The aim of this book is not to provide yet another critique of capitalism but rather to contribute to the ongoing dialogue for post-capitalist construction, and to discuss how another world could be possible. It builds on the idea that peer-to-peer infrastructures are gradually becoming the general conditions of work, economy, and society, considering peer production as a social advancement within capitalism but with various post-capitalistic aspects in need of protection, enforcement, stimulation and connection with progressive social movements. Using a four-scenario approach, the authors seek to simplify possible outcomes and to explore relevant trajectories of the current techno-economic paradigm within and beyond capitalism. They postulate that the mature peer production communities pose a sustainable alternative to capital accumulation, that of the circulation of the Commons. They make some tentative transition proposals towards a Commons-based economy and society for the state, the market and the civic domain.
PART I: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 1. Capitalism as a Creative Destruction System 2. Beyond the End of History: Three Competing Value Models 3. The P2P Infrastructures: Two Axes and Four Quadrants PART II: COGNITIVE CAPITALISM 4. Netarchical Capitalism 5. Distributed Capitalism 6. The Social Dynamics of the Mixed Model of Neo-feudal Cognitive Capitalism PART III: THE HYPOTHETICAL MODEL OF MATURE PEER PRODUCTION: TOWARDS A COMMONS-ORIENTED ECONOMY AND SOCIETY 7. Resilient Communities 8. Global Commons 9. Transition Proposals Towards a Commons-oriented Economy and Society Conclusions
