Open Source Ecology
Build machines.
Re-design your world.
Hi, my name is Marcin -- farmer, technologist. I was born in Poland, now in the U.S. I started a group called Open Source Ecology. We've identified the 50 most important machines that we think it takes for modern life to exist -- things from tractors, bread ovens, circuit makers. Then we set out to create an open source, DIY, do it yourself version that anyone can build and maintain at a fraction of the cost. We call this the Global Village Construction Set.
So let me tell you a story. So I finished my 20s with a Ph.D. in fusion energy, and I discovered I was useless. I had no practical skills. The world presented me with options, and I took them. I guess you can call it the consumer lifestyle. So I started a farm in Missouri and learned about the economics of farming. I bought a tractor -- then it broke. I paid to get it repaired -- then it broke again. Then pretty soon, I was broke too.
I realized that the truly appropriate, low-cost tools that I needed to start a sustainable farm and settlement just didn't exist yet. I needed tools that were robust, modular, highly efficient and optimized, low-cost, made from local and recycled materials that would last a lifetime, not designed for obsolescence. I found that I would have to build them myself. So I did just that. And I tested them. And I found that industrial productivity can be achieved on a small scale.
So then I published the 3D designs, schematics, instructional videos and budgets on a wiki. Then contributors from all over the world began showing up, prototyping new machines during dedicated project visits. So far, we have prototyped eight of the 50 machines. And now the project is beginning to grow on its own.
We know that open source has succeeded with tools for managing knowledge and creativity. And the same is starting to happen with hardware too. We're focusing on hardware because it is hardware that can change people's lives in such tangible material ways. If we can lower the barriers to farming, building, manufacturing, then we can unleash just massive amounts of human potential.
That's not only in the developing world. Our tools are being made for the American farmer, builder, entrepreneur, maker. We've seen lots of excitement from these people, who can now start a construction business, parts manufacturing, organic CSA or just selling power back to the grid. Our goal is a repository of published designs so clear, so complete, that a single burned DVD is effectively a civilization starter kit.
I've planted a hundred trees in a day. I've pressed 5,000 bricks in one day from the dirt beneath my feet and built a tractor in six days. From what I've seen, this is only the beginning.
If this idea is truly sound, then the implications are significant. A greater distribution of the means of production, environmentally sound supply chains, and a newly relevant DIY maker culture can hope to transcend artificial scarcity. We're exploring the limits of what we all can do to make a better world with open hardware technology. Thank you.
Overview
You will learn how the material world interacts with machines to create modern standards of living.
You will understand why because of recent changes in technology, we can not open source manufacturing and maintain or significantly improve our standard of living by doing so.
You will learn the different ways of contributing to this movement to help create an open source source economy that eliminates scarcity through open source hardware.
What you’ll learn
Everything you see around you, this table, that chair… that is made from materials readily around us, with the addition of energy that’s been embodied into the materials through manufacturing processes so it is more useful in our modern lives.
Building blocks to re-design our world
The Internet is based on hardware. Computers are made of plastic, silicon, and metal. These materials are processed by machines to create the infrastructure for the Internet. The same is true for houses, grocery stores, and video games.
Materials form the basis of modern life
These materials are embodied with energy through various manufacturing processes so that it is designed to support our modern standard of living.
Energy from the sun is embodied in materials.
Machines process materials to turn them into something we can use more readily. Turning sand into glass or soil into ceramics are well-known examples.
The takeaway is that hardware forms the material basis of our civilization and is an important consideration in thinking about how to create post-scarcity, the state where there is material wealth for everyone.
Machines use energy to refine materials to support modern life
Next you will learn how we can still have the same industrial efficiency as factories at a neighborhood scale.
We will learn this by looking at this history of manufacturing and how recent advances make open source hardware possible.
Transition in the history of manufacturing
During the industrial revolution 200+ years ago, knowledge workers needed to be on-site at the factory to use the production knowledge to make things.
It wasn’t that practical to make industrial things locally. It was easier to create complex supply chains to deliver finished products.
These constraints contributed heavily to the structure of society we live in today.
The past: production knowledge is specialized
The Past
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Knowledge Factories Supply Chains Modern Life
Outcomes
Now machines make things controlled by a computer. With this capability, people can make objects with no production knowledge at all, just an hour of training to draw 3D objects on a computer, and then they can make something real.
With the Internet, these designs can be shared, and built upon. Now things can be made locally, with lifetime design, and with significantly less waste.
CNC “Computer Numeric Control” & The Internet make “production knowledge” a commodity
The Transition
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CNC & The Internet Knowledge
Outcomes
With open sourced hardware, there can be a “copy commons” in every neighborhood, connected to the Internet, where people can build the things they need to last a lifetime using pre-made designs and modifying them as needed to suit their specific circumstances.
The future: production knowledge is commodified
The Future
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CNC & The Internet Neighborhoods Copy Commons Modern Life
Outcomes
The copy commons is like a Xerox machine for consumer goods and more.
Today Open Source Ecology has prototypes of the first 5 machines of the copy commons, which would let you make things like cell phones, drones, and vacuums.
The transition’s missing link: the copy commons
The microfactory: the starter kit for the copy commons
3D Printer Laser Cutter CNC Circuit Mill Plastic Grinder Filament Maker
Outcomes
The copy commons is part of a larger set of 50 machines called the Global Village Construction Set.
These machines let you process materials, make other machines, and directly make the modern goods we enjoy today.
By open sourcing hardware, we can take the land under our feet and produce modern standards.
What 3 types of machines to make modern standards?
Machines that:
Ask yourself this question.
Discussion 1: How do we go from materials to modern standards?
Open Source Ecology develops open source hardware in a very specific way.
We do things in this way to maximize our effectiveness.
You will learn what we’ve done and how we approach our work in a unique way.
The OSE path to open source hardware
We have made up to 33% of the 50 machines we believe are needed to create an open source economy.
Nearly all of these machines are prototypes: they include houses, tractors, laser cutters, and more.
While these prototypes do work, much remains to be done to make them production-ready.
What progress have we made?
In terms of its technical approach, Open Source Ecology:
Radical Modularity
We have several 1 bedroom eco-houses that can be built in 5 days with 20 people for $20,000.
To make this available to the public, we are working to make our prototypes production-ready that would let much of the house be made with open source machines.
Everyday people can start making houses reliably as soon as in 1.5 years or upto 4 years.
What does Open Source Ecology prioritize?
Microfactory
Heavy Machinery
Eco Home
People can contribute to open source hardware through open source ecology in 3 ways.
Fellows give workshops to make money while doing research to finish the 50 machines.
Entrepreneurs make useful things using the machines that fellows create.
Communities change their behavior and promote new ways of doing things based on open source hardware.
An example is recycling plastic at schools with 3D Printer with a plastic grinder and filament maker, which makes plastic that the 3D printer can use. Fellows are researching the plastic grinder and filament maker, which is almost production-ready. Entrepreneurs start recycling businesses. Parents and communities change their behavior by recycling in new ways.
What kind of work is needed?
The work of doing open source hardware is not hard.
Just as kids today are learning to code. Soon, kids can also be learning to build hardware.
There’s 3 primary skills involved. First, you research existing designs on the Internet. Then you create a prototype, which is straightforward with a computer and CNC machine. Then you share it with the world and do the work with others to finish it.
You are not alone.
Open Source Hardware Activities
Open Source Ecology is a vision of the future where people can build what they need with the resources around them.
While this might not solve all problems, we believe it is an important piece of the puzzle to creating a life of abundance and joy for all.
But what do you think?
Is it doable, or is it likely to fail?
Discussion 2: Is it doable or is it likely to fail?