User:Wesxdz/Assessment

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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?

Wesley Barlow

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

Distributive enterprise, hydraulics, 3D printing with metal, designing electronics with KiCad, and the experience of prototyping industrial machines.

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.

I would like to

  1. Learn why/when/how to publish progress early and often
  2. Plan and execute on multiple projects: delivering ahead of time and under resource constraints
  3. Gain confidence through study of data-driven strategies to raise seed capital and build profit momentum towards OSE campus founding
  4. Create an open hardware infrastructure that liberates every indie game developer on Earth to wander, dream, and compute freely

I will teach

  1. State of the art software engineering and game development on Linux (specifically I am an expert in Unreal Engine, which also happens to be the world's best real-time architecture visualization tool)
  2. C++
  3. Entity Component System
  4. Sci-fi
  5. Veganism

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

Crafting cultural systems and tools which create value autonomously using open source.

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

The apprenticeship is a chance to explore peak performance on many levels. Soft and hard skills, technology, business, psychology, physical health, self-determination, and other big picture areas

I want to develop games, by myself and in teams. I believe that the systems based approach (especially in terms of exploring pattern language and version control) for constructing physical objects can help me refine my engineering and planning talents to contribute to game development in the future.

During the apprenticeship I would like to dedicate the bulk of my cognitive effort during the 6 months towards building an architecture tool/machine playground for OSE's infrastructure in Unreal Engine 5: contributing my game development skillset with what I learn through design training and hands on work. The rough outline for me would look like:

  1. Setup a real-time architecture visualization workflow between FreeCAD and UE and create aesthetic environmental scenes of a subset of the Global Village Construction Set.
  2. Create a search tool for the part library to make it more accessible: providing downloads in multiple formats such as glTF, .blend, etc and a better UX. Fast text based search for part tags, batch downloads of builds or categories, exploring git-like methods for hardware diff understanding (ie scrollable timeline of 3D scene and consistent build instructions). More broadly I think we should try to integrate all these divergent open source hardware movements via industry-standard decentralized tools that interoperate between domain specific applications.
  3. Collaboratively design and code terrain and construction gameplay mechanics: mainly things like 'universal-type' construction kit systems like placing modular home parts, plant/dirt simulation, and driving around and using modules of the lifetrac.
  4. Code 3D printer mechanic and allow virtually 'printing' models (for fun).
  5. Secure funding for additional development via multiple sources: Kickstarter, MegaGrant, selling the game on Steam, Gitcoin grant, whatever else.
  6. Add smart contract that connects producers and consumers of open source hardware and can act as an autonomous self-funding mechanism.

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 would like to learn to be self sufficient, to read the world's literature in multiple languages, and to play and make games with friends. That's what a successful education would be to me.

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

I am passionate and can get lost reading wikis for hours :) I am a programmer with an unconventional approach (ie I believe most of programming is slow and overly complex and that this can be solved with appropriate language/visual tools/architecture)

What about your weaknesses that you would like to improve?

Not following through to always complete projects: I'd like to be more sure of my convictions and overcome any obstacles once I've decided on something. In short: I need to learn how to ship.

What weaknesses are you not particularly interested in improving?

This is more a question of your mindset - how you view your strengths and weaknesses.

Now comes a bunch of specific interests questions.

What is your level of interest in ____? Please rate 1-5 - 1 is least, 5 is most

  • Mechatronics 5
  • Systems Transformation 5
  • CAD 5
  • Collaboration 4
  • Peak performance 5
  • Psychology 3
  • Spirituality 4
  • Systems thinking 5
  • Building Things 5
  • Engineering/Calculations 5
  • Entrepreneurship 5
  • Marketing 3
  • Mining 4
  • Graphic Design / Visual Arts 1
  • Computer languages / coding 5
  • Microcontrollers 5
  • Robotics 5
  • Geography 4
  • History 5
  • Video production 3
  • CNC Machines 3
  • 3D Printing 4
  • Research 4
  • Genetics 4
  • Artificial Intelligence 5
  • Spaceflight and exploration 3
  • Writing/copywriting/storytelling 4
  • Life extension 5
  • Applied chemistry 3
  • Meditation 5
  • Health, medicine, and exercise 4
  • Medical technology 2
  • Electronics 4
  • Integrated Agriculture 4
  • Aquaponics 4
  • Housing/house construction 4
  • Math 4
  • Permaculture 4
  • Terraforming - earth works and water works for improving the environment 5
  • Aviation 2 (except I'd like to find Amelia Earhart one day)
  • Event organizin 3
  • Public speaking 3
  • Art 4
  • Music 2
  • Metallurgy and hot metal processing? 4
  • Theater and performance 2

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

Contracts to use machinery to build houses: raising funds through construction projects or DeFi to build a game development campus

Discuss how you would like to collaborate after finishing the Apprenticeship, whether by working at the OSE Campus, or in your own enterprise, or other ideas

I think it would be difficult to realize any grand visions of autonomous villages right away. I'd like to build and monetize airbnb compounds funded by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decentralized_finance to bootstrap revenue generation and test the effectiveness of crypto to fund these projects.

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

What specific skills will the apprenticeship sharpen for you in order to facilitate future collaboration wherever you work?

How much return on investment, directly related to the outcomes of the mentorship, do you think you will start to generate right at the end of the apprenticeship period? And 1 year after the apprenticeship?

I'm not sure. I largely see the tuition as a donation to OSE's physical infrastructure rather than an investment for myself.

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?

Right now my student loans and lack of savings are personal stressors that could negatively affect my mindset or capability to prototype hardware during or after the apprenticeship. I'm trying to freelance and save as much as possible prior to starting so I can focus all of my attention on learning and builing.

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

Open source hardware industrial design and manufacturing. Specifically I'd love to go through the process of converting a commmon household product to open source. (Something like a washing machine, coffee maker, computer case, etc)

Do you have other remote collaborators that you can partner with to assist you during the apprenticeship? Explain.

I have game developer friends all around the world! :)

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?

Are you interested in learning how to source, purchase, and substitute materials for the Seed Eco-Home from common, off-the shelf sources?

This skill leads to capacity of organizing build events, not just doing builds.

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

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

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.

My focus has been gaining technical skills: so I am lacking experience in other aspects of entreprenuership, but I have energy and I'm ready to learn!

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

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

Why does OSE not use Creative Commons-Non-Commercial licenses?

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

Complete writing smart contract to raise fund pool for a 'game village' Share-based DAO to deploy to build physical houses

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

What does open collaboration and working openly mean to you?

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

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

I would like to empower individual developers with the economic means of about 10% of the game industry during the 2020s, which would be ~20 billion

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

Giving up too early. Too many passions. Instability in beliefs. Lack of financial security. Negative internal emotions like uncertainty, despair, anger, jealousy, regret. Inconsistent energy management/scheduling. Doing work which feels endless or unimportant causing burnout.

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.

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

I would like to collaboratively build an autonomous game village where indie game developers can focus entirely on developing games rather than stressing about rent.

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?

I would work on indie games because I believe that games have the potential to solve world issues by profoundly affecting players' consciousness.

If you were to write your own job description for what you would want to do with your life - what would that be?

Collaborate with a world class team to develop video games and intelligent companions using open source software and hardware tools.

Based on your last question, could you envision how collaborating with OSE right after the Apprenticeship would help you meet your longer term goals?

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?

If you collaborate with OSE on building Seed Eco-Homes, or build them more independenly, what monthly pay would you be interested in attaining for your work in building Seed Eco-Homes?

What pay would you call a success, in your first month after the Apprenticeship? After 1 year? Also state in which country, as pay may be worth a different amount in different countries.

What is compelling to me about the apprenticeship is its ability to help me generate passive income. Currently I could earn ~$80,000/year if I worked full time, but because I travel and prioritize my personal projects I don't always have the time to reach that level of earnings. I don't expect any profitability for a couple years after the apprenticeship because I would reinvest any profit to expand building development operations. I think a passive income stream that empowers me (or a distributed organization) to reach the top ~1% in the United States (that's $758,434 a year), would help give me the economic weight to make changes in physical game development spaces.

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?

I am interested how I can contribute most effectively in software related tasks - multiplayer game simulation for training/fun, developing defi funding models by writing smart contracts

For the last question, can you sketch out what the revenue model would look like for you?

Assuming a profit of ~$12,000/year per room it would require just shy of 64 rooms. Obviously there's risk, debt, and taxes which might require greater expansion or complicate the endeavor.

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.

What do you think is missing most in OSE's capacity towards delivering regenerative solutions at scale according to the OSE vision of collaborative design for a transparent and inclusive economy of abundance?

What do you think are OSE's strengths, and how can we improve them?

What do you think are OSE's weak points, and how can you help us address them?

Complexity of wiki onboarding (small things like inefficient workflows such as account and time log creation, sporadic navigation of links and overwhelming scope), outdated website visual design (ie there should be videos of the industrial machines in action displayed on the landing page), lack of interactivity of 3D elements (ie embed cad models directly onto pages for 3d manipulation using something like https://github.com/google/model-viewer)

How do you envision that the collaborative enterprise development assets (open design, open enterprise models, collaboratively-generated marketing knowhow, etc) will help you in your own enterprise if you decide to start one? Do you think that these assets be directly translatable to your own enterprise?

Do you have any reservations whatsover with respect to publishing all revenue models, enterprise plans, business analyses, marketing assets, and other supporting assets openly to facilitate startup by others? Please discuss any reservations or operational challenges that you can foresee.

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?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSRHeXYDLko

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

See Superfluidity for a definition

How would you assess your skill of empathy?

Use scale of 1-5

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.

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

What unique abilities can you teach others in our groups?

What important qustions regarding Regenterprise did this initial assessment not ask but should have asked?

Anything else that you would like to add that would help you or the team grow?

What do you think are the prerequisites for someone becoming a social entrepreneur?

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