this is where I’m coming from with #SocialTech for changing culture, we need to rescue the idea of change/innovation/evolution from capitalism and its bros and girl bosses. We need a working vision & definition of technology that centers long term societies oriented around life itself, not just short term profits for a few. this is def a note to self for my upcoming book lol https://fediscience.org/@steve/112486844345257840
Tech for good crew - check out the next Co-op Hackathon 8 & 9 May in Manchester. Ethical tech hacking at this free event from #CooperativesUK in collaboration with Manchester Metropolitan University Design Factory. Register with an idea, or bring skills to support https://www.uk.coop/hackathon
“An increasing number of people from all age brackets are leaving behind their lives in Japan’s cramped megacities in favor of growing their own food sources, combined with a vocation that reflects their own unique interests and talents. Known as “han-nō, han-X” (“half-agriculture, half-X”), the concept was coined during the mid-1990s by Naoki Shiomi…”
RIP Bob of Bob’s Red Mill who gave his company to his employees when he retired
“In 2010, for his 81st birthday, Moore turned over shares in the company — estimated in 2004 to have annual revenues of more than $24 million — to workers through an employee stock ownership plan.... Today, more than 700 employees own the company in non-trading retirement account shares.”
I want to feature this ownership transition in my #SocialTech project, just making a note of that! I’m sure many warned Bob that “it just isn’t done” but he did create a path and make the transition and the company is still grinding flour so it must have worked. Transforming an existing system into cooperative or worker-ownership is far easier than starting a whole new system — it’s all about that ownership pivot imo
Patriarchy, capitalism, and white supremacy require intergenerational wealth transfers stay in the family — changing that olde feudal pattern holds a lot of power and promise, and only requires the will and the blueprints #SocialTech
#SocialTech the US needs more of: borrow things from your neighbor! Save a car trip to the store, reinforce bonds of reciprocity you will need in emergencies, help people feel useful and needed
@seachanger Once upon a time there was a knock on the door. I opened it to find a neighbor wearing baggy shorts and striped leggings.
neightbor: Pardon me, would you possibly have a cup of soy milk to spare?
me: Sweetened or unsweetened?
Thus a friendship of 20+ years was born. She is still one of our (@Kleen & my) dearest friends. #SocialTech
@Judeet88 yes! I almost think the broad #SocialTech principal here is “let people help you!” It feels good to be of service and help someone out directly, I think we evolved a seratonin response to helping others for a reason
Sharing this thread to my own #SocialTech tag which you could follow and post to if this frame makes sense to you & feels generative
“social tech” is one of the tangible research paths emerging from my 2023 interest in focusing on utopianism or the idea that in a time of polycrises, we should still actively research and pursue our best and most beautiful possibilities for human beings and communities
I’m using #SocialTech as a conceptual frame because our culture loves to push capitalist tech as a panacea for the climate crisis. It absolutely is not.
While some tech can be helpful, without the right social tech, technological innovations can be harmful. Ultimately tech can’t save us, but I think shifting how we relate to one another is the only thing that can, and many of those necessary shifts may be more accessible than we realize. We can think of these shifts as social technologies.
This weekend I wrote about how people with eliminationist intention use bad-faith tactics to insert their supremacist assumptions into every point of discourse, and began a taxonomy of all the places we find bad faith, with ideas on how best to counter it.
..I have a looot of catching up to do before I can generate even the superficial resemblance of an intelligent question about your work here 😅
These tools are interesting to me both in of themselves and also with regards potential for crossover/compatibility with local level conflict resolution/community self-moderation happening on the #SocialTech tag
Excited to be working on the Co-op Hackathon in London, 19 & 20 October from #cooperativesuk. Join in!
“Collaborate with others to explore tech solutions that boost our co-operative movement. Got a great idea? Skills you can offer? Or are you just hack-curious? Get involved 👉 bit.ly/3OuzHA6”