Homebrew Industrial Revolution, Political Ponerology, and Kymatica

Kevin Carson, Research Asociate at the Center for a Stateless Society, just published a book called The Homebrew Industrial Revolution: A Low Overhead Manifesto. This is a progressive review of industrial history, culminating in the present option of post-scarcity economics. Open Source Ecology is featured as one of the Case Studies in the Coordination of Networked Fabrication and Open Design in the Appendix of Chapter 5. If you are interested in a comprehensive overview and of the technological ecology that we’re pursuing at Factor e Farm, this is a worthwhile read. It’s an insightful and quite accurate third-party analysis of our work, and the chapter provides a more in-depth understanding of the relationship between access to cheap, modern tools and collaborative design repositories – and how these combine for radical democratization of industry. Thumbs up for this important work. It is one of the cultural creative writings of the times, aimed at breaking through society’s limited consciousness on technology and  production as a means of evolving to freedom. Read more about it on Kevin’s blog.

I’d also like to bring up a seminal book on the psychological basis of  anthropogenic, societal ills suffered in the world today – Political Ponerology: a Science on the Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes, by Andrew Lobaczewski.

This book is noteworthy in that it documents the scientific studies conducted by the author and many others in the aftermath of WWII during the Stalinist regime in Poland – on the nature of the evil and terror that has just left its mark on history in the tragedies of WWII.  The book is important because the underlying dynamics are not specific to WWII, but are general human features that need to be understood because of their profound, often undetected, effects on society. The author produced hard evidence regarding the nature of this evil. His conclusions on the underlying psychosis are sobering. This book is not for the fainthearted, but it is an honest analysis on the self-selection and rise to power of forces in society that lack a critical component – a working conscience. This author is also absolutely optimistic – in that he provides clues of how society could develop immunity to the macrosocial phenomena addressed.  Thus, it is also a survival guide for those daring to question the world. As stated in the preface, “…this book is the most important book you will ever read. Unless, of course, you are a psychopath.”

Next in line is Kymatica, a full length movie on  evolving to freedom, the human spirit, the heart, and individual responsibility in shaping the world around us.  These are challenging topics even for most people today – because as Carl Jung proposed,

People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own soul.

The movie includes a synthesis of all that is known about human evolution to date, from the beginning of time to modern genetics. If you think you know all you need to know about this, this film will likely throw in some twists – twists proven even in mainstream science. This movie is noteworthy in that it also tries to address the nature of macrosocial phenomena – just like Lobaczewski – but from the perspective of human evolution.  This movie is quite comprehensive in terms of societal topics covered. It is also fast-paced, and it provides critical background for any student of the system or lover of freedom.

PS. Note that Lobaczewski’s work builds a  message slightly in contrast to the ‘we are all in this together because we could be good or evil’ portrayed in Kymatica – as his medical studies show the cases of psychopathy in the most notorious of world leaders.