Talk:Commons-oriented Productive Capacities

=Comments / Reviews=

comments by Robert Steele
General comment: if there were a way to automatically number all lines so comments could be made in relation to specific lines, might be useful. Am assuming we are not making instream wiki suggestions

General comment: I believe the over-all project and any paper within the project are stronger if we recognize that this endeavor is not seeking to displace Capitalist Models but rather to select a model of capitalism that is focused on the public interest rather than private interest. C. K. Prahalad and others have written about the value of capitalism focused on the five billion poor and their needs (with the added incentive that their aggregate annual income is four times that of the one billion rich, four trillion instead of one trillion). Redirecting capitalism is easier done than trying to impose socialism, in my view.

General comment: I have never been a good story teller so this is an abstract comment. What is missing is the human factor – the raw and compelling understanding that this is a means of rescuing and empowering the 99% while respecting socially-validated IP rights.

Executive summary

Add Always focusing on the public interest, [this document examines]

Add [in fact hindering it] in relation to the public interest.

Introduction and focus: basic principles

The section “The concept and forms of the knowledge economy” is very powerful and should be considered for moving to become the very first paragraph. This is the paragraph that drives everything else. Win over the reader with this paragraph, and their minds are open the rest of the way.

A critique of cognitive capitalism

Agree with all that is said but one key point appears to be missing. There is no such thing as cognitive capitalism. In its present form capitalism is a continuation of the agricultural form of capitalism (fiefdoms and absentee landlords) and the industrial form of capitalism (commoditization of humans and the ownership of things). If this point is made first, it becomes easier – and less confrontational – to show that “conscious collective capitalism” in the information era goes to a complexly new level where previous “rights” become destructive of the whole rather than useful to the whole. Here are three book reviews that might help shape the case and provide references, I notice that Benkler is already cited.

Review: Infinite Wealth–A New World of Collaboration and Abundance in the Knowledge Era http://www.phibetaiota.net/2009/01/?p=13401

Review: Revolutionary Wealth (Hardcover) http://www.phibetaiota.net/2009/01/?p=6342

Review: The Wealth of Knowledge–Intellectual Capital and the Twenty-first Century Organisation (Hardcover) http://www.phibetaiota.net/2009/01/?p=8239

followed by my general lists in this area.

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Bio-Economics http://www.phibetaiota.net/2010/07/?p=20839

Worth a Look: Book Reviews of Capitalism Reincarnated http://www.phibetaiota.net/2010/07/?p=20842

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Common Wealth http://www.phibetaiota.net/2010/07/?p=20858

Alternatives to capitalist models

Consider changing to read “An alternative implementation of capitalism of, by, and for we the people”

The FLOK model

This is actually the model of the indigenous natives of the Americas and elsewhere, I recommend that point be stressed. My review below,

Review: 1491–New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus http://www.phibetaiota.net/2008/01/1491-new-revelations-of-the-americas-before-columbus/

and various books on collective intelligence and crowd wisdom, all make references to the fact that in the pre-European era, the indigenous were vastly more respectful of Mother Earth and vastly more respectful on one another’s collective concerns and views, while also always thinking on behalf of the “seventh generation – two hundred and more years ahead.

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Civilization-Building http://www.phibetaiota.net/2010/07/?p=20850

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Collective Intelligence http://www.phibetaiota.net/2010/07/?p=20854

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Leadership for Epoch B http://www.phibetaiota.net/2010/07/?p=20923

Open knowledge commons in the primary and secondary economy sectors

Agree with everything that is written. Two points are missing that might be helpful to making the case:

First, poverty is the greatest threat to Ecuador and all other nations and societies. Anything that allows individuals to build themselves out of poverty using primarily their time and muscle and personal intelligence, is good for society. The Global Village Construction Set does that.

Second, housing – affordable sustainable housing – is the single biggest cost for any family. Even harder is integrated fresh water for drinking and bathing, and sewage. The Global Village Construction Set also solves these problems with rainwater harvesting (illegal when water is privatized) and composting. The cost of infrastructure development and maintenance can be largely eliminated if the nation-state fosters distributed self-sustaining resilient villages, these in turn reduce the pressures on urban areas.

A third more subtle justification for fostering distributed villages is that with the Internet and 3D printing, innovation can now bring benefits to the distributed society and the urban concentration is less of a factor although still very powerful.

Case-study 2: Community-managed, sustainable agriculture in India

This is a wonderful case study. I would just add that Cuba, where US embargoes prevented Cuba from falling prey to Monsanto forms of agriculture, is a national-level case study of possible value, both in agriculture and in health.

Transforming the secondary sector: open design commons for distributed manufacturing

There have been some major advances in 3D in the last few months, below is a link to all 3D printing stories at Phi Beta Iota the Public Intelligence Blog, perhaps a couple of these stories could be used as citations that add weight to an already excellent presentation.

3D @ Phi Beta Iota http://www.phibetaiota.net/?s=3D

Case-study 2: WIkispeed

Some will see this case study as frivolous and divorced from Ecuador’s needs. I own a 1964 MGB and have always dreamed of a car as good that I could build myself from the ground up, so this for me is exciting. Rather than changing the example, which is powerful, I recommend adding a sentence after [conventional car manufacturing requires.] to read:

This case study reflects principles that can be applied to any design challenge across the real-world of the five billion poor, from refrigeration powered by renewable energy (vital to agricultural storage and transport) to larger purpose-driven manufacturing including long-haul trucks, trains, and small aircraft.

Preliminary general principles for policy making

I am not a patent or legal specialist so I am reluctant to comment in detail. I do have three observations from watching the corruption of the US system and the corruption of the IMF, WTO, and World Bank:

01 IP law should not be subject to corruption by monied interests. A strong principle of the original US IP system was that there was a fixed time limit during which an inventor enjoyed exclusivity.

02 Any invention protected by IP law should be immediately released into the public domain – all rights forsaken – if there is no effort to develop the invention, but rather to keep it from the marketplace (e.g. fuel efficient engines, indestructible paints, etc.)

03 No treaties should be signed or enforced that contain secret provisions, or that provide rights granted to external parties that have not been fully disclosed and publicly evaluated in relation to the rights of internal parties.

References

All marvelous. As I sat thinking about what else might be addressed, I wondered if there should be, not necessarily in this paper but as part of the larger project, a focus on paying attention world-wide in order to identify and bring to Ecuador innovations that other countries are slow to exploit. One example is that of M. Johanna Smith, who leads a team with very power water cleansing and water desalination technologies that eliminate all chemicals such as chlorine, and all industrial-era byproducts (toxins) to provide pure “original” water. See

Johanna Smith @ Phi Beta Iota http://www.phibetaiota.net/?s=Johanna+Smith