Is de hype van de circulaire economie een rem op transitie? Socrates Schouten zet meteen de toon voor onze trefdag. De circulaire economie heeft in snel tempo veel aandacht gekregen van beleidsmakers, managers en onderzoekers. Eindelijk een formule waarmee duurzaamheid en economische groei echt te verenigen zijn, lijkt het. Maar wat is dat eigenlijk, een circulaire economie? Is het inderdaad een ecologisch en sociaal model voor werk, (co)productie en handel? De economische en technologische kijk op de kringloop die nu de boventoon voert, hindert het vernieuwende denken. Emotie, co-eigenaarschap en culturele verbeelding zijn hard nodig om de omslag te maken naar een echte circulaire samenleving.

1. Socrates Schouten
Re:Culture
27 oktober 2016
www.socrates.nu
@soc_sch

2. © European Commission

3. © RePack

6. “Kunnen we vanuit cultuur onze maatschappij radicaal omdenken
door ons bij elk handelen te baseren op het circulaire principe?”

7. recycling/upcycling
preventie van ‘lekkage’
product-service
systemen
product- en
performance-leases
modulair
ontwerp
ecodesign
biomimicry industriële
ecologie
ruilen en
delen

8. Patzek 2007 How can we outlive our way of life, fig.10

9. “Niet alleen hebben we kringlopen nodig, we
moeten deze ook zo traag mogelijk doorlopen. Elk
jaar een nieuwe cradle-to-cradle-smartphone kopen
leidt ook niet tot een duurzame wereld”
Twistpunt 1
(Dirk Holemans)

10. Corporate members ‘CE100’ Ellen MacArthur Foundation
De Circulaire
Economie©™
“The €1.8 trillion opportunity”

12. Patzek 2007 How can we outlive our way of life, fig.10

14. “We will never address major environmental
problems if the technological and product solutions
are based on proprietary knowledge.”
“We need an open source circular economy”
Twistpunt 2
(Michel Bauwens)

15. Patzek 2007 How can we outlive our way of life, fig.10

17. ‘Slimme economie’ ➜ IT en geld worden belangrijker
➜ Culturele sector nodig voor tegenkracht

18. Peter Barnes, 2006

19. Delimiting Commons-Based Peer Production (IGOPnet.cc)

20. 1
2
Peter Barnes, 2006

21. “They provide knowledge that is faceless and placeless,
an abstraction that carries a considerable cost. …
It offers data, but no context; it shows diagrams, but no
actors; it gives calculations, but no notions of morality; it
seeks stability, but disregards beauty.”
Twistpunt 3
(Wolfgang Sachs)

22. Basic Values. herman de vries, 2016. Foto Roel Arkesteijn El Ultimo Grito, 2013. Foto POI

24. W H E R E A R E W E G O I N G ?
HistoricalHypPresentConsequences
PresentConsequencesFutureImplications
PresentConseuqencesFutureImplications
THEKEYLIESINTHEFUTUREOFWORK!
EMBRACETHEHOMOROMANTICUS!
ACCEPTANDDISTRIBUTEABUNDANCE!
HEAD,HANDANDHEARTEQUAL!
SUSTAINABILITY!
BUILDING WITH NEW CORNER STONES
WILL
JUST MA
KEITO
L I M I T S T O
G
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W
TH
R
O
B
O
T I S AT I O N
M
A
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STRICHTASA
FA
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M
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ASMAKER
The Limits to Growth
(Ourselves & Our Natural Environment.)
We have outgrown our
natural environment
Depletion of Natural Resources
The growing world economy and increasing global wealth
are depleting natural resources. Non-renewable resources
such as minerals, ores, and fossil fuels, are less accessible
for mining companies. Slow renewable resources, such
as drinking water and fertile land, are becoming scarcer.
At present, it takes us 8 months to consume in slow re-
newable resources what nature can reproduce in a year.
The economic burden on the natural surroundings creates
immediate deficits and disturbs the ecological system,
which can lead to more deficits.
Shrinking Biodiversity
Since industrialisation, there has been a decline in bio-
diversity and natural genetic diversity. Industrial farming
techniques, such as monoculture, genetic manipulation,
and the use of pesticides decreases our rural landscape’s
diversity. Through deforestation, destruction of coral
reefs, and ocean pollution, we are destroying the habitat
of many species of flora and fauna. Overexploitation, such
as overfishing and hunting, shrinks biodiversity and un-
settles food chains. Since the 1970s, there has been a 52%
of loss of the earth’s biodiversity: equating to the disap-
pearance of 39% of wild land animals, 39% of marine life,
and 76% of freshwater animals in the past 40 years.
Climate Change
Increasing greenhouse gas emissions and continuing
deforestation alters the earth’s climate system. Climate
change affects sea levels, changes rainfall patterns, accel-
erates desertification, and acidifies the oceans. The fre-
quency of extreme weather conditions is also increasing.
Periods of drought, heat waves, blizzards, and rainstorms
increasingly occur. These developments threaten the eco-
We have outgrown ourselves
Diploma Democracy
The education system services the labour market. Be-
cause the labour market is part of an ever more automat-
ed world economy, there is a growing need for knowledge
workers. Our educational system distinguishes between
manual and mental skills. This distinction is expressed in
both a spatial and social sense. In spatial terms, people
who can think well spread out to university towns, while
people who learn manual tasks are trained regionally. In a
social sense, there is a significant difference in confidence
between lower secondary and pre-university students.
Pre-university students have a more positive self-image.
The spatial and social gap creates separate worlds of
living and experience. This expresses itself in voting be-
haviour and choice of partner. The probability that some-
one with a vocational background will marry someone
with a university background is small.
The Economic-Demographic Paradox
The economic-demographic paradox is the negative cor-
relation between prosperity and population growth. The
higher the level of education and income per capita, the
fewer children are born. This paradox suggests that re-
straint in reproduction naturally occurs, albeit with some
delay, as a result of economic progress. The ageing popu-
lations that occur in affluent countries are a major prob-
lem for the growth society, which is based on more people
increasingly producing and consuming.
Growing Inequality
Since the 1970s, automation and neoliberal policies - re-
stricting union power, imposing high taxes on labour and
little on capital - have caused a reduction in the amount
of GDP that goes to wages. The middle class is slowly
disappearing into a small, very wealthy upper class and a
growing lower class of the poor. This lower class consists
of people with uncertain income and few safety nets. In-
come inequality in OECD countries is at its highest point
of the past half century and is growing. In 2014, the 85
richest people in the world had as much capital as the
world’s poorest 50%. This points to the emergence of a
global oligarchy.
Technological Unemployment
During the First Machine Age, machines replaced the
muscle power of humans and animals. In the Second Ma-
chine Age, advanced robotics and artificial intelligence
replace a large part of our brainpower. More and more
jobs will become redundant. We call this technological
unemployment. Decreasing employment is mainly at the
expense of middle class jobs because these jobs often
consist of the routine processing of data and are relatively
easy to automate. New multi-purpose robots will eventu-
ally reduce the demand for human handiwork. Techno-
logical unemployment will contribute to growing income
inequality and declining purchasing power.
Artificial scarcity continues the current laissez-faire economic policy of scarcity, which focuses on productivity and an
‘I have’ social status. In the artificial-scarcity scenario, goods in stock are kept artificially scarce, while the technology
and production capacity is able to deliver the goods in abundance. This is already happening in 2015: there is enough
capacity to provide everyone in the world with shelter, heat, running water, enough clothing, and 3,000 calories per day.
People having no shelter and being hungry is a distribution problem, not a productivity problem. Wealth is now mainly
distributed via the labour market. If the labour market is lost as a result of automation, the income gap will increase
further. The fragmentation of the social environment will grow. Society will split into a large, poor lower class and small,
Future Scenario: Artificial Scarcity
Protection
In the ‘artificial scarcity’ scenario, only a small part of the
population is economically significant to the industrial
complex. The need for ‘productivity’ wanes. The focus of
the economy shifts to comfort and entertainment and pro-
tection against a desperate lower class and climate col-
lapse. The upper class will withdraw into sprawling gated
communities, which are also natural resources. Intelligent
military drones will protect the dividing line. The lower
class will live in ‘economic reserves’.
I Have Access
In a country where the middle class has disappeared and
the lower class and the upper class are spatially sep-
arated, social status will deepen from ‘I have’ to ‘I have
access’. The upper class will divide into a group that is
financially exempt and an economically privileged group
of scientists, artists and crafts people who will produce
custom-made luxury products, from robots to handmade
furniture.
With the basic income’s introduction and the shift of social status from the ‘I have’ of the Homo Economicus to the ‘I am’
of the Homo Romanticus, society’s economic foundation shifts from scarcity to abundance. This is emphasised by aug-
menting the current model of personal property with common ownership. The world economy currently produces more
than enough for everyone to meet their own needs. In a society based on abundance this is recognised and taken care of.
Through the equalisation of manual and cognitive skills and the development of small-scale organisational structures,
the fragmentation of the social environment will be healed. Deconsuming, demographic decline, and the circular econ-
omy will bring our relationship to our natural environment in balance.
Future Scenario: Abundance
Distribution
The main challenge for the economic infrastructure in a
society based on abundance is not production growth but
distribution. A large part of this distribution will be work
income. Another part of the distribution goes indirectly via
a basic income, or directly through peer-to-peer networks.
‘I Am’
Social status shifts from ‘I have’ to ‘I am’. What you own is
subordinated to what you contribute and the stories that
create and motivate you. It’s not about what you get from
your environment, but what you put into it. The Homo Eco-
nomicus yields to the Homo Romanticus. The Homo Eco-
nomicus is no longer motivated by economic growth, but
by personal growth.
Laissez Faire Liberalism
Laissez-faire liberalism continues to determine so-
cio-economic order. The New Romantic Field will not be-
come a social movement, it will not get a hold on politics,
and it will die a slow, bloody death. The proponents of a
laissez-faire economic model consider the free market as
the most efficient way to align supply and demand with-
out government regulatory intervention. In this model,
the labour market is the main mechanism to distribute
the growing prosperity. Through the globalisation of
production and the emergence of advanced robotics and
artificial intelligence, the distribution of wealth becomes
increasingly skewed. Led by laissez-faire liberalism, the
deepening fragmentation of the social environment and
the over-exploitation of our natural environment will con-
tinue. For now, social status will remain based on ‘I have’.
New Romantic Politics
The New Romantic Field becomes politically aware and po-
litically influential. It either has direct influence through a
social movement or a political party, or indirectly through
existing political parties. The perceived need within the
New Romantic Field to restore the fragmented percep-
tion of the social and natural environment is reflected in
the formulation and implementation of socially inclusive
and ecologically sustainable policies. As a result of the
Second Machine Age and the introduction of the basic in-
come, manual and cognitive work will again be equivalent.
Moreover, extensive digitisation and robotisation allows
us to be both sustainable and local in our production and
consumption. We make the experience of the social and
natural environment part of our lives again. The creative
industry becomes inclusive and sustainable. People are
again surrounded by goods of which the origin and
production method are known.
Threats - Limits to Growth Opportunities - The New Romantic Field
Hacker Subculture
After the invention of the ENIAC computer in 1946, pro-
grammers realised that they were more than profession-
al workers. They saw themselves as passionate creators.
Appropriating the word ‘hacker’, which in the 17th cen-
tury meant ‘enthusiastic worker’, a hacker subculture
expanded rapidly, especially among computer science
students on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT). The hacker subculture emphasised the
adoption of challenges and delivery of excellent work. The
Post-War Countercultures
Western baby boomers grew up with growing prosperity
and a global outlook. They had access to education and
were, through the availability of part-time jobs, financially
relatively independent of their parents. They had free time
and money. In the 1960s, global subcultures emerged with
a focus on anti-establishment thinking. In the 1970s, these
subcultures were mostly found in the hippie subculture.
They opposed inequality, injustice, and environmental
pollution, and they felt attracted to the bohemian lifestyle.
Romanticism’s principles of originality and being true to
nature were re-valued. ‘I am’ became more important than
The Club of Rome
The Club of Rome, an international think tank describing
itself as ‘a group of global citizens who act out of a shared
concern for the future of mankind’, was founded in 1968. It
is an influential club whose members include former gov-
ernment leaders, successful businesspeople, senior offi-
cials, and scientists. In 1972, the Club of Rome published
The Limits to Growth report. It was based on a computer
simulation of the World3 Model, a system dynamics model
for examining the interaction between population growth,
industrialisation, pollution, food production, and resource
depletion. The report had a deep impact. In the West, an
awareness emerged that economic growth was at the envi-
ronment’s expense and that infinite growth was unfeasible.
DIY
Do it Yourself or DIY is a method for building, modifying or
repairing anything without the help of experts or profes-
sionals. Stewart Brand published the first edition of the
Whole Earth Catalog in 1968 with help from friends and
family using the most basic typesetting and page layout
techniques. The Whole Earth Catalog, subtitled Access to
Tools, emerged from the counterculture of the 1960s and
had a large following. The magazine put themes such as
self-reliance, self-sufficiency, ecology, alternative edu-
cation, and holism on the agenda. DIY became a central
theme in the punk and the hacker movements and many
other bottom-up initiatives. Its central concept being that
every person is able to perform certain tasks if prepared to
take possession of the necessary knowledge. The more one
can disengage from the global supply chains, the better.
Personal Computer
In the 1970s, hackers and hobbyists began working on mi-
crocomputers, a development that would later lead to the
personal computer - the PC. One of this movement’s main
hobby clubs was the Homebrew Computer Club, whose
members included the founders of Apple. They wanted to
make the personal computer and empower the individual.
According to them, the PC enabled its users to process
information in a DIY manner. Up until then, computers
were huge machines only used by large companies and
institutions. Powerful computer chips became smaller
and cheaper. In 1977, the first personal consumer micro-
computers became available. Thirty years later and the
World Wide Web
In March 1989, Tim Berners-Lee proposed a functioning
web for digital pages linked together via hypertext. In No-
vember of that year he implemented the first successful
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) communication be-
tween a server and client. Berners-Lee is thus seen as the
inventor of the World Wide Web (WWW). With the WWW,
a centuries old Enlightenment dream was realised: a sys-
tem where all available knowledge is accessible anywhere
in the world, and is searchable and editable. For many, this
was a prerequisite for mutual understanding, shared pros-
perity, and even world peace. Only a quarter of a century
old and the Internet has become an unimaginable absence
from daily life. The digitisation of all human information is
in full swing and communication is becoming faster, eas-
ier, and cheaper. The ideal of universally free education
seems technically within reach.
New Subjectivity
In 1996, cognitive scientist David Chalmers published the
influential book The Conscious Mind, in which he unfolded
his own dualistic theory of consciousness. He described
consciousness as the perception of thoughts, emotions,
and sensory input. Not ‘I think, therefore I am’, but ‘I ex-
perience, therefore I am.’ This correlated to a debate in
quantum mechanics. In 1932, John Von Neumann wrote
the book The Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Me-
chanics. Von Neuman focused on the role of the observ-
er’s subjective perception. Within the physics discipline of
quantum mechanics, they began to realise that the pres-
ence of the observer determined how reality unfolded.
The science of physics began to realise that reality was no
longer absolutely objective. Theories in cognitive science
and quantum mechanics provided a deeper foundation for
postmodernism’s rejection of objectivity.
Open Source
The Open Source movement promotes universal access
to designs, blueprints, and recipes with which digital and
physical applications can be created where everyone has
the right to make modifications and improvements. The
Open Source movement emerged from the hacker and
DIY subcultures, with their strong emphasis on radical
openness and independence. Known applications and or-
ganisations such as Linux, Arduino, and Mozilla fall under
the open-source domain. The Open Source movement
purposefully undermines existing economic principles,
such as copyright, licenses, patents, and other control and
ownership structures. The related model for ownership
is the Commons, the related organisation structure is a
peer-to-peer network, and the related practice is hacking.
Peer-To-Peer
A peer-to-peer network is a production and consump-
tion architecture in which tasks are distributed between
‘peers’. The term became popular in information science
after the invention of the World Wide Web. The general
public came into contact with peer-to-peer systems af-
ter the creation of Napster: a peer-to-peer network that
enabled file sharing. Peer-to-peer networks have a close
practical and ideological relation to hacking, the Com-
mons, and the Open Source movement. It is also a term
for an alternative form of social organisation outside of
the digital world. In a peer-to-peer system, the partici-
pants are equivalent and there is no central organisation.
Subsequently, peer-to-peer production and distribution
bypasses the unequal power relations between employee
and employer and between producer and consumer.
Commons
The English word ‘commons’ refers to an agricultural mod-
el of joint ownership, whereby everyone has equal access
to a community’s resources. The contemporary definition
of resources can vary from soil and water to software and
knowledge. The term became popular in the hacker sub-
culture of the 1970s, where universal access and common
property were dominant topics. In the 1980s, Richard
Stallman founded the Free Software Movement, the first
organised attempt to promote the use and distribution of
free software. Known contemporary examples of the com-
mons are Wikipedia and Creative Commons: an NGO that
delivers open-copyright licenses.
The New Romantic City
Through post-war economic prosperity in the west and the
advent of digital technologies, new subcultures emerged
that tried to reconnect a fragmented human experience.
One aspired to be an autonomous and self-reliant indi-
vidual, and wanted sustainable, small-scale and inclusive
forms of society. A trend galvanised by the rise of the
personal computer and the Internet: instruments through
which the individual can live and work more independent-
ly and society can be less hierarchical. Questions relating
to how and why we work became conflated. The rise of
the creative city stimulated a global urban culture where
Romanticism’s values of individuality and connectedness
are paired with technology and design. One sought new
connections between the global and the local. The rigid
relationships of ownership within the neoliberal system
were constantly challenged. ‘I am’ as an indication of so-
cial status became at least as important as ‘I have’.
The Basic Income
Because of extensive automation, the labour market no
longer distributes wealth; therefore, the introduction
of the basic income becomes socially necessary. This is
made possible because production becomes automated
and localised. Automated production is still in private
hands and innovation and initiative still lie with the indi-
vidual. However, part of the production’s added value is
taxed and this tax revenue can provide everyone with a
basic income. The introduction of the basic income means
the economy is no longer based on the economic problem
of scarcity, but the economic problem of abundance. The
distribution of production replaces production growth as
The Equalisation of Manual
and Cognitive Work
The introduction of the basic income enables people to
develop their individual talents. Manual skills not very
profitable in a scarcity economy can, due to the basic
income, be practiced as a main activity. Producers, from
furniture makers to writers, offer their products cheaper
because the living costs are covered and they have less
entrepreneurial risks. New Romantic values will create a
huge demand for unique, customised products. The social
gap between people with manual and cognitive skills will
close. A Master of Craft will be worth as much as a Master
of Arts or Master of Science.
‘I Am’
In a world of plenty, the accumulation of property is obso-
lete. A collection of expensive cars is basically no differ-
ent than a collection of stamps - except that people may
wonder why you chose such an unwieldy collection. Social
status shifts from ‘I have’ to ‘I am’. Romanticism’s values
of authenticity and truth to nature are dominant. What you
own is subordinated to what you contribute and the sto-
ries that create and motivate you. It’s not about what you
get from your environment, but what you put into it. The
Homo Economicus gives way to the Homo Romanticus.
And unlike the Homo Economicus, the Homo Romanticus
will not get bored if there’s no economic incentive.
Locality and The New Small Scale
The need for a sustainable and inclusive society focuses
on the decreasing scale of the economic, educational, and
regulatory infrastructures. This is made technically pos-
sible by the network society and the advent of multi-pur-
pose robotics. This allows artisans, scientists, garden-
ers, and farmers to use advanced robotics in different
ways, without the presence of supporting infrastructure.
Through its DIY attitude, the equalisation of manual and
cognitive skills, and the new small scale, locality is again
the basis for a community spirit. The production of the
natural and social environments is driven back towards
the community. Circular economic behaviour is the norm.
Guilds, Co-ops, and New Vernaculars
The new small scale and the social and economic equal-
isation of manual and cognitive skills create new part-
nerships. Producers from the same discipline join forces
to organise training and maintain quality assurance. The
reputation of these new guilds or cooperatives is very im-
portant. By assigning master titles, the peers guarantee
the quality of everyone’s work. Some guilds will operate
at a local or regional level, while other more specialised
guilds will seek peers globally. Through the development
of training and quality assurance, some guilds develop
their own vernaculars.
Shared Ownership and Free Distribution
By shifting the social status from ‘I have’ to ‘I am’, the val-
ues and practices of the hacker subculture, such as the
Commons ownership model, are also applied to non-dig-
ital goods. Many goods, physical and digital, will be free-
ly and indirectly distributed through the basic income
or directly via peer-to-peer networks. People are free to
customise, improve, and to make these goods their own.
Personal property is a matter of personal intimacy, instead
of social identity. The yardstick of objects is personal val-
ue instead of social status.
Deconsumption
In a world where social status has shifted from ‘I have’ to
‘I am’, less will automatically be consumed because a new
balance between personal and communal property will be
found and consumption loses its social status. With the
New Romantic emphasis on unique products with a story,
our consumption will shift from quantity to quality. Mass
production of consumer goods is partly replaced by the
production of bespoke work. Most products will be con-
sumed as a ‘temporary service’ rather than as ‘a transac-
tion of property’. The car, the status symbol of the 20th
century, will be self-propelled and consumed as a service.
Demographic Decline
The demographic-economic paradox shows that the more
people experience prosperity, the fewer children they
have. Through extensive automation and the introduction
of the basic income, social equality increases, as does the
sense of well-being. Fewer children means less of a strain
on our natural environment. In a computerised society,
where distribution is the biggest challenge, the ageing
and declining population means more goods for less peo-
ple. Because people are consuming less and having fewer
children, the growth society comes to an end.
Recovered Tragedy
The meeting of the values of Romanticism and the En-
lightenment will lead to an equalisation of the how and
why we live and work. It will lead to a culture taking differ-
ent positions towards life’s inherent limitations. A healthy
attitude will arise in relation to tragic events such as loss,
heartbreak, failure, illness, and death. Seizing opportuni-
ties continues to be encouraged, but with due attention to
personal, social, and natural boundaries. Not everything
is within reach to everyone. This is recognised, acknowl-
edged, and discussed. Through emphasising ‘I am’, the
search for life’s mysteries and addressing questions about
its meaning are again accepted.
Abundant City
The new push for manual labour will affect the way cities
are built and shaped. Shops will increasingly be offset by
workshops that directly sell their products from the work-
bench or via the Internet. Using multi-purpose robots, pro-
duction returns to residential areas. Mega-factories outside
the residential boundaries will disappear. The streetscape
will be less determined by foreign manufactured goods and
acquire a local character. The urban environment will be
mixed in terms of purpose and function, and feel personal
and intimate. People will do more on their own initiative.
Making its experience less abstract and fragmented, resi-
dents and users will appropriate the city.
The Hourglass Economy
In the United States and Europe, 20% of jobs with a middle
class income disappeared in the past 10 years. The rise
of advanced robotics and artificial intelligence combined
with laissez-faire economic policies will continue this de-
cline. This creates an ‘hourglass economy’: an economy
with a small, but very rich, upper class and a large but
also very poor lower class. The vast majority of the pop-
ulation will have little to no economic safety net. Despite
taking multiple jobs and long hours, the expanding low-
er class will live in constant economic uncertainty. This
creates precarious living conditions for a large proportion
of the population. Because the middle class disappears,
the consumer market focuses on the lower or higher seg-
ments. Low quality bulk goods at one end of the spectrum
and hand-made, high-tech, and bespoke products at the
other. Education and health care will also divide along
these lines.
Disappearing Civil Society
The disappearing middle class causes an erosion of civil
society. Civil society is another word for the multitude of
associations such as religious communities, sports and
hobby clubs, interest groups, and non-profit cooperatives.
This is the self-regulatory foundation of a democratic so-
ciety. The majority of these associations are established
and led by middle class people, and adhere to a construc-
tive and meaningful social infrastructure. If a particular
association is not there yet, the middle class often take
the initiative to establish one. The dominant sentiment in
the middle class is indeed the assumption that society is
the result of a joint effort. With the disappearance of civil
society the social infrastructure that supports sports and
hobbies and channels social interests disappears.
Vanishing Constitutional Rule
The middle class generally consists of people who work in
an institutional and professional work culture. Unlike the
lower and upper class, who do more business on a person-
al level (they hustle more), the middle class experiences
society as orderly but also somewhat aloof. The middle
class supports and has confidence in the democratic con-
stitutional state, more so than the lower and upper class-
es. The lower class does not feel represented by the rule of
law, and the upper class feels somewhat elevated above it.
With the disappearance of the middle class, civil society
and the social foundations of the democratic constitution-
al state disappear.
Gated Communities
Growing income inequality, a disappearing middle class,
the erosion of civil society, reduced confidence in the
rule of law, and deteriorating climate conditions inform a
greater sense of insecurity. For the upper class, this re-
sults in a withdrawal to sprawling gated communities that
will also contain natural resources. Barriers, like the fence
between Mexico and the US, will divide the country. The
lower class will go to live in ‘economic reserves’. There is
an unbridgeable spatial reorganisation of society into rich
and poor domains.
New Social Order
The feeling of insecurity among the upper class is rein-
forced by the realisation that lower class poverty is arti-
ficially maintained. After all, automated agriculture and
industry produces enough to provide food, shelter, and
clothing for everyone. However, since economic distribu-
tion has grown from the idea of the labour market, it cre-
ates a neglected lower class and a privileged upper class.
The upper class also splits: a small part will be financially
exempt; a larger portion will consist of scientists, artists
and crafts people producing unique, customised products.
Protection and Access
In a society where there is artificial scarcity and where
only a small part of the population is economically signif-
icant for the industrial complex, ‘productivity’ becomes
less important. The focus of the economy will slowly shift
to ‘comfort, entertainment, and protection’. Protection
from the lower class and against climate collapse. Intel-
ligent military drones will protect the upper class from
the lower class. Social status will deepen from ‘I have’ to
‘I have access’. The lives of the lower and upper class are
now completely separated.
Planetary Ecological System Collapse
When the middle class is removed, this reinforces the im-
plosion of the planetary ecosystem. There are two scenar-
ios that are mutually reinforcing; because of the middle
class’s disappearance, political will also fails to act. Mean-
while, the upper class, powerless to stem the climatic tide,
retreats into safe climate controlled corridors and to the
safest parts of the planet. Drought, torrential rain, and
snowstorms ravage the fragile habitats of the lower class
and paralyse the economic infrastructure, which has slow-
ly fallen into disuse. Slowly, clean water and fertile land
become scarce. Under pressure from climate change, the
lower class becomes increasingly neglected.
www.monnik.org
Graphic design — Roosje Klap

27. “Kunnen we vanuit cultuur de vooruitgang radicaal omdenken
door ons bij elk handelen te baseren op de principes van
circulariteit, wederkerigheid, reflexiviteit en zeggenschap?”

28. circulaire
principes
oncirculair en ongewenst 3 twistpunten
it en geld steeds belangrijker
cultuur nodig voor tegenkracht
“Kunnen we vanuit cultuur de vooruitgang radicaal omdenken
door ons bij elk handelen te baseren op de principes van
circulariteit, wederkerigheid, reflexiviteit en zeggenschap?”
recycling/upcycling
preventie van ‘lekkage’
product-service
systemen
product- en
performance-leases
modulair
ontwerp
ecodesign
biomimicry
industriële
ecologie
ruilen en
delen
• Lineaire economie (take-make-waste)
• Peak everything (kaartenhuis van de industriële
samenleving)
• Machtsconcentratie (‘IkeaGoogle’)
• Kapitalisering (hoge kosten; specialisatie en
schaalvergroting is enige optie)
• Vervreemding (product ➞ dienst ➞ beleving =
grótere kloof producent—consument)
1. Snel doordraaien of traag cycleren?
2. Sociaal en open, of privaat? ➞ Open
source circular economy
3. Rationalisatie en commodificatie, of
bezieling en particularisme?
socrates schouten • www.socrates.nu
Barnes2006