RETHINKING ECONOMICS

Money, currency and democracy. Starting November 12, 2023

Rethinking Economics Workshop

Upcoming Cohort: November 12, 2023
Why does it seem that after so much economic growth, our system is so fragile? What are the foundations that money stands on that made it so fragile, and could they be changed? If money is just something we invented, could we invent something different? What would new economic models look like — what should you prepare for — what could you create?

In this 10-week online workshop, we challenge the conventional wisdom about money and currency. We look into what money really is, the rules of the game, and how the system has become so unsustainable. We investigate cryptocurrency, commons practices, and alternative economic models for a sustainable future. Plus, you will connect with a diverse community within the Design School for Regenerating Earth. You’ll be joining an online network of people who are taking action locally and globally to build communities and economies that will regenerate the earth.

Although you’ll learn quite a bit, this is not a lecture where we give you answers. Instead, you’ll get a new set of questions to ask and a new set of perspectives from which to ask them. We will have live 90-minute weekly discussions where you can participate and share your ideas, debate concepts, and engage in thought-provoking conversations.

We’ll work as a group to speculate, brainstorm, work in groups, and create new ideas of how to make a transition from what we have to models of the economy that better reflect the future we want for ourselves, our children, our communities, and our planet.

Register now

Watch Michael Bauwenns as one of the speakers from the previous cohort.

Michel Bauwens is a writer, researcher and conference speaker and a noted expert on the subject of peer-to-peer economics. He is Primavera Research Fellow at the University of Amsterdam, external expert at the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, and the founder of the Peer-to-Peer Foundation. Recently, he spoke with Futurism contributor Daniel Araya about the transformative power of peer-to-peer economics and its role in reshaping our world.

Watch Joe Brewer as one of the speakers from the previous cohort.

Joe Brewer of the Earth Regenerators discusses the inevitability of civilizational collapse, and how to get to work where you are to regenerate the earth and preserve human wisdom. Joe provides examples of how biomimicry, listening to the landscape, and prosocial relating are not only the best hope for the preservation of the species but also practical and applicable to everyone.

CALLS

Participate in live 90-minute calls every Sundays at 5pm UTC. This is where you can share your ideas, debate concepts, and engage in thought-provoking conversations. Plus, we’re excited to announce that Grace Rachmany will join the weekly discussions!

Week 1 (November 19, 2023): Value

We hear that “money is a store of value”. But what is value? What do you value?

Week 2 (November 26, 2023): Where Does Money Come From?

All of us have used money all of our lives, but what is it?

Week 3 (December 3, 2023): Alternative Measures of Value

At this point in the journey, it’s pretty obvious that monetary systems create many undesirable side effects, both socially and environmentally.

Week 4 (December 10, 2023): The Commons and Commons-based Economies

Our current economic system encourages us to operate as individuals or at most, families. Yet, the earth is a “commons”, in that we all share the same planet. Many of us have heard of “the tragedy of the commons” but what about “the tragedy of privatization”?

Week 5 (December 17, 2023): Governance: What is Governance? What is a DAO?

Most of us know the famous Winston Churchill quote that Democracy is the worst form of governance, except for all the rest.

Week 6 (December 24, 2023): Identity and Democracy

Until recently, you always carried your identity with you. In the online world, pieces of your “identity” are held in a variety of different ways, and used by corporations to manipulate people into buying more stuff (in
the best case) or to voting for particular candidates (in worse cases).

Week 7 (December 31, 2023): Information Ecology and Ways of Knowing

Value flows, as we explored in the first few sessions, are an instance of information flow. Good decisions depend on good information flow. Yet, in today’s media environment, it’s almost impossible to know the truth.

Week 8 (January 7, 2024): Fragmentation, Collapse, and Coherence

The collapse is already well underway, as is fragmentation of our society. Collapse and fragmentation are frightening but they also provide interesting opportunities for us to create systems that are under the radar, or that actively resist the existing paradigm.

Week 9 (January 14, 2024): Tools: Crypto, NFTs, AIand Coherence

We’ll cover alternative currencies, certifications, and artificial intelligence.

Week 10 (January 21, 2024): Bringing It Together: Application To Your Communities

We’ll look at some of the projects and bioregions that each of you is working on and go through a step-by-step process to identify our value flows and start in the actual work of creating a bioregional economy (or a community economy/DAO).

TESTIMONIALS

I have participated in a DAO leadership workshop with Grace last week it’s been a great experience, as she manages to take people to the very core of what DAOS are all about: taking responsibility, learning how to communicate better and developing new ways of governing systems together. Grace has long-standing experience in designing & leading workshops and she certainly lives what she teaches. Highly recommended!

Ela Kagel

Attended Grace’s DAO leadership course. It was amazing. She and her team had carefully screened participants, superb facilitation and top notch guest speakers. If you want to learn about alternative models of thinking and decision-making through decentralization/crypto/blockchain – this is the place to go to challenge your mindset. Highly recommend. Thanks for the great journey.

Yip Thy-Diep (Yip) Ta

Costs and Registration

To register for the workshop, you will join The Design School for Regenerating the Earth at a minimum level of $5 per month. You can also join at the higher tiers if you want additional access, or if you feel the value of the workshop is higher for you personally.

Our intention is to accept all registrants, but we are committed to creating a psychologically safe space and sparking a creative intellectual journey, so we want to ensure that every registrant is committed to that as well.

Register now
The workshop has been offered in the past as an experiment in gifting and sharing economies, so people could pay what they wanted. We are now expanding on the experiment because all money is going to the Design School fund and not directly to the facilitator. We want to join forces among our communities but we haven’t yet figured out how to share our income–we simply know that we need new models if we want to collaborate. So we will be discussing this topic as well in our workshop, as we rethink our own relationship to money. How do we as participants in communities take care of our community stewards? How do collaborators in a complex commons share the resources? We have no idea how this will turn out! It is an experiment! Thank you for joining and being open to thinking about these questions.

Grace Rachmany

Your facilitator

30 years in technology and entrepreneurship, 3 years in cryptocurrency and distributed technologies, co-author “So you’ve got a DAO”. Grace has worked with more than 100 cryptocurrency projects and speaks regularly on a variety of topics.

Ready to be a catalyst for a positive change? Sign up now!

    SUPPORT

    Email jan@voiceofhumanity.one for assistance/help or feedback