OSE IP Rescue Operations

Q: How would OSE work as a means of moving any technology forward?

OSE has access to fundraising capacity and a talent pool of professionals as well as open source die-hards. Some of the people that we work with are the top in their field, and many of them are willing to share their knowledge with us as motivated by a higher purpose: that of availing modern, appropriate technology to humankind. Some volunteer to do this, others do it at a fee. The way this works is that OSE is the instigator who makes the connections by engaging directly in a given development. For example, a combination of talent that comes to us - with our social capital and access to networks (TED, funders, and other high level contacts) - we are typically able to move good ideas forward. The key link to this in many cases is being able to attract good talent - and we are able to do this relatively well because of the popularity of our work (such as 1.2M hits on the TED Talk)

Q: How deep do you go into technology?

Our goal is to go all the way - to making precision ball bearings, smelting silicon, and extracting aluminum from clay. This is called Technological Recursion. With a simpler tool, a more complex tool can be made - if the knowhow is available, and if a person can be taugh to do it. The mission of OSE is to liberate that knowhow so that more people have access to doing more advanced things. We foresee a future where the incompetent person does not know how to make a precision ball bearing, just like today an incompetent person is someone who cannot use a computer.