Topic: Learning

[ Episode #78 // Open Knowledge Society ]

With emerging and innovative methods for distributing information and the means of education, we're still embedded in the relationships created in the 20th century. Can our societies distribute knowledge to enable healthy forms of production and consumption as a template for a decentralized and equitable post-growth economy?

On Extraenvironmentalist #78 we discuss the FLOK Society Project with Michel Bauwens of the P2P FoundationJohn Restakis, author of Humanizing the Economy: Co-operatives in the Age of Capital. Michel and John talk about the concept of the partner state and the creation of a new knowledge commons as the basis of society. We talk about how Ecuador is seeking to transition to this decentralized economic model in preparation for the 21st century. Then, we jump back to the late 1950s to hear from Erich Fromm and Aldous Huxley on The Mike Wallace Interview as they discuss similar ideas nearly six decades earlier.

// Books

Humanizing the Economy: Co-operatives in the age of capital by John Restakis

// Links and News Items

NPR: Finding Power for the Cloud

Some 50% of Japan municipalities may disappear

The Japan News: Stemming the fall in population

// Extended Clips (in order of appearance)

[Break] - 33m

Open Source Philosophy
Practical Post-Scarcity

[ Wrap-up ]

Erich Fromm
Aldous Huxley

[End]

Terence McKenna

// Music (in order of appearance)

Cosmonaut Grechko - Anytime
DJ Curb - Accentuate the Positive
Gabriel Rios - Gold (Thomas Jack Remix)
Cocoon - Cathedral (Dinnerdate Remix)
Purrple - Tide (Feat. Term K)

// Production Credits

Our correspondent and editor Kevin via Sustainable Guidance Youtube Channel
Our listener Stacco for helping in the production process
Radialistas for their assistance in recording this interview

Episode #78 was supported by donations from the following generous listeners:

Patrick in North Carolina
David in Sweden

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[ Episode #59 // Financialized Education ]

The amount of college debt is skyrocketing in the United States while job opportunities sought by graduates are dwindling. Costly undergrad and graduate degrees used to be the passport to a middle class lifestyle but are now leading to a growing number of indebted youth who are bitter about their time in higher ed. Have modern ideas of higher education been so deeply shaped by the logic of the financial sector that we won't find an alternative? What methods of self-learning can we use to gain skills while avoiding the debt burden of a university education?

In Extraenvironmentalist #59 we speak with critical theorist Max Haiven about the financialization of higher education and how it has limited our imagination. Max discusses the Edufactory Collective and how we can't separate the university from the transformations underway in global capitalism. Then, we talk to Kio Stark about her recent book Don't Go Back to School: A Handbook for Learning Anything to discuss how successful self-learners were able to master skills without going through institutions of higher education.

// Extended Clips (in order of appearance)

[Break] - 32m20s

Michael M'Gonigle - Montreal Degrowth Conference
Generation Jobless: Spain's Disenchanted Youth
Charles Eisenstein on Higher Ed as interviewed in Vancouver

[End]

Bill Hicks on the University of Houston

// Music (in Order of Appearance)
Beat Connection - Saola (ODESZA Remix) via Soundcloud
MSMR - Fantasy (NICITA Remix) via The Orange Press
Steel Train - You Are Dangerous (RAC Remix) via Caveman Sound
Jeff Spec ft. NaRai - Stop via Bandcamp
Airbird & Napolian - In the Zone via Gorilla vs. Bear
Travelling Day - Smoking Dog via Soundcloud

// Production Credits

Kevin via Sustainable Guidance Youtube Channel

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