in ways that are cooperative, commons-oriented and rooted in feminist economics. These values are nourished in small, federated communities. , emphasizing mutual trust and the need to have not only reliable but also enjoyable collaborative relationships. Distributed Ledger/Blockchain technologies are only put to use when these values and their resulting human relationships have become strongly rooted. Distributed Cooperative Organisations [1] DisCOs harness the utility of tech without being completely tech-centric [2] co-produced with our friends at the T (TNI) for . The Manifesto is part one of the DisCO Trilogy. Trailer ransnational Institute If I Only Had a Heart: a DisCO Manifesto You’re currently a serialisation of part two: Groove is in the Heart: The DisCO Elements DisCOs are a cultural and structural framework that combines influences from other forms and movements into a practical toolkit. The framework is based on existing, disruptive economic alternatives normally absent from the blockchain space. They are: ‍ : Self-organized systems stewarding resources to meet human needs while leveraging the power of networks. ‍ : Combining Open Source and Commons principles with those of the cooperative and social solidarity movements. ‍ : Enables value sovereignty by rewarding meaningful contributions to projects, rather than wage labor. ‍ : Challenges normative economic abstractions while factoring reproductive and care work. • The Commons and P2P [3] • Open Cooperativism [4] • Open Value Accounting [5] • Feminist Economics [6] These influences, together with a strong focus on accessibility and social and economic justice, provide DisCOs with vastly different affordances to other available alternatives such as or DAOS (see ). Decentralized Autonomous Organisations last chapter Like a rehash of 90s Silicon Valley, DAO technology is often designed by white, western and, as explained before, tech-savvy “grand architects” attracting communities of investors eager to reap the economic benefits of technological disruption and value distribution. A new status-quo in accounting emerges: it shifts the legitimation of value away from corruptible institutions toward technological, cryptographically secured ledgers. The problem is that this status-quo often leaves based on self-interested accumulation wholly unchecked. [7] values In contrast, DisCOs design their accounting and governance structures as from the bottom up. These are developed through a process of community deliberation on how to best enact a series of co-operative values and principles. Shifting the design of technologies and their social impact away from grand architects and investors, DisCOs provide more democratic and ethical templates to build disruptive technologies actually focused on real disruption and social change. These, as , provide different pathways to enact more desirable futures of work which are neither dependent on un-checked technological disruption or on top-down governmental interventions. convivial tools we will see Here’s your short video primer on the DisCO Elements by DisCONAUT, motion designer, art director and illustrator Guilherme Maueler . The Covid-19 crisis has been a bucket of cold water for many economic forecasts about the future of work. The abject failure of neoliberalism to provide urgently needed solutions for the crisis has exposed the structural inadequacies of the Market/State and revealed the exponential rise of voluntary or otherwise typically undervalued work. Front-line workers and mutual aid practitioners are routinely hailed as heroes, yet economically sacrificed as martyrs. [8] Meanwhile, some of the world’s richest companies, often in the tech sector, enjoy . Many of these are willing partners in publicly-funded mass surveillance and citizen control programs. The surge of online remote work is treated as a disembodied extension of office work, bypassing the human affective needs of digital teams in the rush to demand more invisibilized productivity. The uselessness of alienating, unnecessary jobs that exacerbate consumption in the name of growth becomes crystal clear, yet stimulus packages are directed towards  propping up big business with corporate-level payouts, while artificial scarcity hampers urgent public health responses. unprecedented growth [9] Socio-economic instability can be a banquet for predators, especially when combined with promises of disruptive technology, but it also provides the opportunity for radical innovations and solutions based on human trust (not trustlessness). DisCOs can address the present Covid and looming future crises by creating bottom-up resilience and restoring our relationships - both to one another and the planet. [10] More importantly, this capacity to handle crises toward better futures is not dependent on profit-oriented market solutions or slow, ineffectual and community disenfranchised government programs. DisCOs bring the self determination of technological disruption and its affordances to the space where many are expected to spend a third of their life: the workplace. [11] Rather than outsourcing our futures to automated systems easily locked-in to a self defeating profit motive or limiting pro-market solutions, we envision a new social-ecologically oriented federated workforce that lends its productive energies and creativity, toward restorative ends. To answer the cliché question we posed : what is the future of work? To us, it’s We need to restore our relationships to our living planet and to each other. This is the work of our lifetimes, to carry forward in future generations. in the first chapter restoration. Next on the The DisCO Elements: The next chapter will summarize the main characteristics of DisCO organizations. Among other influences, The DisCO principles have been inspired by and the . In addition, DisCOs have that help develop a healthy and thriving group culture. (Principles and Values: DisCO 7-11) Ostrom’s eight principles of commons governance twelve Permaculture principles 11 key values About this article This article is the second chapter of which is currently being serialised on Hackernoon. The is by . for full image credits. DisCO stands for "Distributed Cooperative Organization" and it is a feminist, cooperative and commons-oriented alternative to the mainstream DAOspace. is a non-linear introduction to the "hows" of DisCO. to download the full PDF or EPub with extra content or visit for more resources. Groove is in the Heart: The DisCO Elements , featured image snippets101 Click here The DisCO Elements Click here DisCO.coop Footnotes Visit or read for a more thorough overview. DisCO.coop The DisCO Manifesto For an accessible yet thorough introduction to the Blockchain, we recommend , as well as Daniel Drescher’s excellent book, . this video course Blockchain Basics Read For more info. What are P2P and the Commons, and how do they relate? More information in . What is Open Cooperativism? More information in the P2P Foundation Wiki’s . entry on P2P Accounting For a layperson’s introduction to Feminist Economics, see the Women’s Budget Group’s . excellent resources The design of blockchain architectures strikes us as . Not very compatible with our feminist anticapitalist beliefs. Somebody call the totes Masonic/Golden Dawn fodder real Illuminat i! When the Economist that capitalism doesn’t work you know you’re onto something. For realsies and to quote: “Now it seems that this dominant economic paradigm has reached its limit. timidly begins to admit Tréguer, Félix. “ ” SciencesPo Center for International Studies. CERI Unité Mixte de Recherche, June 1, 2020. The State and Digital Surveillance in Times of the Covid-19 Pandemic. adds: “DisCOs born to address a social imperative using economic means, vs conventional organizations & DAOs are rooted to address an economic imperative using social means”. Jose Mari Luzarraga And to be clear, NOT Silicon-branded, shareholder profit maximization version of “disruption”, but the real deal - i.e., questioning existing power structures and injustices.

Distributed Tech, Commons, Coops and Feminist Economics: the DisCO Lowdown

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