And we all have gotten it wrong.

Are you a Public Goods advocate? This article is for you! Today we'll explain why Commons is a better alternative and how to avoid the misuse of the term "public goods".

In traditional economics, public goods are those that are non-excludable and non-rivalrous and are usually managed by the government. An example is national security or open source software.

Continuing with the Traditionalists.... Common Resources are products or resources that are not mutually exclusive but are rivals, which can lead to the "Tragedy of the Commons". Shall I tell you something? Those are pure lies!

The tragedy of the commons is undoubtedly the tragedy of the markets, for it points to an open access regime: a selfish pitched battle in which there is no community, no communication or negotiation between people, no rules, and no punishment for breaking them.

Elinor Ostrom won the Nobel Prize in economics by debunking this pseudo-theory that universities have been parroting since 1968.

However, even though Elinor Ostrom is a 🦸 for us, she also followed a traditional perspective. She conceived of the commons primarily as natural resources.

To understand why everyone in web3 incorrectly uses "public goods" we must understand that there is an ontology that really defines what we do, and the neoliberal one is NOT.

Ontology is a window or portal from which we look at and live life.

The words we use come loaded with that experience and are so powerful that they have effects on everything we do.

That is why we must be aware of what window and what words we use.

From a postCapitalist perspective, the Commons are social systems composed of:

1. 🌎 a resource or living system valued and protected by a community,

2. 👨👩👧👦 a community whose life is related to that resource or living system, and

3. 🤝🏽👨🏽⚖️ a governance system.

Do these three elements sound familiar? Let's put them in context to the Web3 ecosystem:

1. 🌐 In web3, we create a resource -protocol, smart contract or educational material, which we value because it brings a good towards a specific community or towards society in general, right?

2. 🤝🏽 In web3, we form a virtual and/or local community that is interdependently related to that resource or system that we appreciate, right?

3. 📜 In web3, we form governance systems to protect and ensure the continuity of our community and living system or resource we value. We are governance nerds, aren't we?

So, we could confidently say that in web3 we tend to build commons and NOT public goods.

or what do you think?

👀 It is important that we distinguish between the term Public Goods and Commons.

The terms are full of essence behind, using one or the other leads us to different paths...even if we don't have the intentions.

Do us a favor, when you hear or read someone say Public Goods or Commons, please make this face:

If you are Regen, it is your duty to question, criticize, and demand change 👉🏽🌱🌻

If you want to see the full presentation, with more memes and a visualization exercise, check out the one we gave at Ethereum Guatemala in Spanish:

Welcome to this first episode of Urbanika, an immersive video guide on decentralized coordination tools to reimagine and regenerate cities.

Descripción episodio 1 // Description episode 1

En este primer modulo, aprenderemos, ¿Qué son los procomunes?, la forma de identificarlos, ¿Cómo se conforman? y a diferenciarlos de los términos engañosos del capitalismos (bienes comunes o bienes públicos).

In this first module, we will learn what the commons are, how to identify them, shape them, and differentiate them from the misleading terms of capitalism (common goods or public goods).

👇 PLAY!

[Ep. 1]

Retos // Challenges

A continuación te presentamos los retos o actividades que debes realizar, recuerda tener en mente un proyecto procomún original, ya que te servirá para realizar cada una de las actividades.

Next, we present the challenges or activities that you must carry out, remember to have in mind an original commons project, since it will help you to carry out each one of the activities.

• Actividad 1: ¿Qué son los procomunes? // Activity 1: What are commons? Link act 1

• Actividad 2: Ontohistorias de la vida real // Activity 2: Real Life Ontohistories Link act 2

• Actividad 3: Mapeando commonsverso // Activity 3: Mapping the commonsverse Link act 3

Apuntes // Notes

En esta sección te compartimos los apuntes del episodio 1, todo el contenido para que lo puedas estudiar y tener a la mano.

In this section, we share with you the notes of episode 1, all the content so you can study it and have it at hand. PDF

Anexos // Attachments

Aquí encontrarás material extra de consulta. // Here you will find extra material for reference.

• Material extra sobre los patrones. // Extra material about the patterns PDF

• Ejemplos de procomunes al rededor del mundo. // Examples of commons from around the world. PDF

Ep. 1 Chat

¡Hagamos comunidad! Aquí es el espacio para conocernos, compartir experiencias, retroalimentarnos y compartir las actividades y retos del curso.

Let's make community! Here is the space to get to know each other, share experiences, give feedback and share the activities and challenges of the course.

https://discord.gg/PSaB3aAAgf

¿Quieres apoyar? // Want to support?

Todo el contenido que producimos y produciremos, será siempre gratuito de acceder. Sin embargo para quienes apoyen la producción de educación post-capitalista con una subscripción de $12 USD al mes obtendrán los siguientes beneficios exclusivos:

💬 Acceso a los chats de la comunidad (a partir del ep.2 estarán cerrados a subscriptoes) 🗳️ Selección de los temas a producir y promover 🙋 Sesiones en directo con post-capitalistas experimentados ⚖️💰 Derecho a voto en el reparto de las dos tesorerías compartidas (Common-good y Funding the urban commons)

//

All the content we produce now and in the future will always remain free to access. However, those that support the production of post-capitalist education with a monthly subscription of $12 will get the following exclusive benefits:

💬 Access to community chats (as of ep.2 they will be closed to members). 🗳️ Selection of the themes to produce and promote. 🙋 Live sessions with experienced post-capitalists. ⚖️💰 Voting rights in sharing the two shared treasuries (Common-good and Funding the urban commons).

Get your NFT membership below // Obtén tu membresía NFT abajo:

Tarjeta crédito, débito o transferencia bancaria // credit or debit card, or wire transfer:

https://opencollective.com/urbanika

Polygon subscription:

https://www.coinvise.co/Urbanika?view=memberships

--

Ah! and if you are one of the lucky ones to get a collectible copy of this article, send us a message in Discord and we will also grant you access to a month’s subscription :)

Ah! y si tú eres una de las suertudas de obtener este artículo como coleccionable, mándanos un mensaje a Discord y te daremos los permisos de subscriptor mensual :)