Capitalism 3.0: Planning a Big Upgrade

WorldChanging Team
January 26, 2007 7:47 PM

by Worldchanging DC local blogger, Graham Webster

I'm just back from Peter Barnes' talk about his new book Capitalism 3.0 at Busboys and Poets. The book, it should first be noted, is so committed to the concept of the commons that it is available free as a PDF online. (Wryly acknowledging the oddity of giving away a book with the word "capitalism" in the title, he writes, "I invite you to peruse the downloadable version, and if you’re so moved, engage in a commercial transaction that microscopically boosts GDP.")

It's that somewhat sardonic but ultimately rational outlook that Barnes brought to Washington, D.C., tonight—the end of a three-week book tour. "I've been a talking head for about three weeks, and I'm almost talked out," he began, to the knowing assent of a District crowd less than 24 hours after the State of the Union. He proceeded from that point to summarize the big-idea significance of the commons and then a sense of how, bit by bit, our real-world society might institute the changes he calls for.

For those unfamiliar with the book, Barnes argues that there is private wealth and then there is common wealth—in the form of nature, structures supported by the community and society (such as parks, streets, capital markets, the internet), and cultural and intellectual wealth (the wealth of ideas). Private wealth, he argues, is produced partly by appropriating common wealth, and private profit often externalizes costs into the commons. And he proposes a solution.

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