Writing

The two essays are the keystone. The Quiet Fence tells the history; The Enclosure Algorithm gives you the reusable lens. Then Spot the Fence runs that lens on one commons at a time.

The keystone essays

By topic

The Living Commons

Land, water, energy.

  • Spot the Fence No. 3 · Water

    The Water Underfoot

    Running the seven steps on water. A public birthright, a cheap pumping permit, and water sold back by the bottle at thousands of times the cost.

    Pairs with Where Does the Water Go?

  • Spot the Fence No. 2 · Energy

    The Sun on Your Roof

    Running the seven steps on electricity. Free sunlight, a monopoly at the meter, and the cooperative grid we have already built before.

The Food & Farming Commons

The cattle market and meatpacking, seeds, plants and medicinal botany, animal feed.

  • Spot the Fence No. 1 · Cattle

    The Cattle Market

    Running the seven steps on the beef in your kitchen. Four companies, eighty-five percent of the market, and a rancher's share at a record low.

  • Spot the Fence No. 4 · Feed

    The Feed Bill

    Running the seven steps on what animals eat. Four traders, the contract-growing trap, and how the same hand can sell the feed and buy the cattle.

  • Spot the Fence No. 5 · Seed

    The Seed

    Running the seven steps on the oldest commons of all. Four firms, a patent on the habit of life to copy itself, and the open-source seed answer.

The Body & Mind Commons

Medicine, access to education, knowledge and the public domain.

  • Spot the Fence No. 6 · Medicine

    The Medicine

    Running the seven steps on the cures. The insulin patent sold for one dollar, evergreening, and a toll paid in money and in lives.

The Digital Commons

AI training data and attention, spectrum and the airwaves.

Nothing published here yet.

The Sacred Commons

Psychedelics and traditional medicine, traced in the companion series Against Enclosure, by Del Potter, PhD.