Nathan Schneider Profile picture
Prfsr: @cumediastudies @MEDLabBoulder / Athr: #Coops #Occupy #God / Orgnzr: @exittocommunity @metagov_project @start_coop @wagingnv @zebras_unite
Aug 1, 2023 14 tweets 3 min read
Hey, people still in crypto!

This is a thread on what it might look like to create a healthy, grown-up parallel economy, a viable alternative to the state and banks. Because so far, it's not happening. (I am not a Ron Paul libertarian, as you will see.) The basic problem: Stuff fell apart, and people got hurt. But the crypto ecosystem didn't take responsibility. Instead, it turned to gov'ts to clean up the mess and prosecute perps, while also demanding friendly regs. Good luck w/ that!
Dec 21, 2021 7 tweets 4 min read
Okay, coming out party: I think those of us interested in justice and democracy need to get out of the Web3 talk.

We really should be talking about the DWEB.

This is the work of the commons, not VCs. It is about principles, not mere addition: getdweb.net/principles/ Web3 points back to "Web 2.0," a VC-fueled rebranding of the open Internet into a business model for corporate data harvesting: thebaffler.com/salvos/the-mem…

DWeb comes from the work of the @internetarchive and friends, people committed to nonprofit infrastructure for the common good.
Apr 1, 2021 16 tweets 3 min read
I wonder if the anxiety over "cancel culture" stems more from changes in the supply side of the attention economy than the demand side, where the blame usually goes.

Let me break that block of text down a bit. When people complain about "cancel culture" (hereafter CC), it tends to be a complaint about the "mob," about the sheeple who turn on a dime and drop their celebs for the merest infraction against whatever is "woke" or "politically correct" (or simply the values they cherish).
Dec 6, 2020 11 tweets 4 min read
Airbnb has just announced that it is setting up:

* an advisory board of host-users to the execs
* an endowment of company stock for host-user advised distribution

bloomberg.com/news/articles/… h/t @MannanMorshed

There are some things to say about this. Small but significant. This is the closest thing so far from a unicorn company to the model of what I've called "user trusts": mediarxiv.org/sytdv

And ultimately a baby step toward #ExitToCommunity: noemamag.com/exit-to-commun…
Feb 23, 2020 30 tweets 12 min read
It's hard to convey the stakes and satisfaction of the Bernie-Bloomberg matchup for people who were involved in @OccupyWallStNYC. The more I keep seeing old #Occupy friends campaigning, the more I want to start a [thread]. @OccupyWallStNYC For what it's worth, I once wrote a book about Occupy, and it's at lots of libraries if you want to get caught up on what happened now (phew) almost a decade ago: nathanschneider.info/books/thank-yo…
Mar 8, 2019 9 tweets 3 min read
The @P2P_Foundation (@mbauwens and collaborators) are producing a super important report on how better accounting can help save the world. I just finished the draft. All of it. I couldn't stop. wiki.p2pfoundation.net/P2P_Accounting… @P2P_Foundation @mbauwens For one thing it was a reminder of how much I've depended on P2PF's work over the years. Such an important synthesizing role.
Nov 26, 2018 8 tweets 8 min read
The John Mackey (@WholeFoods) interview on @HowIBuiltThis rehearses my critique of US @foodcoops in #EverythingForEveryone: by refusing to manage their own compromises, they conceded the market they created to the capitalists. @WholeFoods @HowIBuiltThis @foodcoops Mackey wanted to create a market where ppl could do all their shopping, even if it meant carrying some non-pure stuff. Meanwhile, too many food co-ops kept to purity while members had to go to Walmart for essentials.