[sf-lug] A presentation by Michel Bauwens

[Christian Einfeldt]

hi,

Michael Bauwens' bio description is below.  IMHO, this is going to be a
really interesting presentation, and I plan to attend and hopefully will be
filming it.  This presentation might have a wee bit too much emphasis on
spiritual stuff for this group, but there is a lot of really solid social
and economic and technical meat to this guy's presentation as well.  IMHO,
it is good for us to occasionally take a step back from digging into the
technology and consider how the memes of Free Software are permeating our
culture.  I sometimes think that those of us who are dealing with this
game-changing technology on a daily basis can occasionally lose site of the
larger social, political, and cultural ramifications of the stuff that we do
on a daily basis.

Unfortunately, this event is not free as in beer, but it is also not really
expensive.  In addition, this is going to be a really small gathering, so
there will be a chance to have great conversations with people around p2p
technology and its implications.   It is $13 in advance, $20 at the door.
RSVP to  manage at integrativeSpirituality.org to see if there are still places
left before sending a check. Send check for advance tickets to Integrative
Spirituality PO Box 1508, Sausalito, CA 94967.

In addition, there is a good chance that Lawrence Wollersheim will be
attending this event.  For those of you who have heard about the
demonstrations against Scientology, Wollersheim is the guy who made much of
it possible by releasing key Scientology documents by successfully suing the
Church (cult) of Scientology.  One of those documents was the infamous OT 3
document which outlines the really wacko story of Xenu, the dark lord who
has been imprisoned on a distant planet for 75 million years.  As a result
of Wollersheim's efforts, parodies of the Xenu story are now commonplace,
and have appeared on South Park and thousands of other sites on the
Internet.  Wollersheim also really "gets" FOSS, and is very active in
presenting the ideas of FOSS to new-age types who might otherwise be
technophobes.

Also, Wollersheim changed US constitutional history by stripping not only
Scientology but all cults of bogus First Amendment defenses as part of his
case against Scientology.  Scientology tried to defend its case by saying
that its bad behavior was protected by its right to practice its religion
and therefore Wollersheim could not sue it for kidnapping, battery, and
other civil wrongs.  The California Supreme Court said that there was no
first amendment defense, and many other courts around the US have adopted
that decision.

So this evening will be a great opportunity to talk with some interesting
people about the stuff we care about.  The announcement follows.  Sorry, I
was not able to find a link to an announcement, because this was sent to me
in an email.  I will post a link as soon as I find it.  Here is the
announcement:

**************************


A One Night Only, Avant-Garde Presentation by the Belgian Integral
Philosopher and Peer to Peer  Innovator, Michel Bauwens...

March 8, at 7 PM

If you are interested in effective spiritual practice in relationship or how
technology can be used to support authentic spiritual growth, you will not
want to miss this special evening March 8 th at 7 pm. This event will
include excerpts of the documentary movie TechnoCalyps.

Michel Bauwens, a Belgian integral philosopher and the evening's presenter
will bring together two lines of inquiry. The first is how the new peer to
peer dynamics that are more and more present in our society, are affecting
the ways we conceive of the spiritual search and practice, pointing to more
participatory and relational points of view that lead to the co-creation of
a global spiritual commons. This 'spiritual trans-humanism' will also be
contrasted with an increasing tendency towards technological trans-humanism,
i.e. the widespread and well-funded efforts to obtain transcendence of human
limits through technology.

The second line of inquiry is how can we marry traditional prescriptive
spiritual paths, contemporary participatory spirituality, and the lure (or
nightmare) of the promise of technology? Is there a form of integration that
will enable to construct a more human and spiritual form of society?

The evening will consist of 50 minutes of presentation by Michel, 15 mins
open discussion, and then 50 minutes of the Technocalyps documentary, which
deals with religious interpretations of technological transhumanism. This
will be followed by another discussion period which may last longer. After
the event there will be socialization time to network with other spiritual
pioneers and explorers interested in Michel's avant-garde ideas of
spirituality and technology.

About Michel Bauwens

Michel Bauwens is a Belgian integral philosopher and Peer-to-Peer (P2P)
theorist. He has worked as an Internet consultant, information analyst for
the United States Information Agency, information manager for British
Petroleum (where he created one of the first virtual information centers),
and is former editor-in-chief of the first European digital convergence
magazine, the Dutch language Wave.

With Frank Theys, Bauwens is the co-creator of a 3 hour documentary
TechnoCalyps, an examination of the 'metaphysics of technology'. He taught
and edited two French language anthologies on the Anthropology of Digital
Society.

Although a student of Ken Wilber's integral theory for many years, he has
recently become critical of aspects of the Wilber-Beck movement, and is a
powerful voice for a non-authoritarian peer-to-peer based integral society.

Bauwens is the author of a number of on-line essays, including a seminal
thesis Peer to Peer and Human Evolution and The Political Economy of Peer
Production. He has taught courses on the anthropology of digital society to
postgraduate students at ICHEC/St. Louis in Brussels, Belgium and related
courses at Payap University and Chiang Mai University in Thailand.

For more about Michel Bauwens or his work click here.  For the Michel
Bauwens blog click here.

RSVP FAST and NOW so we will know if we need a larger space!

Like so many of our recent events this event is sure to be full quickly and
become another waiting list only event. It is $13 in advance, $20 at the
door. RSVP to  manage at integrativeSpirituality.org to see if there are still
places left before sending a check. Send check for advance tickets to
Integrative Spirituality PO Box 1508, Sausalito, CA 94967.
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