Additional Nonprofit Strategy Terms

Message from the Founder

As Founder of OSE, I'd like to share some insights on what it takes to develop and move this project forward.

I believe that reinventing community-based solutions of localized production is the single most pressing issue facing civilization today.

This issue would not be so pressing if it were not possible - but the particular convergence of this moment in history makes this both a desirable and inevitable choice. I have committed my life to making this choice a reality.

Artificial material scarcity is a tangible issue - and without going into deeper metaphysical issues - it is one that needs to be addressed. With todays knowledge and technology, and the recent emergence of open source economic development, this issue has a chance of being solved. We have a choice, as humans, to move beyond artificial scarcity.

What is the promise? We don't know - we have never been there yet. We could only guess that the world will be better than it is today.

Today's world is filled with outdated institutions and practices as a supersized civilization is cracking at its seams. As we transition beyond this, we create new, increasingly resilient structures. We build on the old to create the new.

The nonprofit sector is one of those old institutions. I see it personally as part of a larger broken system - where entrenched systems prevent the world from transitioning to much-needed change. I see the nonprofit sector as one of those institutions that are built on the extractive economic practices of yesterday - a response based on making a killing in the world, and then trying to give back to the world. We can do better.

Persistent poverty, deprivation, and modern colonialism are outdated and the lot of humanity should be improved.

The promise of the GVCS is transcending material scarcity, where a new form of social organization provides for everybody - by building on lessons from yesterday. The foundation of OSE is Distributive Economics - where we don't generate poverty in the first place - but produce sufficient wealth everywhere that sunlight, water, soil, and plants are found. We are not talking about returning to the stone age, but creating modern civilization from local resources - simply because it's possible and desirable.

So as we move on to complete the GVCS, we are moving forward endorsing the support from the nonprofit sector - but not endorsing the old system upon which the nonprofit sector is founded. Our hope is that everybody benefits by creating a new system.

I am convinced that everybody wants to be happy. We're all in this together. There is no 'them,' it's only 'us,' for which reason I don't fear the opposition. I am convinced that those who benefit from the old system will adopt new choices - once it's shown that we could simply provide - and provide abundantly - for everybody on this planet - when we choose to do so. Our goal is to pioneer a clear path to this possibility - and I know of nobody who is in principle opposed to this point. History will tell what happens in practice.

Practical Terms

Ooperationalizing the above notions leads to practical considerations on how GVCS development should proceed. Here I present some principles upon which OSE is built:

1. OSE is about creating substance. That substance is the hardware foundation for modern civilization, and Distributive Enterprise for its production.
2. The end-game of OSE is transformation of the system to post-scarcity economics via Distributive Enterprise - reinvention of community-based solutions of localized production.
3. Success at the above-stated goals indicates the creation of a substantive, new economic engine for modern civilization.
4. It follows clearly from the last point that if OSE succeeds, then significant economic power will be generated to support further open source economic development.
5. Open source economic development can be a viable choice for product development in a new economy
6. Historical trends indicate that such development is inevitable, and that the world is changing in a deep way.
7. OSE's role is to facilitate this transition.
8. Resources from the existing system are necessary for transcendence of that system.
9. Substantive development of the GVCS involves developing open design from the contributions of subject matter experts, designers, prototypers, and others.
10. With limited resources at present, our focus is primarily that substantive development - where a small but capable development team can make immense progress by building on the information access and technology born in the digital age.