openvirgle commons surman vs. virgle philanthrocapitalism edwards
Paul D. Fernhout
so I'm posting this page I wrote (originally an email that did not go
through) to the list to keep it in the archive. Let's see if it finally goes
through two years plus later. :-)
Though I've since written more general stuff echoing this theme:
http://www.pdfernhout.net/post-scarcity-princeton.html
http://www.oscomak.net/wiki/Main_Page
http://knol.google.com/k/paul-d-fernhout/beyond-a-jobless-recovery#Four_long%282D%29term_heterodox_alternatives
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p14bAe6AzhA
Most recently:
"Notes on 21st century economics"
http://groups.google.com/group/openmanufacturing/browse_thread/thread/e3b8c4fd4d874272
Or one could read Paul Hawken's Blessed Unrest or watch the video he made
related to it:
"Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being
and Why No One Saw It Coming" by Paul Hawken
http://www.blessedunrest.com/video.html
--Paul Fernhout
http://www.pdfernhout.net/
====
The biggest challenge of the 21st century is the irony of technologies of
abundance in the hands of those thinking in terms of scarcity.
========
[Humorously and ironically, this post I sent a couple days ago did not get
past the moderation system, so I am placing it here. I'm more inclined to
think that holdup is just from Google's SPAM filter and a busy list owner
than any kind or repression.]
Date originally sent: 04/22/2008 11:12 PM
I was so "tired and shagged out" after my last long squawk :-)
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.monty-python/msg/ebdbc982a9633e08
that I promised everyone I would stick to coding from now on, but there was
such a coincidence of articles recently on the theme of funding
post-scarcity digital public works that I felt I had to mention them. :-)
"Slashdot | Is Open Source the Answer To Giving?"
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/04/20/1313223
"Mark Surman, Shuttleworth Foundation fellow, writes that open source is the
answer to philanthropy's $55 trillion question: how to spend the money
expected to flow into foundations over the next 25 years. While others have
lashed out at 'Philanthro-Capitalism' � claiming that the charitable giving
of Gates and others simply extends power in the market to power over society
� Surman believes that open source shows the way to the harmonious yin-yang
of business and not-for-profit. Sun, Microsoft, Cisco, IBM, Yahoo, and
Facebook are big backers of Creative Commons; Mozilla has spawned two
for-profits. Open source shows that philanthropy and business can cohabit
and mutually thrive. Indeed, philanthropy might learn from open source to
find new ways to organize itself for spending that $55 trillion."
"Philanthropy on the commons"
http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/globalisation/philanthropy_on_the_commons
"From where I sit, much of what Edwards says seems wrong or misdirected,
mixing apples with oranges with assumptions. Which is why I was so suprised
to see him briefly trumpeting one of my favourite ideas: "... new business
models built around �the commons' such as open source software and other
forms of �non-proprietary production'". Edwards suggests that these new
models have the potential to deliver deep changes to both our society and
our economy. I agree. In fact, I would argue that they already have. ,,,"
commenting on:
"Philanthrocapitalism: after the goldrush"
http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/globalisation/visions_reflections/philanthrocapitalism_after_the_goldrush
"The application of business principles to the world of civil society and
social change has fashion, wealth, power and celebrity behind it. But where
is the evidence that "philanthrocapitalism" works, and are there better ways
to achieve urgently needed global social progress? It's time to end the hype
and start the debate, says Michael Edwards ... My worry is that the hype
surrounding philanthrocapitalism will divert attention from the deeper
changes that are required to transform society, reduce decisions to an
inappropriate bottom line, and lead us to ignore the costs and trade-offs
involved in extending business principles into the world of civil society
and social change. I'm concerned that these questions, and the evidence that
underpins them, are not being given a fair hearing. And I want to provoke a
conversation in which different positions can be aired and listened to. The
only way that philanthrocapitalism will be able to fulfill its considerable
potential is by moving beyond the hype. ..."
================================================
Humorous interlude from: Monty Python's "Revolting Peasants"
http://www.infoshop.org/library/Revolting_Peasants_(Monty_Python)
DENNIS: What I object to is that you automatically treat me like an inferior ...
ARTHUR: Well ... I AM king.
DENNIS: Oh, very nice. King, eh! I expect you've got a palace and fine
clothes and courtiers and plenty of food. And how d'you get that? By
exploiting the workers! By hanging on to outdated imperialist dogma which
perpetuates the social and economic differences in our society! If there's
EVER going to be any progress ...
An OLD WOMAN appears.
OLD WOMAN: Dennis! There's some lovely filth down here ... Oh! how d'you do?
...
OLD WOMAN: Well, how did you become king, then?
ARTHUR: The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite,
held Excalibur aloft from the bosom of the water to signify by Divine
Providence ... that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur ... That is why I am
your king!
DENNIS: Look, strange women lying on their backs in ponds handing out swords
[and stock options :-)] ... that's no basis for a system of government.
Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from
some farcical aquatic ceremony.
ARTHUR: Be quiet!
DENNIS: You can't expect to wield supreme executive power just 'cause some
watery tart threw a sword at you!
ARTHUR: Shut up!
DENNIS: I mean, if I went around saying I was an Emperor because some
moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, people would put me away!
ARTHUR: (Grabbing him by the collar) Shut up, will you. Shut up!
DENNIS: Ah! NOW ... we see the violence inherent in the system.
ARTHUR: Shut up!
PEOPLE (i.e. other PEASANTS) are appearing and watching.
DENNIS: (calling) Come and see the violence inherent in the system. Help,
help, I'm being repressed!
ARTHUR: (aware that people are now coming out and watching) Bloody peasant!
(pushes DENNIS over into mud and prepares to ride off)
DENNIS: Oh, Did you hear that! What a give-away.
ARTHUR: Come on, patsy.
They ride off.
DENNIS: (in the background as we PULL OUT) did you see him repressing me,
then? That's what I've been on about ...
================================================
Guess I am falling behind the times in my old age (40s :-), even without
repression: :-)
"OpenVirgle" and On funding post-scarcity digital public works (long)
http://groups.google.com/group/virgle/msg/de1a99ede7e0e615
And my falling behind is a *good* thing IMHO. :-)
A flow into foundations of $55 trillion over the next 25 years? I didn't
know it was that much.
So no one here should *ever* suggest the absence of *money* for R&D and
deployment is the problem for making either Spaceship Earth (Sustainability)
or Spaceship Mars (OpenVirgle) work for everyone, even at the same time. :-)
It comes down to issues like ideology and imagination, not "resources".
And we now have a front row seat as two philanthropic giants battle out our
future (OpenVirgle/Commons/Surman vs. Virgle/Philanthrocapitalism/Edwards)
at this very moment.
Google apparently having left the field to Edwards as its champion? :-)
Guessing from Google's philanthropic web pages
http://www.google.org/
http://www.google.org/foundation.html
it does seem like they lean much more towards "Philanthrocapitalism" than an
open "commons" approach.
And so Virgle vs. OpenVirgle may really reflect some deep beliefs at Google
at the moment. But people can change. Sometimes. :-)
I know I have. Sometimes. :-)
http://www.amazon.com/How-People-Change-Allen-Wheelis/dp/006090447X
"This compulsively readable book explores the nature of suffering, freedom,
insight, will, action, and change."
And I say that even as I also *applaud* Google's Philanthrocapitalist
choices in general, especially related to renewable energy.
But should we even leave our future solely to the outcome of that
ideological battle as waged by such philanthropic giants? :-) Or just do it
ourselves?
http://www.openvirgle.net/
OpenVirgle is really just part of larger trends to openness:
"A New Kind of Science Collaboration"
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/04/22/0041232
and professional amateurs or philanthropies doing space things:
"Private Efforts Fill Gaps In Earth's Asteroid Defenses"
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/04/22/0116259
Both articles from today by coincidence. Or an exponential trend? :-)
Certainly help doing internet stuff on space is unlikely to come from NASA:
"NASA Wants its MMO Created for Free"
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/04/21/1744251
That must be a terrible embarrassment for the good people who work there on
the $16 billion NASA annual budget to have to set such a low priority on the
internet, as well as be so crassly commercial: "NASA will consider
negotiating brand placement, limited exclusivity and other opportunities."
So sad to have fallen so far from the lofty ideals of the 1960s. :-(
Incidentally, Google-ites shouldn't feel singled out by me. I've picked on
the (now highly esteemed by me :-) Shuttleworth Foundation too, :-) two
years ago to the day, by coincidence:
"Paul Fernhout Says: April 22nd, 2006 at 1:46 am"
http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/26
"Excerpts from an email I wrote in another context, looking at the
limitations of compulsary schooling to accomplish the goals Mark outlines,
even schooling informed by constructivist thinking."
As a last comment on Philanthrocapitalism/Edwards:
http://www.famousquotes.com/show.php?_id=1009329
"If I knew...that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of
doing me good, I should run for my life." -- Henry David Thoreau
Versus on the Free and Open Commons/Surman approach to philanthropy:
http://djterasaki.wordpress.com/2007/12/19/lila-watsons-quote-well-sort-of/
"If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have
come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together"
--Paul Fernhout