Simon Walter-Hansen

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Team Culturing Information

Simon Walter-Hansen

WHO are you?

WHY are you motivated to support/develop this work?

  • Do you endorse open source culture?
Yes. I mainly use open-source software.
  • Why are you interested in collaborating with us?
I see the need, as a permaculture designer, for appropriate tools to steward the land we inhabit. Appropriate tools should be open and accessible to all. I would like to put my skills to use advancing the GVCS.
  • "Are you interested in teaching about the GVCS?"
Yes. Teaching folks to build their own tools will help local communities be stronger.
  • "Are you interested in economic re-localization possibilities arising from the GVCS?"
Yes. I would like to be a GVCS information source and participate in a test case for using the GVCS for re-localizing economy.
  • "Do you want to use the GVCS technologies yourself? Do you want to build them yourself?"
Yes. Use and build.
  • Are you interested in starting up enterprise using the GVCS technologies?
No, not at this time.
  • Are you interested in having the GVCS technologies fabricated by your local custom fabricator?
No, not at this time.
  • Are you interested in applying the GVCS to third world development? To redevelopment of crisis areas? To development of derelict areas in the developed world?
No. My main interest beyond the completion of the GVCS designs is to rehabilitate domestic land that has been neglected and to support my local community.
  • Are you interested in starting up Industry 2.0 flexible fabrication enterprises for your local community, by drawing from a global repository of freely down-loadable designs and fabricating using open source fabrication equipment?
No, not at this time.
  • Are you interested in the potential of the GVCS for developing local food systems?
Yes! I think the GVCS agriculture tools are of the right scale to utilize in establishing a perennial food system and for annual crop production while maintaining a human relationship with the land and making time available for leisure and creative activities.
  • Are you interested in doing academic studies/papers, publishing books, or doing other analysis of our efforts?
No, not at this time.
  • Are you interested in financial investment opportunities arising from our work?
No, not currently.
  • Are you interested in the distributive economic aspects of our work, and if so, how do you see this playing out?
Yes. I see the GVCS tools allowing communities to recapture the overhead value trapped in centralized production, inefficient supply-chain distribution, and designed-to-break technology. In the beginning, I foresee small groups of folks moving back-to-the-land (again), adopting the GVCS tools, construct dwellings, and beginning small-scale agriculture. If the global economy collapses slowly, we will see steady adoption of GVCS tools until a critical mass of users causes a paradigm shift to localized economies. If the collapse is fast, we will see a consolidation of housing stock and massive reduction in energy usage while folks begin small-scale farming and setting up distributed energy systems. A dwindling second-hand and auction market for GVCS-equivalent tools will spur local industrial fabrication and material processing using GVCS tools to make GVCS tools. Once basic needs have been met, there will be a move to replace aging housing and workspaces with more efficient and healthier living spaces from locally-sourced materials.
  • Are you interested in building renewable energy production facilities based on open hardware (solar concentrator electric, wind, biomass power)? Are you interested in building resilient communities based on access to the GVCS?
Yes, at the neighborhood scale or smaller. Yes, absolutely! And I would like to live in a resilient community.
  • Are you interested in creating a bug-out hut using GVCS technologies?
No. I would much rather create a resilient community.
  • How do you think that the GVCS can help alleviate the instabilities of global monetary systems?
The global financial system is deeply flawed. It is based on fiat currency and rooted in an expansionist economic model. Both are inherently unstable and are used to steal. The GVCS could allow local economies to develop a medium of exchange based on an abundance model, rather than scarcity, where the establish currency has inherent value and can be produced by everyone. See: Douglas Rushkoff's "Radical Abundance"
  • How do you think that the GVCS can address pressing world issues?
The GVCS will help reduce the huge overhead of overly centralized production. The tools will help local groups be more powerful in meeting their own needs.
  • What should happen so that you become more involved with the project?
I should discuss the current needs of GVCS with Marcin.
  • What is missing in the project?
A boat. Some communities rely on boats for fishing, trade, and transport. In some cases boats are more efficient than truck transport.
  • What are your suggestions for improvement of the project?
    • Consolidate and steamline the "get involved" process for developers.
    • Web site improvements:
      • Less clutter on the home page.
      • No blog on the home page.
      • Consider how to interest four types of people:
        • Those who can give you money,
        • those who can give you knowledge,
        • those who can give you human energy, and
        • those who can spread your message.
      • I suggest that the home page address each of the four groups.
      • Use the home page to inspire. I think Marcin's 2011 TED talk video does an excellent job.
    • Focus on telling the general public what the tools in the GVCS will be able to do for a civilization:
      • More easily produce food on a small scale,
      • reduce the dominance of huge corporations,
      • localize energy production based on renewables,
      • provide a healthy house for all families, and
      • provide meaningful work for all willing to work.


WHAT are your skills?

(Graded by Dreyfus Levels)

Communications

Proficient: spoken and written English, non-verbal awareness.
Beginner: Non-Violent Communication.

Organizational

Competent: meeting facilitation, business planning, organizing, staffing, directing.

Computer Support

Expert: Unix, Linux, Mac OS, Windows, PHP, HTML, CSS, database administration, network administration, server administration, software and hardware maintenance.
Competent: C, MVC frameworks, Fortran, and Pascal.

Finances

Competent: financial accounting.
Advanced beginner: managerial accounting and grant writing.

Sociology

Competent: Social organizing and human ecology.

Home Economics

Proficient: sewing, cooking, nutrition, and food preservation.

Design

Proficient: mechanical system, energy system, and permaculture design.
Competent: Architectural design.

Natural Building

Advanced beginner: cob, timber-framing, and stonework.

Electronics

Proficient: solderer.
Advanced beginner: electronic circuit design.

Automation

Advanced beginner: Arduino programming with sensor feedback.

Engineering

Proficient: mechanical engineering and software engineering.

Fabrication

Competent: operating an engine lathe, end mill, drill press, MIG welder, stick welder, oxy-fuel torch, brake press, and band saw.
Advanced beginner: wheel-thrown and hand-built ceramics.

Agriculture

Proficient: Bucking hay.
Competent: market-garden production, orchard maintenance, tree grafting, irrigation systems, care of livestock.
Advanced beginner: Plant propagation.

Energy

Proficient: on and off-grid AC and DC electrical system installation, including solar photovoltaics.
Competent: Solar thermal installation and operation.
Beginner: Wind, hyrdo, geothermal, and biomass energy.

Architecture

Competent: building designer utilizing philosophies from "A Pattern Language".

Video/Graphics/Art

Proficient: raster and vector graphics, video filming, video editing, and photography.

Education

Advanced beginner: curriculum development, classroom instruction, and apprenticeship training.

Construction

Proficient: masonry, carpentry, plumbing, electrical, roofing, flooring, insulation, heavy equipment, power tools.

Industry

Advanced beginner: Lean Production System.

CNC

Beginner: G-code.

Health

Proficient: physical fitness, nutrition, and preventative care.
Competent: massage, yoga, and meditation.


  • How have you already contributed to the project?
Sought information on steam power and helped strengthen relationships within SACA and IAASP.
Shared OSE and GVCS with friends and family.
True Fan.


HOW can you help?

  • How are you interested in contributing to the work of GVCS development?
I would like to be involved with the design, development, prototyping, and testing of the GVCS machines. My most intense interests are in the Steam Engine, Solar Concentrator, Wind Turbine, Bio-plastic extruder, and Well-drilling rig. I also see myself helping to develop the support systems for Factor E Farm, including but not limited to food production, land stewardship, socio-cultural development, inter-personal communication, and project outreach.
  • Can you volunteer to work with us, and if so, how many hours per week?
Yes. 30 hrs/wk through February 2012, 40-60 hrs/wk beginning March 2012.
  • Are you interested in working with us for pay? If so, what services can you offer, and what is your hourly or per-project rate?
Potentially. If there is money to support those working on projects. Services I can offer: Engineering on mechanical and electrical systems, software development, fabrication and carpentry, farming and manual labor. I work on a sliding scale from $17 - $45 /hr.
Yes. Available as soon as March 2012.
  • Are you interested in purchasing equipment from us to help bootstrap development?
No. I would like to build my own.
  • Are you interested in bidding for consulting/design/prototyping work?
No.
Yes.
  • Would you like to see yourself working with us on a full-time basis?
Yes.
  • Are you interested in using the technologies that we are developing directly?
Yes.
  • Are you interested in being part of the world's first, open source, resilient community? The GVCS is the preparatory step for the OSE Village Experiment – a 2 year, immersion experiment (2013-2014) for testing whether a real, thriving, modern-day prototype community of 200 people can be built on 200 acres using local resources and open access to information? We are looking for approximately 200 people to fill a diverse array of roles, according to the Social Contract that is being developed. This may be the boldest social experiment on earth - a pioneering community whose goal is to extend the index of possibilities regarding harmonious existence of humans, ecology, and technology.
Potentially. The social dynamics of a group is likely the most important part of a community experiment to get right. Visiting would be an important first step to being able to better answer the question.
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