Arnfinsen Interviews Mr. Future Himself: The Commoner Giant David Bollier

Listen to the interview:

- Episode 106: The commons as an approach to governance, sustainable resource management and social wellbeing

I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! Halleluja! When I sent J.A. Arnfinsen an exemplar of David Bollier's book "Think Like a Commoner" last month I knew he wouldn't be able to put it aside, although he said his schedule was full. Bollier's book is just too good! Mr. Arnfinsen told me so too, and a better recommendation than from this brilliant young man could not been given.

The Commons is the future! And as the commoner giant David Bollier is, we are here hearing the voice of the future of our civilization.

Please spread this interview wide and far! Let's save Norway and the world from the siamese troll named the market/state-duopoly! Let's regain control of our shared world and inheritage!

Norwegians: Let's give our country to the Commons!

Thank you James!!! I LOVE YOU!

I knew Bollier's book would make a huge impact on Arnfinsen. This book is a must read for everyone who care for our shared future. Buy the book here.

A life together with commoners

My experience is that to live as a commoner in the midst of liberalist individualists is suffocating. As a commoner you can only find satisfaction of life living in a strong commons. The problem is of course that in a country like Norway, this doesn't exist.

Personally I've come to the conclusion that what fits me best is to live in a nature community. For my wife a pocket neighborhood should definitely be the best thing.

For Norwegians, please read my essay about nature communities in KOTE Magazine here.

A commons can only be created by commoners, not by the market/state-duopoly.

Here we are at the core of the problem. As the market/state-duopoly hates the commons, this monster doesn't allow commoners to come together creating a commons. It does so by modernist regulation codes and market mechanisms.

To be honest, in Norway we only have one kind of troll, and this is named the market/state-duopoly. It's really disgusting, it makes me vomit every day, and I don't recommend you coming here for looking at it.

There are two words this troll fears more than anything else, that is ADAPTIVE MORPHOGENESIS.

• The Radical Technology of Christopher Alexander
• The Sustainable Technology of Christopher Alexander
• The Pattern Technology of Christopher Alexander
• The Living Technology of Christopher Alexander
• The “Wholeness-Generating” Technology of Christopher Alexander

Adaptive morphogenesis is organic, while the market/state-duopoly is a machine monster, and can only accept mechanistic processes.

Christopher Alexander is the architect of the commons. To create a commons you must follow his design principles.

Alexander tried to show that architecture connects people to their surroundings in an infinite number of ways, most of which are subconscious. For this reason, it was important to discover what works; what feels pleasant; what is psychologically nourishing; what attracts rather than repels. These solutions, found in much of vernacular architecture, were abstracted and synthesized into the "Pattern Language" about 20 years ago.

Unfortunately, although he did not say it then, it was obvious that contemporary architecture was pursuing design goals that are almost the opposite of what was discovered in the pattern language. For this reason, anyone could immediately see that Alexander's findings invalidated most of what practicing architects were doing at that time. The Pattern Language was identified as a serious threat to the architectural community. It was consequently suppressed. Attacking it in public would only give it more publicity, so it was carefully and off-handedly dismissed as irrelevant in architecture schools, professional conferences and publications.

Now, 20 years later, computer scientists have discovered that the connections underlying the Pattern Language are indeed universal, as Alexander had originally claimed. His work has achieved the highest esteem in computer science. Alexander himself has spent the last twenty years in providing scientific support for his findings, in a way that silences all criticism. He will publish this in the forthcoming four-volume work entitled "The Nature of Order". His new results draw support from complexity theory, fractals, neural networks, and many other disciplines on the cutting edge of science.

After the publication of this new work, our civilization has to seriously question why it has ignored the Pattern Language for so long, and to face the blame for the damage that it has done to our cities, neighborhoods, buildings, and psyche by doing so. - Nikos A. Salingaros

My own life is ruined. Maybe I'll experience living in a commons on the end of my days, but I don't expect so.

What keeps me alive is my mission, my oath to my daughters, the two battles I've promised to fight for them:

1) The Battle for the Life and Beauty of the Earth

2) The Battle for the Restoration and Reintroduction of the Commons in All Aspects of Human Life and Civilization

Please join me in these battles!

Related reading:

• Spesielle opplevelser gjør oss ensomme
• Gatekeeping
• Post-Capitalism, by Charles Eisenstein

Published at P2P-Foundation here.