@J. Thomas Dunn @Matt Golding @Michael Muyot @Michael Haupt @Anarcasper @Greedbane i know there are a bunch of folks I forgot to tag, but — one of us! Xoxo
Thanks for the tag! The Economy for Life is exceptionally easy to introduce at municipality level. All they need to do is issue Mutual Aid credit tokens to their citizenry and accept those same tokens as payment for municipal services. That’s literally all. The challenge is in upgrading our mental software to 1. believe an economy can work like this and 2. have local businesses accept the token as payment for goods and services. Those are the only challenges to an Economy of Life.
I just wanted to say how much I appreciated your post. The way you wove together such a wide range of alternatives into a living, values-centered vision really struck me. Framing it as an Economy for Life felt like a breath of fresh air, something that prioritizes care, interdependence, and actual wellbeing instead of just productivity and profit.
What stood out to me even more, though, was how your proposal already speaks to power, even if you don’t frame it that way explicitly. Calling for economic democracy, elevating common property, decommodifying whole sectors, and breaking the dominance of financial capital, all of that is deeply about shifting the structures of power in society. You're not just talking about new goals; you’re inviting us to reconfigure how decisions are made, who gets to shape the economy, and what kinds of agency are even possible.
I’ve been developing a framework called Coordination: the Fabric of Power that maps exactly these kinds of shifts. How power emerges from coordination systems, and how different forms of power (like Power Over, Power With, Power To, and Power Through) show up depending on how we organize participation, decision-making, and feedback. I think your Economy for Life is already operating on this level, and could really benefit from making that layer more visible and intentional.
I’d love to talk more if it’s of interest. Feel free any time to DM me to discuss. In any case, thank you for this work. It’s thoughtful, bold, and grounded, and it’s exactly the kind of visioning we need right now.
Difficult to weigh, especially seeing just one post, and, yes, I know you have more posts for me to backtrack over, although I won’t.
I find the details interesting, but, knowing how slow any transition would be, I also know what we’re looking at here is futurist garb over a long-dead body.
Chop, chop, time waits for no economy; how to implement, other than sharing a progressive outlook?
Oh boy, one of us! One of us! SO thankful for the Substack algorithm bringing us together.
WEAll did a study with rhizome and they found that as a marketing term, “economy that supports” all life performed miles above wellbeing/postgrowth/degrowth
And we wager that stories will sell it even better than that. Do you know about Connection Engine, Citizens, or Antidote Live and the media work we’re doing?
@J. Thomas Dunn @Matt Golding @Michael Muyot @Michael Haupt @Anarcasper @Greedbane i know there are a bunch of folks I forgot to tag, but — one of us! Xoxo
Thanks for the tag! The Economy for Life is exceptionally easy to introduce at municipality level. All they need to do is issue Mutual Aid credit tokens to their citizenry and accept those same tokens as payment for municipal services. That’s literally all. The challenge is in upgrading our mental software to 1. believe an economy can work like this and 2. have local businesses accept the token as payment for goods and services. Those are the only challenges to an Economy of Life.
It’s wildly simple, really, isn’t it!
I just wanted to say how much I appreciated your post. The way you wove together such a wide range of alternatives into a living, values-centered vision really struck me. Framing it as an Economy for Life felt like a breath of fresh air, something that prioritizes care, interdependence, and actual wellbeing instead of just productivity and profit.
What stood out to me even more, though, was how your proposal already speaks to power, even if you don’t frame it that way explicitly. Calling for economic democracy, elevating common property, decommodifying whole sectors, and breaking the dominance of financial capital, all of that is deeply about shifting the structures of power in society. You're not just talking about new goals; you’re inviting us to reconfigure how decisions are made, who gets to shape the economy, and what kinds of agency are even possible.
I’ve been developing a framework called Coordination: the Fabric of Power that maps exactly these kinds of shifts. How power emerges from coordination systems, and how different forms of power (like Power Over, Power With, Power To, and Power Through) show up depending on how we organize participation, decision-making, and feedback. I think your Economy for Life is already operating on this level, and could really benefit from making that layer more visible and intentional.
I’d love to talk more if it’s of interest. Feel free any time to DM me to discuss. In any case, thank you for this work. It’s thoughtful, bold, and grounded, and it’s exactly the kind of visioning we need right now.
I love this so much!!! I’m totally green in this sphere but am dying to jump in!
Difficult to weigh, especially seeing just one post, and, yes, I know you have more posts for me to backtrack over, although I won’t.
I find the details interesting, but, knowing how slow any transition would be, I also know what we’re looking at here is futurist garb over a long-dead body.
Chop, chop, time waits for no economy; how to implement, other than sharing a progressive outlook?
Count me in!
Oh boy, one of us! One of us! SO thankful for the Substack algorithm bringing us together.
WEAll did a study with rhizome and they found that as a marketing term, “economy that supports” all life performed miles above wellbeing/postgrowth/degrowth
And we wager that stories will sell it even better than that. Do you know about Connection Engine, Citizens, or Antidote Live and the media work we’re doing?