[ox-en] Fwd: [ox-de] Request for Comments: Die Peer-Ökonomie
- From: Stefan Meretz <stefan.meretz hbv.org>
- Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2007 14:03:36 +0200
[Translation from ox-de, by StefanMz; the book annouced is in english!]
http://www.keimform.de/2007/09/20/request-for-comments-die-peer-oekonomie/
Request for Comments: The Peer Economy
By Christian Siefkes, September, 20th, 2007, 23:15
The big text I was working on for the last nine months is ready. It is
about the question of the potential of peer production -- the way free
software is produced. We know that this new mode of production is of
great importance when it is about free software -- success stories like
GNU/Linux, Apache or Wikipedia speak for themselfs. However, is this
mode of production only relevant for information goods? Or is there a
potential for more, maybe a revolution of the entire societal
production?
The results of my considerations are now published having the
title "From Exchange to Contributions: Generalizing Peer Production
into the Physical World". Initially It was intended to be a long
article, but due to the complexity of the topic it became a book!
This the announcement text:
A new mode of production has emerged in the areas of software and
content production. This mode, which is based on sharing and
cooperation, has spawned whole mature operating systems such as
GNU/Linux as well as innumerable other free software applications;
giant knowledge bases such as the Wikipedia; a large free culture
movement; and a new, wholly decentralized medium for spreading,
analyzing and discussing news and knowledge, the so-called
blogosphere.
So far, this new mode of production--peer production--has been
limited to certain niches of production, such as information goods.
This book discusses whether this limitation is necessary or whether
the potential of peer production extends farther. In other words: Is
a society possible in which peer production is the primary mode of
production? If so, how could such a society be organized?
Is a society possible where production is driven by demand and not
by profit? Where there is no need to sell anything and hence no
unemployment? Where competition is more a game than a struggle for
survival? Where there is no distinction between people with capital
and those without? A society where it would be silly to keep your
ideas and knowledge secret instead of sharing them; and where
scarcity is no longer a precondition of economic success, but a
problem to be worked around?
It is, and this book describes how.
The entire text of the book can be downloaded as PDF (125 pages)
<http://www.peerconomy.org/text/peer-economy.pdf>
A smaller 2-up version (2 Pages on one page, 62 pages) is also available
<http://www.peerconomy.org/text/peer-economy.2-a4.pdf>
The text can be modified and copied following the condition of the
Creative Commons NonCommercial-ShareAlike-Licence.
A paperback print shall be released in some days an will cost 9 Euro --
recommendable for all, who want to do their eyes, their printer, or
simply me a favour:-)
Since then I will be happy about feedback, critics, and inspired
debates. If my book leads to a reflection, that a post-capitalist
economy is no longer utopian as it seems to be, then its ends are
achieved.
--
|-------- Dr. Christian Siefkes -------- christian siefkes.net ---------
| Homepage: http://www.siefkes.net/ | Blog: http://www.keimform.de/
| OpenPGP Key: http://www.siefkes.net/key.txt (Key ID: 0x346452D8)
|------------------------------------------------------------------------
Modern methods of production have given us the possibility of ease and
security for all; we have chosen, instead, to have overwork for some and
starvation for others. Hitherto we have continued to be as energetic as
wewere before there were machines; in this we have been foolish, but
there is no reason to go on being foolish forever.
-- Bertrand Russell, In Praise of Idleness
--
Start here: www.meretz.de
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