Working definition. A commons is something a community depends on and governs together—not because nobody owns it, but because no single interest can sustain its full value alone.
Inherited meaning
Commons once named shared lands, waters, and forests. The idea now includes knowledge, language, culture, software, and public institutions. Its history warns against two simplifications: open access without stewardship can exhaust a commons, while enclosure can destroy the relationships that made it fertile.
Meaning in the imagination economy
AI is built from immense cultural and informational inheritances, yet its benefits can become privately enclosed while its costs remain public. The imagination economy needs commons in which references, methods, and possible futures can circulate without becoming ownerless raw material. A healthy commons converts inheritance into reciprocal capability.
What changes in practice
Name what the work has inherited, what it contributes back, who participates in its governance, and how extraction is limited. Design access together with maintenance and accountability.