Dante’s Blog

I like the complicity and shared passion between prof and pupil(?) in this video on “emergence of open design and manufacturing”

http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/marvellous-interview-with-eric-von-hippel-on-user-centered-innovation/2009/02/08

I look forward to the development of a inter-connected movement of engineers, namely programmers,

supported by all kinds of thinkers, facilitators, …

for the bloom of a new self-empowered  and empowering movement :

Open Source Public Licensed ” Programmable Financial Systems ”

following the development of other open source projects, such as Linux.

I also look forward to the emergence of open distributed data bases using such softwares

converging and sharing information about

offer and demand in the field of

” units representing needs of/offers in the pursuit of certain intentions measured by a certain measurable quantity ( time, energy, processing, data transfer, … ) and issued or asked by individual profiles ”

details:

here are some of the challenges I try to address :

The challenge is to manifest simple tools that enable greater complexity : enabling simplicity at higher levels of abstraction.

– I would like to see an economic measurement system which allows for a variety of units to be transferred ( units which have in common to define 1 ) an intention , 2 ) a unit of measure , and 3 ) profiles of groups or individuals pursuing them which issue them – each of these informations staying connected to the units )

In such a measurement system I imagine, people or groups do not owe to other people, they owe to ” intentions ” , and to serve the intentions, one can support the needs of the groups or individuals who serve certain intentions, by accepting their currency in exchange for what we can do.

By serving such intentions through accepting the units in exchange of our service, we show that we support the intention, and in turn others who want to support the intention can support us.

One could imagine that such economic intentional measurment system could be a complementary currency that could at first be used in the field of the volunteering economy – making it easier for voluntary people to find projects to support, and receive reputation points for it on their profile ( which in turn increases their credibility to issue units if and when they owuld need support ),
and receive intentional units which can be used or given on afterwords.

It could include time banks ( or some units connected to energy production , food production , etc )

but also other information systems which combine

1) defined intention in creation of currency

2 ) defined measurement unit

3 ) contain reputation of issuer, or of supporters of the issuer

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Dante-Gabryell Monson <dante.monson – at – gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Oct 18, 2008 at 2:08 PM
Subject: package for local autonomous infrastructure development ?

All kinds of solutions have already been designed or been experimented with ,

yet when I look locally , here in Brussels ,

I do not seem to know ( yet ? ) of any services , or communities of practice that could offer services between each other or to clients that pay for it ,

that combine a number of solutions into a package for the urban citizen

I imagine such ” service ” could be developed , not only for some real estate community development project , not only for DIY , but a combination of DIY with commercial , and perhaps even passionnate DIY s that can converge in communities of practice and that can then sell their services and even design more specific solutions that perhaps go beyond DIY

I do know platforms such as

http://www.appropedia.org/Welcome_to_Appropedia

http://www.google.be/search?hl=en&q=appropedia&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

and a number of individuals ( and anarchist communities ) that try to develop their solutions.

I also know of companies ( or cooperatives ) that try to offer isolated solutions regarding for example energy isolation , ” green ” energy production ( solar , wind , … )

but I am still looking forwards to , perhaps even leading its creation ,

into a combination between the open source solutions ( such as appropedia )
and local networks ,

with financial back up of ” clients ” ,

as to develop some kind of sustainable ” post financial crisis ” infrastructure ”
that takes into account all different dimensions related to the various impacts ,

while increasing local autonomous capability and infrastructure in energy , co-production ( including food within 20 km ? ) , water , transportation , logistics , waste management ( and re-use management ) , and through emergence , of trust information systems ( currencies ) that take into account all resources and individuals connected to the networks

etc

I imagine we could develop ” investment ” schemes , projecting potential savings even when there would be no financial crisis , and then add to that the increased ” insurance ” of access to living resources and systems even in the case of a financial system breakdown ( or other system breakdown )

It would be interesting to be able to play with figures , and to find ways of ” selling it ” ,
as to finance the emergence of cooperatives in urban areas , and thinknet ( cooperatives at local and transnational levels ) that support the local cooperatives.

It also leads to a post nationalist , post local government approach , where citizens empower and self organize themselves in collaboration , but not in dependency of other institutions.

Ideally , there would be no need for cooperatives , but simply networks.

Something I keep in mind and felt like sharing.

I would be happy to work on some business models ,
or if this already exists , to further interact with such project.

I do know that ecovillage communities do this for themselves ,
but in this case it would not be one specific ecovillage , it would be a community of practice that has a business model and that provides the tools and consultance to set up autonomous systems in urban ( and non urban ) areas through fudning of individuals that would be willing to pay for such ” insurance “.

So it is at first about setting up some kind of ” service ” , some ” insurance ” , …

How much would it cost to provide such service to a urban dweller in north west europe ?

I imagine it might very much depend on the level of complexity of the environment to process solutions for , and perhaps some system of ” credits ” that includes involvement of local residents into solution development could be created , so that people that have less time to invest in the area project can invest financially for others in the area to work on the project – others that would get credits for their work , and give them access to the infrastructures they build even when they do not have capital to invest ?

Greetings from Brussels

Dante