Re: [ox-en] A 'Sharing' project
- From: David Collins <david hl.afraid.org>
- Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2007 23:10:06 +0000
Hi,
On Wed, Jan 03, 2007 at 08:41:46AM [PHONE NUMBER REMOVED], Stefan Merten wrote:
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Last month (57 days ago) David Collins wrote:
On Wed, Oct 25, 2006 at 08:58:31AM [PHONE NUMBER REMOVED], Stefan Merten wrote:
I see such attempts as a possible building block for a GPL society.
The main advantage IMHO is that they overcome exchange.
Well, I would be very interested in your thoughts on an idea I have to
extend the scope of the project beyond shareable goods - to incorporate
services, and maybe non-shareable goods as well. I was thinking of then
re-defining the project as a 'Free Co-operative' - or 'Free Co-op'.
^^^^^^^^^
What strikes me if you put it this way is the emphasis on "operative"
:-) . That would be indeed a useful goal to strive for.
Well, my conviction has been: if the idea has merit, then it will be recognized
in time - so I have made only gentle attempts to 'advertise' it.
To me, the word 'Free' - in this context - would symbolize a number of
things:
(i) the project would aim to provide people with the scope for making
economic decisions without the use of money
But wouldn't the term "moneyless" match better then? ...
Maybe it would. I actually used that term when I was beginning to work
on the project - but decided, after a while, to remove it temporarily - as
I got the sense that people found it either too strange, or too Utopian. I'd
consider using it again though.
IMHO it would be useful to clarify what "economic decisions" means
exactly. This is probably a key question.
I suspect this isn't the sort of concrete definition you're
looking for, but - to an extent - the definition is implied in the
paragraph you responded to above. The decisions I would like to make
in my life "without the use of money" are the sort I am currently
forced to make *with* money - i.e. ones in which money is almost
always a consideration.
May be one word of warning might be useful: If you are planning to
write an own application make sure that the development of this
application doesn't get the most important part of the project. I say
this because especially when a project has difficulties to take off
this can happen easily. Remember that software is always a tool - not
an end in itself.
I have been doing a bit of work on a possible extension to Xaraya - the
Content Management System the project is using. I'm not sure I'm going
to continue to work on it, but if I do, the two main reasons would be
to: (i) make the process of starting a project easier, and (ii)
implement some simple XML-RPC methods to enable inter-project communication.
The first reason isn't particularly compelling, because starting a project
is already quite easy; and as for the second ...well ...I'm just not
sure it's viable - in a few months time, I might have a better
indication.
So, I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel - at least not entirely! :-D
I have written a brief amount more about the motivation behind the idea
here: http://ie.uk.to/index.php/motivation
Quoting this page:
Succinctly put, the motivation behind this project is to provide
people with the scope for making economic decisions without using
money. Hopefully the project will also: (i) provide a basis for
theoretical discussion and criticism, and (ii) provide a basis for
safe, and careful, experiment.
Hmm... There is a large array of examples of such attempts. I know the
situation in Germany and I know there were many such experiments in
the past (mainly 1970s and 1980s). Before starting the next wouldn't
it make sense to study these experiments and try to learn something
from them before making the same mistakes again? IMHO this would be
something absolutely worth the effort!
Can you provide a few links, or some more brief info?
--
David Collins GPG id 646C8A43
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