Sunday, December 14, 2008

Preying Mantis: One Straw Revolution, Abundance, Nonmarket Information Production, World University

Innovation on organic farms comes significantly through understanding nature and ecological processes. Preying mantises, ladybugs - an amazing variety of species - can be brought into the ecology of a farm and create abundance, without poisoning or harming the earth.

Masanobu Fukuoka, in "One Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming" (Rodale Press, 1978), explored 'natural farming' in very innovative ways. In his no-till, imitate-nature-closely, ground-always-covered~with-straw,-mulch-and-nitrogen-fixing-plants, innovative approach to farming, the tilth of the farm would be so rich, that the farmer could broadcast seeds and have them bear fruit without labor; ducks, for example, would fertilize and weed. The fruit trees and plants, so tended, would produce all year round (in the right climate), and very little work would be needed. Fukuoka's approach is also called "Do-Nothing" farming, {mu as 'non-action' in Zen, or similarly, wu wei in Lao Tzu's sense}. Fukuoka's vision emerged with counterculture and the 1960s, in this instance, from Japan.


Is nonmarket information production - Benkler's "The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom," (Yale University Press, 2006), which you can get here for free, - {read it:} now, as a consequence of the information technology revolution, a remarkable example of the abundance which emerges from Fukuokan, countercultural and 'natural farming' processes and understandings, or just a result of hacking and this distributive network technology called the internet?

How will World University and School generate an abundance of not-yet-explored classes and courses, and knowledge, and articulations between these, which emerge vis-a-vis information technology?

World University and School's Facebook page is here - facebook.com/group.php?gid=48753608141

And World University and School's Wiki is here - worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/World_University

Teach what you want, take the courses or classes you want.

Create, Enjoy, Flourish ... :)

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