Once we gain insight into historical cycles, particularly those within the civilizational period, we can observe a peculiar dynamic at play, which we might call "The Pulsation of the Commons." This dynamic suggests that when the extractive institutions of state and market function well, the self-organized local commons decline. Conversely, during periods when these institutions begin to fail, the commons regenerate, culminating in the specific dynamics of "dark ages," where market and state institutions are largely replaced by expansive commons-based systems.

But what happens when this local dynamic is suspended by the trans-local self-organizing capacities of digital networks? What if today, civilization itself is at stake—both in how humanity relates to nature and how geography-based civilization confronts trans-local power? Could the emergence of digital commons—such as free software, open design, and shared knowledge in the first phase, and crypto/Web3 in the second phase—be part of a truly post-civilizational dynamic? But what does that even mean?

What we could learn together:

• Understand the particular requirements of this transition in civilizational models.

• Explore the crucial role of Web3 technologies in this transition, how they relate to the commons as the third institution of humanity, and the key ingredients for their success.

Recommended Reading:

In this essay, the basic concepts related to the Pulsation of the Commons are explained:
https://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/Pulsation_of_the_Commons

In this video, we summarize the findings of the remarkable book The Structure of World History by Kojin Karatani:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVG1f2NscdY&list=PL-lnxUzWjRmgbKGAdMRev23abcLkYNe7F

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