p2p Economics

In April 2015 I was asked by Christine Koehler to write an article on value. She contacted me because she come across my work on open value networks, about a new organizational model that may be well-adapted to support large scale peer production of material goods. I accepted the challenge as an exercise to formalize the tacit knowledge that I have accumulated since 2008, when I became interested in the relation between the new digital technology and the shift of power structures in our modern society. The result of this effort was the essay Scale of social structures. I advise the reader not to consider this as a theoretical essay. It is only my effort to bring to my own consciousness the tacit knowledge that I am using in my efforts to help the development of Sensorica.co and its open value network model. As I get better at surfacing and formalizing these ideas, I also invite the reader to understand the heuristics behind my work. I let the reader place a judgment on the success of my work, which will make these heuristics and models that I am trying to expose here more or less interesting.

Another practical work related to p2p economics is the Collaborative Entrepreneurship program (posted on the Sensorica website) that I am writing with the help of entrepreneurs and other p2p economics specialists.


Other sections

NOTE: This is part of a larger oeuvre that I now call Economic action.

Acknowledgment

For inspiration

I draw my knowledge about this subject from my activities in Sensorica, collaborating with a large network of passionate individuals working on the open value network model.

I extend my thanks to:

  • Arthur Brock for having inspired me with his work on currencies and current-sees.

  • Kurt Laitner for his ideas on value, contribution accounting systems, metrics for evaluation, benefit redistribution algorithms.

  • Bob and Lynn for putting ideas for network resource resource planning into code.

  • Michel Bauwens for his sustained attention and public appreciation of our work on open value networks, for maintaining a knowledge base of p2p theory and practices, and for his role as connector within the p2p community.

For feedback

  • Radu Seserman: spelling, new ideas, constructive criticism

  • Bayle Shanks: spelling, grammar, style.