# Reclaiming the stacks: September 2023 roundup Life is busy as of late, so this roundup is a little spartan. But still, read on for some interesting things at the intersection of ecosocialism and ICT. Articles and thoughts on the problems of [[digital capitalism]], the positive actions of [[digital ecosocialism]], and a look at the systemic side of things and how we can transition from (digital) capitalism to (digital) ecosocialism. As always my interest is from the angle of [[reclaiming the stacks]] - expropriating information and communications technology from [[Big Tech]] and returning it to the people. ## Systems I'm still interested in [[qualitative system dynamics modeling]] as an approach to grappling with digital ecosocialism and how to transition to it. The qualitative system dynamics model used in [[A leverage points analysis of a qualitative system dynamics model for climate change adaptation in agriculture]] was built using a triangulation process from individual models. I'm reading more about that in [[Identifying Strengths and Obstacles to Climate Change Adaptation in the German Agricultural Sector]]. For a qualitative system dynamics model of digital capitalism, digital ecosocialism and the transition from one to the other, one might triangulate from a bunch of different existing models that are out there related to digital ecosocialism. Such as: - [[Digital Ecosocialism: Breaking the power of Big Tech]] - [[Platform Socialism]] - [[Internet for the People]] - [[Governable Stacks against Digital Colonialism]] - [[Digitalization and the Anthropocene]] - [[Leveraging Digital Disruptions for a Climate-Safe and Equitable World: The D2S Agenda]] A new one for the mix that I came across: - [[Decentralized and rooted in care: envisioning the digital infrastructures of the future]] It's perhaps a bit less defined than some of those previous models, but interesting nonetheless, and with a Latin American slant, so a good perspective to have. ## Problems _Some problems from digital capitalism recently in the news. To help map them out, I'm tagging them with some of the criteria I [[defined]] in my OU research._ - [[The environmental impact of a PlayStation 4]]. "It is an exquisite, leanly designed machine pulsing with the exploitation of Earth and its people." - [[Google won’t repair cracked Pixel Watch screens]]. [[Google]] offers no [[repair]] options for cracked Pixel Watch screens. ## Actions > Philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to change it. > > – Karl Marx _Some latest news on concrete actions that are part of an ecosocialist ICT movement._ - Lots of interesting initiatives in [[Decentralized and rooted in care: envisioning the digital infrastructures of the future]]. - Some good right to repair news lately. - [[California Lawmakers Unanimously Pass Right to Repair Legislation]] - [[New EU Rules: Smartphones and Tablets will follow new ecodesign requirements by June 2025!]] - [[STATEMENT: Google announces 10 years of tech support for Chromebooks]] ## Inputs _Finally, a few other things I've been reading, listening to, and watching that are adjacent to the topics of ecosocialism and ICT._ ### Reading - [[The Double Objective of Democratic Ecosocialism]]. First I've seen Jason Hickel explicitly mention [[degrowth]] and [[ecosocialism]] together (it's quite likely that he has before, given his outlook - just first time I've noticed it). The prefix of 'Democratic' is interesting though. Deliberate positioning with [[democratic socialism]] I presume, as opposed to say [[degrowth communism]]. - [[On Technology and Degrowth]]. [[Jason Hickel]] again, on [[green growth]] and [[degrowth]]. "It should be clear from the above that degrowth is best understood as an element within a broader struggle for ecosocialist (and anti-imperialist) transformation." ### Listening - [[Kohei Saito on Degrowth Communism]]. Degrowth needs communism, communism needs degrowth. Perhaps a stronger version of Hickel's democratic ecosocialism. - [[W. Brian Arthur (Part 1) on The History of Complexity Economics]] - [[What happens to your waste? with Oliver Franklin-Wallis]]. [[Waste]], [[waste streams]], and [[recycling]]. ## Until next time That’s it! See you next month. Until then, you can find latest streams of thoughts over at my [website](https://doubleloop.net).