Cosmo-Local: What's Next for Civilization | Ep 92

Michel Bauwens—founder of the P2P Foundation—joins Mickelle Weber for a wide-angle, grounded conversation on what happens when the systems we inherited (market vs. state) stop matching the world we’re living in. Michel argues we’re in a civilizational transition accelerated by the internet’s ability to enable “translocal self-organization”: people coordinating, building, and sharing value across borders—without waiting for institutions to catch up.

Together, they explore how the rise of commons-based, peer-to-peer networks changes our definitions of value, work, and belonging. Mickelle connects Michel’s “cosmo-local” lens to the lived reality of expatriates and globally mobile people: life happens locally—visas, families, health, community—but knowledge and coordination can (and should) flow globally. The heart of the episode lands on a human truth: technology without relational infrastructure isn’t enough. If we want a life worth living, we need new containers for solidarity, contribution, and care.

Michel closes with a nuanced view of AI: not as a savior, but as a powerful synthesizing tool—and potentially an interface that helps humans understand the needs of the more-than-human world. The invitation is clear: build networks that are rooted, regenerative, and real.

In this episode:

• Why “market vs. state” is an outdated debate—and what a third path could be

• Contributory value, DAOs, and how commons can reshape economics

• Cosmo-local: keep what’s heavy local; share what’s light globally

• The loneliness/atomization problem—and why belonging is infrastructure

• Dominator models, difference, and what “generative” could actually mean

• AI as a synthesis engine—and an interface with ecology

Find Michel’s work and every link mentioned for this episode at: https://www.houseofperegrine.com/podcast/ep-092

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