This room is an example of a public good[0] (something that is non-excludable and consumed in a non-rivalrous way, like a park or like clean air. Contrasted with private goods like a slice of pizza).
“Democranomic is a type of founding game. A founding game is a game where the players play to constitute a real-world event or organization. A democranomic is a type of founding game where the players democratically choose what and how to constitute. They could decide to build something small like a one-time party or movie night, or reoccurring like a discussion group or lunch club. Alternatively they could choose to create something bigger like a street theater troupe, a group trip, a service club or a community festival. Very ambitious players could choose a goal of making a cooperative business like a restaurant, housing coop or charter school. Playing a democranomic is a way for common people to use table-top game mechanisms to democratically identify, implement and embody a shared organizational goal. Unlike conventional table-top games where players pursue game-designer set goals in imaginary worlds, in a democranomic players attempt to co-construct a goal and how to pursue it from the ground up (foundationally) such that its organization is enacted (founded) in the real-world.
The term “democranomic” is a combination of the words “democracy” and “nomic”. Thus in addition to being a founding game, a democranomic is also a type of nomic, one used to democratically forge a real-world project. What is a nomic? A philosopher named Peter Suber invented a game called Nomic where it is a move to change a rule of the game. It is a game of self-amendment in which all players can redefine the rules of play. In Suber’s original initial rule set, each player’s turn has two parts: First, the player can propose a rule-change which the others vote on. Second, the player rolls a die and collects its points towards the goal of being the first to reach 100 points. About this goal, Suber said, “this rule is deliberately boring so that players will quickly amend it to please themselves”. Since proposed rule changes must pass a vote of the players to be adopted, the goal can be changed (it’s just a rule after all), but only to something the players support. Like a nomic, a democranomic uses its rules to describe how to make other rules. But a democranomic goes further and also use its rules to specify coordinating actions that the group carries out to bring their chosen goal into a physical existence.“
I realize there's a lot out there on the subject, but do you have any specific reading recommendations summarizing the effect of the US dollar's reserve currency status on middle America? It's a history I've been interested in learning.
In addition to local journalism, cooperatives are another way democracy can show up close to home. Combining the two, I believe 404Media.co is effectively a journalist-owned outlet (i.e. a worker coop).
I too appreciate the clarity and structure of your writing. And the topics.
Non-consensual consent seems to me related to Heidegger’s ‘throwness’, which Google Gemini summarized as:
> In Heidegger's philosophy, "thrownness" (German: "Geworfenheit") refers to the idea that humans are passively "thrown" into existence in the world, without choosing their circumstances or having any control over their "being-in-the-world," essentially meaning we are born into a pre-existing world with a set of conditions and limitations that we did not choose; it signifies the fundamental fact that our existence is not something we actively create but rather something that has already happened to us.
Found the first few paragraphs an interesting exploration of the concept of “curation”. Also interesting was the concept of a semioscape, and its location within a broader latent sociosemioscape. Then talked about curation algorithms ability to both reflect the larger culture and also influence it. Suggested that algorithmic curration accelerates and recursivly affects itself, the content creators, consumers and the larger social context.
> The phrase “the network is the territory” captures the idea that the associative connections and relationships within a network—whether digital or physical—define how meaning is generated, interpreted, and circulated. In this sense, the network becomes a map of meaning itself, shaping the cultural landscape (the territory) rather than merely reflecting it. Networks, through their curatorial structures, dictate what cultural artifacts, symbols, or semiotic objects become visible, relevant, or influential. As these networks grow more complex and intertwined, they increasingly influence our experience of the sociosemioscape, the broader cultural environment where meaning is produced and exchanged.