Hi Paul, and all,nice to see some resonance.excerpt from your message :"Up to this point almost all open-source projects have been exactly
that, open-SOURCE, as in source code. I see no reason why this model
can't be applied to the creation of a real-world physical product
dropped shipped to people around the world."
Btw, do you know about the p2p foundation clearing house to various approaches similar to the one you describewiki : http://p2pfoundation.netabout 7000 pages or more, including pages such asalso electronics - since it was mentioned :
---examples of physical world implementations :( or on appropedia wiki : http://www.appropedia.org/Open_Source_Ecology ; and p2pf wiki : http://p2pfoundation.net/Open_Source_Ecology )
On Sat, Jan 8, 2011 at 1:39 AM, Paul Hughes <psidoc@gmail.com> wrote:I'm new to the list, but not new to these ideas. I've been dreaming
of the day that networked systems would be used to create grass-roots,
bottoms-up, decentralized, ad-hoc, egalitarian, open-source economic
systems for a long, long time. I'm very happy to find this group!
I'm also glad to see John Robb take the initiative in creating an
open-source venture for "Picture This". I like it!
NEXT STEP:
I think a real test of seeing how robust these new paradigm is, is if
we can create an actual physical, shippable product.
Up to this point almost all open-source projects have been exactly
that, open-SOURCE, as in source code. I see no reason why this model
can't be applied to the creation of a real-world physical product
dropped shipped to people around the world.
To me that ideal product would be a Software Radio.
TA software Radio is a device that can dynamically seek out whatever
spectrum is available at the moment to communicate with any other
equivalent device. This is paradigm busting and revolutionary for
several reasons. The primary one being there is more need for carriers
(i.er. AT&T, Verizon, Spring, etc.). Any software radio device can
communicate with any other software radio device without interfering
with existing spectrum use. Each device is a transceiver. This means
each device become a node in an ad-hoc, open-source network, without
the need for a central carrier. These would first take off in dense
urban environments, but over time even the most remote village in the
world could hook into the network. This is radical because it would
bypass not only all the major carriers but all the major internet
providers as well. This is the new internet that everyone hopes will
evolve, and the creation of the Software Radio is the key component
necessary to make it work.
Like the fax machine, one fax is worthless, two becomes meaningful,
and thousands become powerful. The same economies of scale apply
here, but with one difference. Since a software radio can receive and
transmit on any radio frequency, this means the device can pick any
broadcast on any spectrum - AM/FM, Ham Radio, CB, TV, WiFi, WiMax, 3G,
4G. Do you see the power of this? So if even if a person has no
other device they can transmit to, they can still receive internet,
radio and TV all on one device.
The question then becomes one of legality. This is a big one, because
all the incumbents would be put out of business by this technology. So
you can bet that if there not laws on the books now to stop this,
attempts to make laws outlawing it will soon come to pass, unless
market saturation is reach before then. I think the democratizing
power of this technology is too great to not push to develop this
technology as soon as possible. As soon as people can see the power
of these tools the sooner it will reach market saturation, and public
attitudes will push for legality. Should they become illegal under
totalitarian governments at least the technology will be out there for
people to build their own.
As for the practicalities of manufacturing and fulfillment, all of
those systems are already in place. There are thousands of prototype
and manufacturing companies in China ready to take our seed ideas and
turn them into physical, shippable products, drop shipping them off to
anyone in the world. Creating online storefronts and affiliates
systems for marketing are already being used to great success.
The potential market for these devices in the coming years could reach
the trillion dollar mark. Those who take the initiative now in
creating the first consumer ready Software Radio's will find
themselves becoming among the first open-source venture billionaires.
Any takers?
Cheers,
Paul Hughes
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