Personal fabrication is perhaps the closest thing to a science fiction replicator that could occur today. It can also be a new form of production that does not need the centralized structures of factories. The ability to create things locally to fulfill local needs can empower communities in an economically just way.

 
Current neoliberal capitalism emphasizes individuals over social relations, while sociology emphasizes relations over individuals. Any attempt to create a common identity among individuals creates a general existence. This general existence can only be expressed through particular individuals, but these individuals can not be understood unless there is a general background of interaction. By limiting the emphasis on individual action, one can have a proliferation of social relationships which is the heart of any economic activity.

 
Here is an illustrated review of the new book by Douglas Rushkoff. It details the growth of the power of corporations and how that expansion has infiltrated social relationships. The corporate model , and the commodification of daily life that follows, has been so complete that it becomes difficult for communities to imagine other alternatives.

 
Graham Harman is a philosopher of speculative realism who has created a new interpretation of Heidegger. Beginning with the fact that objects as tools are embedded within a ubiquitous system, he has stated that even when these tools become apparent there are some aspects that exist outside of human experience. This emphasizes the autonomy of reality beyond human experience or intervention.

 
This upcoming Saturday will mark the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock festival which became a high point of both the 1960's and the counterculture. It demonstrated that an alternative society was at least possible, and was the test run for other intentional communities that came later. But 1969 was also a very important year in that it marked a very clear dividing line between the American culture before it and the American culture after it. After 1969, there could never be a return to how things were before.

 
When computer technology began to advance, achievements in virtual reality were also possible. But the history of virtual reality has resulted in many techniques and devices that never went anywhere. Virtual reality therefore advanced through computers in ways that could never be predicted by these particular attempts.