Medialab Prado

An economy of knowledge exists, as do knowledge companies and workers. All the talk nowadays about the “knowledge society”, however, is an exaggeration, if one is referring to a civil knowledge society (or a knowledge citizenry). Given that the issue of the governance of knowledge is currently under discussion, a political philosophy on knowledge must be developed that continues to place a high value on the freedom of flows of knowledge. There are several historical examples of free knowledge communities. Many scientific communities are also examples. However, in the era of techno-science and R+D systems, there is a strong tendency to privatize, capitalize and make profits on knowledge. In contrast, there are numerous free knowledge communities that affirm that knowledge is a common good. Understanding knowledge to be a res publica (literally, “the public thing”) the problem arises of how to organize and govern the communities that cultivate it. In this lecture, republican models of governance will be proposed, based on free knowledge and open access.