[iDC] Recursive Publics and Forking
[Image: Garden of Forking Paths by wasabicube] Nate Tkacz wrote: Hi all,
I would like to add to the discussion about recursive publics*, consensus and forking. Anna briefly mentioned Christoph Spehr’s discussion of “withdrawal” in Free Cooperation. Her point, as I understand it, was to emphasise dissensus rather than consensus as the aspect of recursive publics that makes it significant as a political structure. Chris Kelty (from now on CK to avoid confusion) pointed to the practice of forking as an instance of productive dissensus. Through the practice of forking people can leave a project, taking the (non-exclusive) source code or whatever other materials that constitute the public with them and continue in a different direction. The fact that forking is a possibility, writes CK, keeps contributors responsive to each other and this presumably also works to legitimize the recursive public: Continue reading