WORLD CHANGING IDEAS: open source ecology and the Global Village Construction set
Sometimes all this digital stuff gets a bit too abstract... time for some real stuff.
It is great to see exponential concepts being applied to projects that actually produce physical stuff in the real world. Even more cool is when the ideas are meant to be shared and to build, in a literal and physical way, communities.
One of the potentially exponential technology ideas which has fascinated me for a long time is the open source ecology:
http://opensourceecology.org/about-overview/
https://www.facebook.com/OpenSourceEcology?ref=hl
It promotes self-reliance, distributed production capability and resilience. (maybe ideal for @papa-prepper someone tell him). The idea is to be able to enable end users to build their own production machines and tools they need for ever more sophisticated end products.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Source_Ecology
Open Source Ecology (OSE) is a network of farmers, engineers, architects and supporters, whose main goal is the eventual manufacturing of the Global Village Construction Set (GVCS). As described by Open Source Ecology "the GVCS is an open technological platform that allows for the easy fabrication of the 50 different Industrial Machines that it takes to build a small civilization with modern comforts.
Explained in a TED talk:
https://www.ted.com/talks/marcin_jakubowski
The concept of rapid prototyping tools that are "bootstrappable" is really interesting:
Step 1 conceptualise machines for essential fundamental tasks, (Global Village Construction Set)
Step 2 Then prototype them and simplify and optimise design so other users can replicate them and then open source the plans!
Step 3 distribute documented plans of the designs to other makers, who are free to do what they like: they can start a business building and selling the tractor e.g.
Step 4 Users start bootstrapping their production equipment with self built OSE designed lathes, CNC laser cutters 3D printers,
Step 5 the OSE users start to move up the production value chain making ever more sophisticated end products: production tools as well as consumer goods
The philosophy is to allow users to produce each part of the value chain as much as possible (where it makes sense)
Even extracting and producing raw materials, obviously generating their own alternative energy, but also the engines motors and pumps to make all the other machines work.
There are different categories
Habitat
Compressed earth block press v4 · Concrete mixer · Sawmill · Bulldozer · Backhoe
Agriculture
Tractor: LifeTrac v3 · Seeder · Hay rake · Microtractor · Rototiller · Spader · Hay cutter · Trencher · Bakery oven · Dairy milking machine · Microcombine harvester · Baler · Well-drilling rig
Industry
Multimachine · Ironworker · Laser cutter · Welder · Plasma cutter · Induction furnace · CNC torch table · Metal roller · Wire and rod mill · Press forge · Universal rotor · Drill press · 3D Printer · 3D Scanner · CNC circuit mill · Industrial robot · Woodchipper / Hammermill
Energy
Power Cube: PowerCube v7 · Gasifier burner · Solar concentrator · Electric motor / generator · Hydraulic motor · Nickel–iron battery · Steam engine · Steam generator · Wind turbine · Pelletizer · Universal power supply
Materials
Aluminium extractor · Bioplastic extruder
Transportation
Car · Truck
The idea is to be relatively low-tech and prioritise simplicity and resilience.
Meaning that these machines are not necessarily designed to be super robust or be super efficient, but resilient meaning that the design allows the users to BUILD and REPAIR the machines THEMSELVES.
This is what usually goes wrong with development aid. Expensive machinery that is bought with best intentions for developing countries doesn't last a year in the harsh environment and the lack of affordable spare parts.
This kit is not simple either: these are machines that are progressively more sophisticated and allow users to produce and most physical things that any economy needs to advance.
But they build on each other. There are machines that compress bricks, to build houses and machine shops really fast. Then there are the plans for the machines in the machine shop itself which allows to build parts yourself for other machines! Up to the level of laser CNC machines and manufacturing their own print boards!
That in turn allows to build ever more sophisticated machines like cars, alternative energy etc...
Wish these guys where on steemit.com would be a great way to fund and distribute their designs. Looks like a very cool community, would be great having them post on steemit.com !
Great post, So sad to see a lack of interest . I am actually amazed.
Thanks for the share, I appreciate it.
Glad you liked it. Everyone is always talking about changing the world. These guys are DOING something about it. Turns out it is not so easy as writing a blog post here or there. It is a hard grind, they get my total respect! Wish a community like steemit.com could integrate with such projects so there is more feedback and capital for these guys to work with.
Although I think they have pretty good community that is supporting them well it must be frustrating that they still have not really reached escape velocity.
Please mention the project to others if you liked it, seems like they can use all the attention they can get, and people here on steemit might understand very well the potential of the open source ecology and what they are trying to achieve.
This sounds really cool, I'll bookmark to read later.
Its past noon and I need to get away from comp and go create the next issue of ---> * 1. Sunday is Funday in Panama !
There fun to write about, but need to leave the house to get Today's started creating it.
Thanks for the info
sounds much more entertaining! Looking forward to hear about it!
Thanks, a dude's gotta live a little ( or a lot ) LOL
I'll blog in the off hours, if I get any :-)
That's interesting. It would take some investment to build up all those machines to create the big equipment. Anything to help folks be more viable, in an economical way, seems like a good thing.
The main investment for the user is time and effort (which they have a lot of) raw materials are not that expensive and can be from salvaged pieces in some cases.
There were at one point people who made and sold the life-trac tractor as a business too.
From the development perspective it is the prototyping and documentation that is a grind, not all the designs are going to work the first time around.. so they sometimes have to go literally back to the drawing board...
That's a good point about the effort it takes to do prototyping!