Initial Assessment JET

OSE Apprenticeship - Initial Assessment

How we interpret reality - the mental models of reality that we form - determine how we act and what we think is possible. Thus, it is important to create accurate mental models - so we don't cause trouble in the world - and so we can live to our fullest potential. This survey starts with skills/goals assessments - and moves on to assessement of possibilities (as related to the mental models that we hold) - to be revisited and studied later to see how we change and grow as a result of the OSE experience. This is thus an important baseline, and it should be open for anyone to review and contribute to in the name of transparency and growth. The questions here explore your current understanding and perceptions regarding open collaboration, tranformative work, possibility of change, and corresponding scales and time frames. This is all about gaining clarity on creating the reality that we want to build as our future goals.

What is your name?

• Joshua

What specific technical skills do you look forward to learning the most during the Apprenticeship?

• Building the Eco-Home and learning the entire design/build process. I've been researching and watching other go off-grid and build their homes. I also see that Intentional Communities are able to work toward being mostly self-sufficient.
• Finding out more about the GVCS and the engineering behind them. I hope to be able to participate in working on some of the machines and replicate them one day. Learning how to do basic welding will be a valuable skill.
• Being able to combine my programming knowledge with hardware to build new electronics and possibly even smaller appliances eventually. Seeing what is possible is inspiring and being immersed in an in this environment will help me realize my potential in this area.
• Working on the aquaponics garden and working on improving the overall ecology of the campus. I've been into researching regenerative agriculture recently and one day I would like to take on a project to regenerate a plot of land. In addition, working to build a community or a village with like-minded individuals is something that of interest to me.

I want you to tell me 4-6 things that you expect that you will get from the apprenticeship, and please tell me 4-6 things that you will teach me or the group.

Learning

• General construction knowledge along with electrical, carpentery, metalworking, and 3D printing.
• A better vision of how to build an ecovillage which can be mostly self-sufficient and create products to sell or exchange for value.
• An experience for how true collaboration works and that it actually is the best way. Trusting that a group of people have my back and are working generally towards the same goals high level.
• A more concrete direction for me to take my company in

Teaching

• Teaching generally anything in context to IT
• Computer Science topics
• Exercise, nutrition, possibly cooking.
• Philosophical concepts
• Gaming, Tetris especially

What specific soft skills, as opposed to technical skills, do you look forward to developing most during the apprenticeship?

• Being better able to speak with people in open dialogue as to what is wrong with the current system and solutions to work toward building a better one(s).
• Becoming better able to negotiate with other groups to form a sort of federation or international collective. There is power in numbers and the only way these solutions will work is if we have many people working towards the same bigger picture goal.
• Being able to negotiate with businesses or investors in a way that does not center around financial/monetary exchange but around the exchange of true value.

What are your larger aspirations for knowhow and skills that you are interested in gaining in the apprenticeship?

• Eventually, forming a physical community or ecovillage where individuals focus on furthering goals of shared economy and movement away from capitalism, scarcity and competition. This would be involve either buying cheap land and regenerating it through agriculture/permaculture or starting in an dilapidated urban environment to begin introducing others to the concepts that we are working to develop.
• Providing resources to other collaborators to enable them to reach their own individuals, discrete goals.
• Satisfying financial/capital requirements by selling products or by exchanging with local communities. Also setting up a trade platform or network to track these transactions(Blockchain).
• Building a platform to allow others to learn the skills to become more self-reliant and self-sufficient.

What skills and knowledge are you interested in getting throughout your life? What would you consider success in your learnings when you ask at the end of your life?

• I strive to be well-rounded and possess many skills(Generalizing Specialist). Many of the skill I want to learn are centered around being able to provide the basics of civilization.
  • Further develop my understandings of Computer Science and Information Technology
  • Grow to understand and apply sustainable and regenerative design. Also become able to engineer different solutions tailored to particular environments and situations. The OSE Apprenticeship will help in this area specifically. Another sub-discipline I am interested in is Electrical Engineering.
  • Ability to use data analysis more effectively and better understand data science
  • Further understand ecology, agriculture and dynamic systems from a big picture perspective.
  • Developed ability to apply herbalism, naturopathy, holistic techniques to alleviate dis-ease. Also to improve mood, extend life longevity and improve physical and mental performance.

What are your known areas of strength - skills and capacities - both organizationally, business wise, and personally?

Skills

• Generally have a well-rounded skill set and foundational knowledge of many aspects of Information Technology
  • Networking, Security, Programming, Infrastructure, Database, Data Analytics
• Understanding of and other Electronics. Have worked with Arduino, Adafruit Microcontroller and Raspberry Pi
• Understanding of basic hydroponics, soil science, plant nutrition
• Basic graphic design, video editing, live-streaming setup, blogging
• Technical documentation, project management, digital marketing
• Basics of Business Administration
• Creating proposals, estimates and other client/customer documentation
• Exercise, training, basic nutrition, aspiring herbalist

Personal

• Multi-disciplinarian/Generalizing Specialist
• Kine-aesthetic Learner
• Patient
• Egalitarian
• Fluid

What about your weaknesses that you would like to improve?

• I start projects and endeavors but end up not finishing them
• I can take things personally, but I have gotten much better at understanding where people are coming from and why.
• I can understand Math when presented with a practical example, but some formulas/concepts don't make sense to me because I can't apply them anywhere in the real world. I also know that this problem is limited by my own understanding as well.
• I can overlook details and practicality especially when I'm enthusiastic about a project or process
• Staying in a comfortable place or situation when change is needed

What weaknesses are you not particularly interested in improving?

• Starting up of many projects (Need to finish them though).
• Being somewhat ADD/scattered at times.
• Generally trusting people and believing they can always be better.
• Gaming, this takes a lot of time (One of the only recreational outlets)
• "Pie-In-The-Sky" outlook a lot of the time

Now comes a bunch of specific interests questions. Please rate 1-5 - 1 is least, 5 is most

1. What is your level of interest in mechatronics? 4
2. Systems Transformation 4
3. CAD 4
4. Collaboration 4
5. Peak performance 4
6. Psychology 4
7. Spirituality 5
8. Systems thinking 4
9. Building Things 5
10. Engineering/Calculations 4
11. Entrepreneurship 4
12. Marketing 3
13. Mining 4
14. Graphic Design / Visual Arts 3
15. Computer languages / coding 4
16. Microcontrollers 4
17. Robotics 4
18. Geography 3
19. History 2
20. Video production 3
21. CNC Machines 5
22. 3D Printing 5
23. Research 4
24. Genetics 4
25. Artificial Intelligence 4
26. Spaceflight and exploration 4
27. Writing/copywriting/storytelling 3
28. Life extension 4
29. Applied chemistry 5
30. Meditation 4
31. Health, medicine, and exercise 5
32. Medical technology 4
33. Electronics 5
34. Integrated Agriculture 5
35. Aquaponics 5
36. Housing/house construction 5
37. Math 4
38. Permaculture 4
39. Terraforming - earth works and water works for improving the environment 5
40. Aviation 5
41. Event organizing 4
42. Public speaking 3
43. Art 3
44. Music 3
45. Metallurgy and hot metal processing? 4
46. Theater and performance 2

How do you picture your collaboration with OSE would look like after you finish the apprenticeship?

• Continuing to provide support around the IT Systems that OSE has.
• Assisting in projects/build outs and R&D to help move toward innovation.
• Working to build out my own brand and assist in generating interest in the movement.
• Working toward forming an ecovillage which will be a collaborator with the OSE Project.
• Helping to brainstorm about future collaborative projects and logistics, one specifically being supply chain and management within the network of groups that OSE is partnered/affiliated with.

How do you think the apprenticeship will help you collaborate in your work life in general?

• I think the apprenticeship will enable me to help build synergy with other people that are working on the same project. Generally, I am used to working mostly alone until it is time to turn over project deliverables. I expect that there will be more transparency(good thing) and more of a dynamic way of working. It's important to try to learn from any situation and to be a student/teacher at the same time. I'm new to the type of work and others will come in with different ways of dealing or more experience so I will have to keep this point in mind.

What obstacles do you currently see that could get in the way of your success in the apprenticeship? How do you plan to address them?

• My own belief in whether I will be successful at this would be the biggest factor in my success. If I don't think there is anyway for me to be successful, I won't give full effort.
• Keeping in mind the overarching goals that the project has and knowing that it will take time to be successful. I need to also keep in mind that there many ways to make a living besides the way I've made it in the past.

In your estimation, how long do you think it will take you to learn to build the Seed Eco-Home from scratch, to the point that you are comfortable building one independently? Which parts of the build are you / are you not / interested in learning?

• With the way the training is structured, probably 8-12 months. I think the apprenticeship will give individuals a good, well rounded skill set but the true rate that everyone will develop as depends on how many homes are built during the apprenticeship and how much each person partakes in various "roles" around building the house. It think it would take least 2-3 times for an individual to be familiar enough with each "component group" of the house to get a decent understanding. The more practice, the less time it would take.

Are you interested in learning how to run 24 person or larger swarm build crews on the Seed Eco-Home to add this to your skill set of what you can do after the Apprenticeship?

• Yes, I think it is important to be able to manage projects and guide individuals toward realizing the final product.

Are you interested in learning the capacity to plan and execute Seed Eco-Homes from start to finish - as a build manager or executive? This is more the executive track - where you gain the capacity to run a full service Seed Eco-Home build operation.

• Yes, this will also help fit into the plan of developing an Ecovillage as well eventually. Of course... financing is needed for any greenfield project generally.

How would you rate your enterprise skills - such as negotiation, ceation of value propositions, strategy, marketing, revenue models, recruiting, feedback loops, customer service, etc? Please explain, and share specific learning goals that you have regarding enterprise.

• Most of my experience comes from being an employee so generally, I have only negotiated my salary. Later in my career I did find myself trying to negotiate for other compensation when the salary didn't seem to be enough.
• I've ran digital marketing campaigns for my own company but not for something directed and refined. I am familiar with laying out business plans but I did not develop one for myself because I was not looking for funding.
• Customer service is a skill that I've always found invaluable throughout my career. I would say that this is probably my strongest skill out of the others listed.
• Overall I would say that I have a good understanding of enterprise theory, but I have not had the true experience of running my own enterprise.

Which of your strengths or skills do you think will help you succeed with the apprenticeship and life after the apprenticeship?

• Being a pioneer
• Being diplomatic and tactful
• Attempting to be inclusive and best utilizing strengths of the group
• Diligence and dedication to further projects/plans
• Perseverance through failure and trials

Considering the technical definition of open source hardware, please describe how open source hardware implies 'economic freedom'? See OSHWA definition and DIN Spec 3105.

See more at https://wiki.opensourceecology.org/wiki/Open_Source_Hardware_Association

In 3 months of time from start (mid point), what would you see as successful progress for you within the apprenticeship?

• Having a solid understanding of the current state of the project, its direction and my part in it
• Having at least basic skills related to the Seed Eco-Home production along with knowledge of the necessary tools to use at appropriate situations:
  • Foundation
  • Framing
  • Plumbing
  • Electrical and Photovoltaics

Within 6 months of time, what would you consider successful progress for you in the apprenticeship?

• Being able to understand the Seed Eco-Home process end-to-end
• Having knowledge of the rest of the GVCS and being able to independently contribute to
• Knowledge of necessary supplementary study related to further engineering and theoretical work to advance future projects(To know what I don't know. To know how to build on existing applications but working to develop further intuition.)
• Working toward purchasing land, being a partner and beginning to move away from the typical finance, career-oriented lifestyle I currently have
• Have successfully generated awareness and interest around the project to my network
• Improved the IT systems of OSE in a meaningful way

What does open collaboration and working openly mean to you?

• This means documenting everything and publishing it publicly for others to use, remix or contribute to.
• Being open to revisions and constructive criticisms around work for objective improvement.
• Being able to brainstorm openly with others to achieve some goal. No holding back.
• Allowing others to take part in your projects or plans rather than unilaterally trying to control. (Something I will have to get used to but do-able.)

How much value do you want to generate or create every year?

• I don't like the idea of defining success in terms of the dollar but I know that it is essential to any project with the current state of things. I think defining success by the amount of support, partnerships and interest there is in the project year over year is a reasonable metric. I'm not sure how many engaged developers there are but I think it would be reasonable to shoot for 25-50 engagements which would include dedicated OSE developers, collaborators or partners that have an established project.
• Seeing the results of people taking themselves out of the system and supporting others that are working toward that goal is the value I would like to see more than anything.

This question aims to probe into the magnitude of your social entrepreneurial ambition. Express your answer in current US dollars.

• I would say $1.5 million dollars while aiming to double every year. This would help to support full-time developers and create other sources of value that off-set these costs. (25 developers @ $25 per hour for 40 hours per week.)

Can you identify any blocks that are preventing you from accomplishing all that you want in your life today?

• Fear of failure, lack of financial resource and unclear logistics has largely kept me from leaving my career.
• Other individuals(Certainly not stopping you directly) can be unsupportive and discouraging of ideas that are outside their realm.
• Being bought by the system and being encouraged to be a consumer until realizing that there are much better ways to live life.

Would you be interested in learning the skill set to become a director of one of OSE's 40 acre Campuses - or your own Campus - such as Factor e Farm or similar - in the future? OSE will need site stewards in the future, and the OSE Apprenticeship can be a step to OSE site stewards or stewards of allied facilities. This could be various ownership scenarios such a collaboratively owned facility between OSE and you/other groups, land trusts, private-public hybrid structures, blockchain-accounted structures, etc.

• Yes I would be interested in standing up an extension of OSE or forming a sort of federation between different groups, organizations or companies. This is one of the main projects I would like to take on but I'm still unsure about logistics mainly. In order to effect larger change, I believe more people will need to collaborate together outside of the current economic structure.

If you are interested in building a land-based facility/enterprise of some sort in the future - what do you envision this being?

• I envision this being a village, off-grid town or other "autonomous" living community. In order to sustain finances and resources, we could trade with local communities and at least provide almost all of the necessary resources within the federation(OSE and other allies) to survive. There would need to be a central planning platform for projects and for resources needed/produced which the various entities work by. Transportation/Shipping of resources would need to be something further discussed as this would still require some reliance on the current postal system(Internal Supply Chain).

What pressing world issues would you like to work on in your life, assuming that you would have the full independence/resources to work on them full time?

• Slavery
• Renewable Energy
• Medicine for Profit(Fixed mainly by preventative care and a natural, holistic approach to medicine)
• Desertification/Deforestation
• Resource Scarcity
• Consequences of Colonialism/Neocolonialism(Smaller "governments" collaborating together and that are composed of generally like-minded individuals > Large, looming institutions that are essentially forced upon people out of "necessity")
• Disciplinary Thinking

What monthly pay would you like to attain once you finish the Apprenticeship? What would be your ideal source of revenue?

This will depend on what you are capable of learning and what skills you have already?

• I expect that I will not make as much money as I was in the corporate world for a few years. I would like to make ~$7000 per month. I would expect the salary to increase depending on how well the projects are moving along. Revenue being generated from eco-home projects, selling manufactured goods and providing value in other areas within OSE. Otherwise taking on side projects to make ends meet would be my source of revenue.
• Ideally, I would like to continue working towards building a community that would offset costs for every individual that lives there. This community would also be a partner of OSE and contribute to further training, research and development to further the movement goals.

What tracks (builder - R&D - manager - organizer - executive) are most interesting to you? Which roles would you like to learn during the Apprenticeship - Builder - architect/builder - running crews - organizing build events - business development - marketing - R&D - facility replication - supporting machines, etc?

• Facility Replication
• Architect/Builder
• R&D
• Marketing
• Machine Support
• Business Development

How do you think your involvement with the OSE Apprenticeship would be relevant to solving pressing world issues? Be specific if you can point to specific points.

• Slavery
  • It is essential that persons are able to work on problems that are important to them and to see the effects directly. The current working world has you work for money and persons are enticed into spending the money on things that generally do not provide a benefit or any type of long-term fulfillment.
  • People working closer with nature will help them to relate more closely to the food they consume. Persons time being freed up from work will allow them to take up more meaningful work that improves the world around them. There is also a sense of empowerment in being able to truly provide for your own needs or to be able to rely on a community to produce goods for the benefit of others
• Renewable Energy
• Medicine for Profit(Fixed mainly by preventative care and a natural, holistic approach to medicine)
• Desertification/Deforestation
  • There is an abundance of desert land that would only work to strengthen OSE and partners cases. I've become interested in regenerating land because I've lived in Nevada on and off for a while now. There could be brand new economies stood up in these areas that can support existing neighboring communities. There is a good deal of information around for regenerating ecosystems, this information is something I want to research and apply in the future.
• Resource Scarcity
  • I would like to contribute to solutions especially for sources that are only made to be scarce. An example would be design something to desalinize and purify water. We are creating large hardware to take care of the basic necessities. Designing other products around the GVCS or creating brand new designs should be possible as others may see a business/pressing world issue solution.
• Consequences of Colonialism/Neocolonialism
  • I would eventually like to push for smaller "government" structures collaborating together and that are composed of generally like-minded individuals as compared to the large, looming institutions that are essentially forced upon people out of "necessity".
  • There will always need to be a type of "social contract" for people to follow and some of those things may change depending on the situation.
• Disciplinary Thinking
  • Having Specialists in a particular area is important but I believe its more important for others to generalize. Not only does this make a person more capable to handle a variety of tasks, but the person can approach a problem from different areas outside of the specialty. I have always best learned on my own (auto-didact) and have felt most fulfilled being a person.

Do you think that distributed market substitution is feasible? What do you think will be the greatest challenge for its attainment?

See Distributed_Market_Substitution

What do you think would be the greatest challenge to creating successful distributive enterprises?

See Distributive_Enterprise

What does a new operating system for humanity look like to you? Who do you think has enunciated the most clear vision of what that looks like, and what can we implement readily?

• I think there are many different concepts that can be integrated together to help develop a new "operating system." There are valid principles in any discipline, spirituality or religion I believe. The problem becomes how a person uses the principles and their own innate abilities. They can use their knowledge to manipulate and enslave others by way of mentality or they can continue to further their own abilities while helping others to further theirs.
• Ego, being unable to overcome trivial differences and others believing they need to have absolute control are social issues that we all will need to continue to work at in order to truly live in peace with each other. Fixing the other material issues is a great step towards a better world but interpersonal/intrapersonal development will enable the outstanding issues to be fixed more quickly and effectively.

What is your typical flow state percentage on a given day?

See Superfluidity for a definition

• I feel that I get into flow states easier when I have a tight deadline at work. Otherwise, I finish what is asked of me but I am not particularly engaged. On any given day, I am generally distracted and encounter may interesting stories that capture attention. I believe the I will be engaged most of my time in the apprenticeship.

How would you assess your skill of empathy?

Use scale of 1-5

• I would say 4 on the scale. I feel that I am empathetic to most causes but I also believe that people should assume some responsibility for what happens in their lives. Sometimes this can come off the wrong way. Certain things are easy and familiar to you as an individual but other things are harder for others and the approach to dealing with people needs to be tailored to meet these individuals where they are.

How would you assess your skill of negotiation?

See Never Split the Difference for cutting edge work.

How would you assess your skill of sublimation or antifragility?

See Sublimation. 1=never heard of it, 5=I'm quite antifragile.

• 3 I would say that I do well at growing and adapting my approach from failure. Although I know that I can follow Ego at times. This is something I am aware of and working on. Recently, I've been in a position of expertise as far as my career is concerned so I have not been in a position where I am particularly disadvantaged or untrained. This apprenticeship be a good experience for this. Earlier in my life, I feel like I was learning quite a bit because I made mistakes and needed to adjust.

How would you assess your ability to adapt or be resilient in face of various stressors?

• I do well under stress generally. With others, they may not deal with stress in the same ways so its always been important to reassure certain individuals. Most of the issue with stress arise from continually being a stressful state. I tend to not become stressed over mistakes or other issues, I focus on what can be done with what is available(of course understanding the problem you are solving is important) and at worst, what can be salvaged from a situation.

What do you think are the prerequisites for someone becoming a Movement Entrepreneur?

Do you think that anyone could become a movement entrepreneur if they wanted to?

How interested are you in solving pressing world issues?

Do you think that Pressing World Issues are solvable? How would you approach taking a given pressing world issue and solving it? How much impact do you think you can attain in your life?

Please think about how the Apprenticeship and Summer X group will grow in their collaborative skill set, and paint a picture of how our collaborative capacity for genius will evolve.

This is a visioning question, ignore if it's too taxing.

Links

• Seed Eco-Home 2
• Antifragile
• Distributive Enterprise
• Distributed Market Substitution
• Pressing World Issues