The Messenger - Issue #34: A Citizen's University

While citizenship is typically seen as a relationship between individuals and the state, even the largest and most powerful institutions are incapable of being nimble and sensitive enough to address wicked problems. The people who inhabit a problem have to be co-creators of any solution. Even better, citizens should be able to self-organize themselves to solve problems at every scale: from a hyper local need to a national emergency.

The first book ever printed, i.e., not written or carved by hand, but set in movable type, was done so in China. We don’t know when the very first one was printed but they were being commissioned by 868 CE, when this Diamond Sutra (an Indian Buddhist text that was popular in Chinese Buddhism) was manufactured. It’s dedication says:

And an interview with the historian Dipesh Chakrabarty on planetary politics. His ‘Climate of History’ is also well worth reading.