[Discuss] OSHW & Economics

[Matt Maier]

On Tue, Nov 19, 2013 at 6:27 PM, alicia <amgibb at gmail.com> wrote:

> Consider the phrase "The future is already here, it's just not evenly
> distributed." (by William Gibson in The Economist) That phrase implies the
> problem is not with innovating tech but innovating distribution, be it
> financial or geographical that is the real problem to conquer.
>

Paul Graham has a cogent explanation in one of his essays about how the
"wealth gap" is actually pretty irrelevant. Relative poverty is nothing
compared to actual poverty. A person might feel poor when they can't travel
every holiday, but feeling hungry is an entirely different thing. The
uneven distribution of nice-to-haves will always exist, but I think we can
eliminate the uneven distribution of must-haves. The necessities of life
don't really change and they are ripe for open sourcing, which lowers costs
by orders of magnitude. Lower cost means that everyone can afford them.
Everyone might not get spaceships, but everyone can get shoes.


> I argued in my thesis on the Arduino that one (out of 4) of the reasons it
> became popular was economical - it was cheaper than other microcontrollers
> on the market, but the technology of microcontrollers already existed. They
> made the microcontroller landscape better in more than one, but the
> economic factor was definitely one of them.
>
> In terms of making sure oshw is being manufactured in good working
> conditions, these are not IP concerns as much as business concerns. Any
> company with patented hardware and closed source software can use labor in
> acceptable or unacceptable ways, so I don't think the conversation centers
> around oshw as much as it does around business and economy. I say this
> purely as a thread of logic, not because I don't think stuff should be made
> in terrible environments or that we should not discuss it. I am all about
> happy shiny people holding hands, and I would and do pay more for products
> produced in ways I like, but production lines drawn are not drawn between
> open and closed source stuff.
>

People who have more of what they need are less at the mercy of abusive
deals. Sort of a 'rising tide lifts all boats' situation. When the things
necessary to live cost 10X or 100X or 1000X less the situation becomes much
more "ideal" and everyone has the breathing room to act more rationally.
Open source has a proven track record of making things less expensive and I
think that will only continue as it's applied to more fundamental systems.
When no one has to give up their future to get through the present problems
like awful employment conditions will work themselves out.


>
> Also thanks for being respectful of other cultures. Be mindful that we
> have people world-wide on this list.
>
> Cheers,
> Alicia
>
>
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