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Open Source Ecology

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Build machines.

Re-design your world.

Overview

What you’ll learn

• What material inputs form a modern standard of living?
• How do you open-source modern manufacturing?
• What skills do you need to contribute?

Building blocks to re-design our world

• Materials
• Energy
• Machines that refine energy and materials

Materials form the basis of modern life

Energy from the sun is embodied in materials.

Energy from the sun is embodied in materials.

Machines use energy to refine materials to support modern life

Transition in the history of manufacturing

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• The recent past
• The future
• Transition from past to future

The past: production knowledge is specialized

The Past

📚 🏭 📦 🌇

Knowledge Factories Supply Chains Modern Life

Outcomes

• Knowledge experts work in one place, making factories necessary
• Factories mass produce goods, creating uniformity
• Manufactured goods travel long supply chains, wasting energy
• Modern Life revolves around consumerism and obsolescence

CNC “Computer Numeric Control” & The Internet make “production knowledge” a commodity

The Transition

🔢💻📨 📚

CNC & The Internet Knowledge

Outcomes

• CNC turns designs into products, without production knowledge
• The Internet makes designs and production knowledge accessible to all
• Specialized Knowledge can belong to the public commons, not only the privileged few

The future: production knowledge is commodified

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The Future

🔢💻📨 🏡 🌇

CNC & The Internet Neighborhoods Copy Commons Modern Life

Outcomes

• Distributed knowledge equips folks to make things anytime, anywhere
• Community scale infrastructure enables made-to-order goods at industrial efficiency
• Goods are made local and repaired indefinitely at neighborhood “copy commons,” eliminating waste
• Modern Life revolves around “producerism” and lifetime design

The transition’s missing link: the copy commons

The microfactory: the starter kit for the copy commons

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3D Printer Laser Cutter CNC Circuit Mill Plastic Grinder Filament Maker

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Outcomes

• Enable localized production to support entrepreneurship and material wealth
• Achieve lifetime design with all consumer goods, including things like vacuum cleaners, digital cameras, and aerial drones: saving energy and reducing waste
• Shift communities away from consumerism and towards “producerism”

The transition’s missing link: the copy commons

What 3 types of machines to make modern standards?

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Machines that:

• process materials
• make other machines
• produce modern standards

Material Processing Machine Making Modern Life

Induction Furnace 3D Printer Tractor

Discussion 1: How do we go from materials to modern standards?

The OSE path to open source hardware

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• Accomplishments
• Product Roadmap
• Organizational Roles

What does Open Source Ecology prioritize?

Microfactory� • Target Production in 6-18 months

(2) Heavy Machinery (6-24 months) (3) Eco Home (1,5-4 years)

What progress have we made?

What progress have we made?

What kind of work is needed?

• Fellows
• Entrepreneurs
• Communities

Activity 1

• Research
• Prototype
• Ecosystem

Discussion 2: Is it doable or is it likely to fail?