2028
About
2028 may be a big year in human history. When Global Democratic Decline began in 2006, we started Factor e Farm - the permanent land base of the open source ecology experiment. Our Roadmap calls for completion of the Global Village Construction Set by 2028. That would mark the point when a civilization starter kit is made available to everyone on earth, with the ability to regenerate any economy from scratch. In practical terms, that means economic transformation to a peacetime economy based on a new culture of global and local collaboration on the overall economic process.
Currently we believe that with about $50M of open source product development of key technologies that drive civilization (manufacturing, construction, agriculture, steel, concrete, engines, fuels, microchips) - we can produce a kernel of Degenerate, modular technology which allows any community to gain full prosperity in its economy. This implies much improved human relations both locally and globally. In practice, this means that civilization will have achieved self-determination, founded on efficient productivity that allows for universal financial independence. Thus, the beginning of a universal possibility of critical thinking, moral intelligence, and freedom from political manipulation. Relevant byproducts include the reinvention of education, end of environmental destruction, and end of resource conflicts, among others.
The $50M refers to an average of $1M spent to develop any of the 50 GVCS machines to enterprise level, namely, the capacity for industrial productivity on a small scale. Small scale refers to village-scale enterprise on the Dunbar's Number scale - and scalable to global scales on a modular basis. Essentially - we are experimenting with the notion that any advanced industry area, of which there may be up to a couple hundred or so - can be achieved in an enterprise on a Dunbar's number scale. For example, producing steel or its alloys to meet any need of advanced civilization - or even microchips - can be achieved within a ~200 person enterprise. Thus, if each of such enterprises can be open sourced, then we entertain the possibility of Distributed Market Substitution in that area. While we are considering technology per se in this argument - the same applies to any other endeavor, from governance to education to art to financial services etc. As such, a number of modular areas of knowhow can be created, and these coordinated such that any human enterprise (businesses, insitutions, cities, entire countries, etc) begins to prosper. This would be the delivery of the promise of technology, applied to human prosperity and self-determination.
Let's examine prosperity, and the myth of technology. To summarize: when production has far outstripped consumption - ie, the human capacity to produce has far outstripped its ability to consume - can we make a correction for the distribution of wealth, the regeneration of the earth, and termination of war and animosity between people and nations? The answer lies in a mindshift to a mindset of abundance, away from the scarcity mindset that pervades current institutions. Just think about this: machines today, such as an agricultural combine, can harvest 30 acres of wheat per hour or about 30 tons [1] - and modern technology provides comparable, ridiculously high yields in any sector of the economy. Taking the wheat example as a thought experiment - if a farmer produces 30 tons per hour, in one year of such time a farmer (and not even a farmer, as an RTK-GPS autonomous tractor) - can produce about 200,000 tons. A person needs the calories contained in under 1 kg of wheat per day - so that 200k tons could feed about a half a million people! This is an extreme example that does not take into consideration many things - but the point is that ridiculously extreme levels of productivity exist - in all areas - so from first principles - why do we even entertain the notion of a scarcity mindset that leads us to conflict and wars? We can do better.
Let's continue with the wheat example. Say there was one farmer who harvested wheat year round, the reality is that one wheat farmer (240k [2]) farmer actually feeds only 1500 people in the US. Still, that is quite efficient.
One may ask - why has now society become so complicated that with the above extreme productivity, making ends meet for most people is still hard. 72% don't feel financially secure in the USA [3] - the wealthiest country in the world - not to mention any poor countries. The overall wealth distribution around the world is absurd, with 8 of the wealthiest people owning as much as the 3.5 billion at the bottom of the pyramid. See Distribution of Wealth.
The solution is efficient, open, collaborative enterprise that guarantees financial security for 100% of the population. This is simply a moral imperative: how can we lead our lives without self-determination, not doing what we are called to do - because surviving or 'making a living' gets in the way? This pattern must be distributed widely throughout the world, thereby eradicating artificial scarcity, political manipulation (local to regional threatening of one's livelihood in exchange for a promise of security), propaganda (political manipulation on the international scale) and war.
The OSE Experiment
OSE is located in Maysville, Missouri, a small farm town north of Kansas City. We can start here by shifting the area to economic prosperity, right in our backyard. If our county has 10k people, there is plenty of a market to regenerate housing; produce steel, concrete, and agricultural equipment; produce engines and cars; produce tools and household goods; produce food. Then to educate the local pupulation to The Edge of Knowledge concept, thereby surpassing hot hubs like Silicon Valley in innovation by creating a culture of open innovation and collaboration that relies in integration of technology, enterprise, and daily living - without precedent in human history. And making the same pattern relevant or exportable easily to anywhere in the world - by open sharing of enterprise models for a new civilization.
To get into some numbers, 10k people in Maysville's county - Dekalb County - with $30k income means $300M buying power annually. This is sufficient to sustain a number of enterprises, while producing and retaining significant wealth within the community.
