View source for TED Talk - 3 Minute Point Cut Unformatted

TED Talk - 3 minute point cut

slideHi, my name is Marcin. I'm a farmer – technologist / from Poland now in the US / I started a group called slideOpen Source Ecology - and we took on a very big, hairy, audacious goal. We identified the 50 most important machines that allow modern life to exist – the basic tools that we all - rely on - every day / whether we know it or not / everything from a Tractor slide to an oven slide to a circuit maker slide. Then we create an open source, DIY version that anyone can build and maintain at a fraction of the cost. slide We call this the Global Village Construction Set. slide Is this reinventing the wheel? Yes. Let me tell you a story. I finished my 20's with a Phd in fusion energy slide and I discovered - that I was useless / I had no practical skills / The world presented me with options and I took them, slide I guess you would call this the consumer lifestyle. So I started a farm slide in Missouri / and I learned about the economics of farming. I bought a tractor slide // and it broke slide / I paid to repair it slide/ and it broke again slide / and then soon enough / I was broke, too slide. I realized that the truly appropriate - low-cost tools / that I needed / to build a sustainable farm and settlement - just - didn’t - exist yet. I needed tools that were slide robust / slide modular / slide highly efficient / slide low cost / slide made from local or recycled materials / slide and, that were designed for a lifetime - not obsolescence. I realized slide I'd have to build 'em myself. I did just that / slide and I tested them / I found that industrial productivity - can be achieved - on a small scale. // I posted all the slide designs, schematics, instructional videos, and budgets onto a wiki. slide Then contributors from all - around - the world began slide showing up - prototyping new machines slide - during dedicated project visits slide / To date, we prototyped slide 8 of the 50 machines / and now the project is beginning - to grow on its own slide We know open source has succeeded with software slide and with tools for managing knowledge slide / and creativity. Despite a lot of early skepticism / it's beginning to happen with slide hardware too. We're focusing on hardware - because it’s hardware that can slidechange - people's – lives - in such tangible - material ways. If we can lower the barriers to farming - building - and manufacturing - then we can unleash massive amounts of human potential. slide And not only in the developing world. slide We’ve seen lots of excitement from American farmers / makers / and builders - who can use our free published library to start a construction business slide - a parts factory - an organic CSA -