(Day 1 is here: IndieWebCamp Berlin 2017: Day 1, and Joshi has posted some photos from the weekend here)

So Day 2 was hack day, where each person worked on a problem that tickled their fancy.  At the start of the day we did a brief go-round, with everyone giving a short outline of what they planned to work on.  A good idea to do this, in case there was any overlap or someone willing to help with a particular problem.

After that, we got cracking (well, hacking.)

Hack hack hacking along – photo by tollwerk, click image for original

Continue reading “IndieWebCamp Berlin: Day 2”

I attended my first IndieWebCamp last weekend, in Berlin.  It was a brilliant experience – great city, great venue, great organisation, and great people.

In brief, the indieweb movement is about reclaiming your identity and your data back from the corporatised web.  It advocates having your own website, where you blog, microblog, post images, add check-ins, etc – and crucially, interact with others – all the things you might currently do across multiple silo’ed platforms owned by the big digital corporations, but here originating from a site under your own control.

Continue reading “IndieWebCamp Berlin 2017: Day 1”

We went to see a matinee showing of Bertold Brecht’s ‘Life of Galileo’ at the Young Vic.  In summary – it is absolutely fantastic, and highly recommended.

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The play tells the story of Galileo as he faces opprobrium from the church, for his inconveniently heretical observation that the Earth is not in fact the centre of the universe.

It’s a story of science vs religion, change vs status quo, goals vs family, poor vs wealthy, truth vs dogma.

We see Galileo doggedly pursue his arguments in the face of adversity.  By no means a perfect man, he neverless has great strength and courage of conviction in the importance of observational truth over blind faith.  This brings him under the harsh glare of the Catholic church, whom are served very well by the current
view of the world and do not appreciate his attempts at change.

For me personally, the relevance of the themes to the modern day were more political than scientific. With minor fluctuations, science is no longer frowned upon, and it is religion that must keep apace with progress. Galileo’s story of fighting against an entrenched system felt allegorical to the modern day struggles in pursuing an alternative to capitalism and neoliberalism. With the current system so much of a mass hallucination that “it’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism“, and with mighty vested interests wanting to keep it that way, there are many parallels to the 17th century’s cabal of high priests insisting (with pointed implements) that it is the Sun that moves around the Earth, and that’s just the way it is.

The church does control with some strong-arming, but also, and more cleverly, utilises a stronger and more insidiuous tactic – that of indulging a certain safe level of tinkering around the edges of the system.  Just as neoliberalism allows containable protests and manageable dissent, the church allows the illusion of science, just so long as it doesn’t place itself before the dominance of God.  Galileo plays the system and sows the seeds to bring, if not revolution, at least change.  But this is not without inviting tragedy to himself and those around him, and ultimately, arguably, not directing the matters that are most important – like the oppression of the people.

Overall the play speaks to the importance of doing that which seems demonstrably right, and suffering the consequences as best you can, even if revolution may appear a long way away.

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Despite the presence of these weighty themes, the play stays light, entertaining, and thoroughly engaging, with many a laugh out loud moment. The acting and staging are both superb. The play is not only in the round, affording every punter an equal view, but some seats are also in the play, adding to the fun and immersion. Brendan Sewell gives a real powerhouse performance, full of energy and gravitas and also wit, with all of the cast superb. Throw in beautiful lighting, puppetry and a planetarium style projection of the heavens, and you stay enraptured for the almost 3 hour long performance.

the ‘increasing role of financial motives, financial markets, financial actors and financial institutions in the operation of the domestic and international economies’

http://www.ippr.org/publications/definancialisation-a-democratic-reformation-of-finance

“One of the most worrying long-term consequences of financialisation is the reduction in the capacity of democratic states to meet the demands of their citizens over the demands imposed on them by financial and corporate institutions, institutions which are increasingly free from the responsibilities that were imposed upon them by confident social democracies in the middle of the last century.”

http://www.ippr.org/publications/definancialisation-a-democratic-reformation-of-finance

 

 

Inventing the Future is a political book that provides a great breakdown of why neoliberalism succeeded, and why the left has failed so far to reclaim any ground back.  It offers insights into how we might reclaim modernity and invent the future.

Despite its political density I found ItF to be thoroughly readable.  It’s also an exciting and motivating read.  On the left, you might feel a bit downtrodden of late, and lamenting why the world the way it is.  The ItF analysis of this is that the hegemony of neoliberalism was very cleverly instituted over several decades, weedling its premises into the background consciousness through thinktanks, placements in political institutions, etc, such that when the Keynesian economic era began to flounder in the 1970s, it simply seemed like there was only one answer to the question of what to do next – neoliberalism.

Where the left has failed in recent history is to do the same.  Despite chronic recessions since the turn of the century, highlighting the paucity of neoliberalism as a valid system, the left simply hasn’t been in a position to offer an alternative.  We should have been building up a body of evidence and opinion and mindshare over the last decades, such that our most progressive ideas were already pitched as the only alternative.

Srnicek and Williams make some bold demands in the book (and have elsewhere indicated that these are deliberately provocative, and perhaps not ever entirely attainable.)  These are: full automation; reduction of the working week; and a universal basic income.  Concomitant to that is a general diminishment of work ethic.