List of questions (was: Re: [ox-en] No more money trickery propaganda please)
Stefan Merten <[email protected]>
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Hi Franz and all! 2 days ago Franz Nahrada wrote: > Marc: totally interesting post, but totally off-topic. Thanks for this comment. > Maybe one should come up with a list of questions that we dont > know the answer to but want to find it, not just want but need > badly. See below for some. I wholeheartedly hope that we can use this social space to find at least a few answers to these many questions which - perhaps among others - are fundamental for the expansion of peer production. > And > with suspicions why we would find the answer especially here. Because I know no better place than this where peer production (i.e. open and based on Selbstentfaltung) is understood so well and at the focus. But here is the list. Challenges ========== Availability of means of production ----------------------------------- On a scale relevant to global society peer production appeared in the realm of digital goods (Free Software, Wikipedia, OpenAccess, ...). Nowadays digital goods can be reproduced easily by digital copy. The ease of digital copy is arguably an enabler of peer production. In particular it eases external openness. For digital goods the machinery part of the means of production in the rich countries is part of the general infrastructure. This is not the case for other means of production. In particular contemporary means of production for physical goods are not part of the general infrastructure. How might this develop in the future? Relationship to money --------------------- How can the relationship between peer production and the still dominant system of money can be understood? What are ways of coexistence not damaging peer production? What are models to pour money into peer production projects without damaging them? What are goals of such pouring? Societal need in peer production -------------------------------- Peer production projects meet societal needs - otherwise their products wouldn't be used. It seems like peer production meets many societal needs quite well. Is this true? How does this emerge? Can this be generalized and if so why? Enough volunteers ----------------- Many peer production projects are done by volunteers and in fact Selbstentfaltung is best expressed by volunteering in a peer production project. What happens if there are no or few volunteers for a project? What if the production of that project is important to others? Does this problem arise at all and if so under which conditions? Keep benefits of capitalism --------------------------- Though capitalism arguably has many drawbacks there are also a lot of benefits. What are these benefits? Do they survive in peer production, are they replaced by even bigger benefits, or are they destroyed? How can the latter be prevented? "Where do the rolls come from?" ------------------------------- This is a general question on how basic human needs like eating are met - which is easy in capitalism. "Where do the bananas come from?" --------------------------------- This is a general question on how human needs are met when they require complex world wide cooperation - which is easy in capitalism. "How is the steel mill run?" ---------------------------- This is a general question on how huge machinery which needs to be centralized for technical reasons is run - which is easy in capitalism. "How is the toilet cleaned?" ---------------------------- This is a general question on how basic needs in a private household are met. Explicit governance ------------------- In capitalism a lot of things are "governed" by the political economy (of which money is a trivialized expression). If that political economy is replaced what needs to be subject of a governance system then? How can governance support peer production? What forms of governance are in place in existing peer production projects and how do they work? Supporting the flow ------------------- In peer production there are often flows of produced goods which support further peer production. In capitalism that flow of goods is organized by exchanging abstract labor. What are possible impediments of such a flow of goods and how can they be removed? Production of physical goods ---------------------------- Both, physical and information goods need means of production to be produced. Though through digital copy the production of copies is easy both, physical and information goods need a physical substrate to be used by humans. Is there really a fundamental difference between physical and information goods? If so, how can the difference be characterized? Alienated uses of peer products ------------------------------- Generally for peer production products there may be a way to use them in an alienated way. For instance they can be sold in a domain different from peer production. Such an alienated use of peer products can be seen as an abuse. What are forms of abuse? Under which conditions such abuse is possible? What impact on a peer production project such abuse has? How can abuse be prevented? Including masses ---------------- Every major change in history must include the mass of the people somehow. Though peer production and its products by themselves are already rather convincing to many people the question how masses can be convinced to engage in a new mode of production still stands. Lack of Free time ----------------- There are cases in production when over a given period enough labor force is needed to complete a task. Such time limitations may come from human needs such as health care as well as from aspects of the production process such as physical or natural timing which can not be changed. Though there might be enough persons who might want to spend their labor force in Selbstentfaltung they might not be able to do this because they have limited time. What to do about this? This can be seen as the human side of `Availability of means of production`_. More questions ============== Option to fork -------------- Forks are an important concept of contemporary peer production projects. Though forks are relatively seldom their possibility is certainly an important aspect in contemporary peer production projects. What are the preconditions for forks? How can these preconditions be met by an alternative? More Selbstentfaltung --------------------- Some tasks which are societal useful are hard to conceptualize as Selbstentfaltung - see `"How is the toilet cleaned?"`_ for an instance. What means do exist to make them Selbstentfaltung? Technology ---------- Contemporary peer production projects usually rely on the technology of digital copy. Digital copy is a technology invented with computers and since the Internet came into existence digital copy is possible on a global level. Contemporary peer production projects rely on digital copy by using it as a reproduction technology making copies from original digital entities to use them elsewhere. Arguably peer production would not exist without this technology. Does the further development of peer production depend on developments in technology? Which technologies would support peer production best? Leveraging diversity of Selbstentfaltung ---------------------------------------- What Selbstentfaltung is is a very individual question. What is a horror to one person might be Selbstentfaltung for her neighbor. How can this diversity of Selbstentfaltung be leveraged? Is that an answer to the question in `More Selbstentfaltung`_? Building means of production from the ground up ----------------------------------------------- The history of Free Software is a history of building the means of production from the ground up: The GNU project started with implementing a compiler (GCC), an editor (Emacs) and an operating system (which became GNU/Linux then). What does this mean for other fields? Is this a strategy which can or even should be copied? Learning from capitalism ------------------------ Capitalism is the most recent mode of production which came into being as a germ form. What can be learned from the history of capitalism? How did capitalism take over exactly? Who were involved and what were the influences? Limits of the drawing board --------------------------- A complete society is a very complex thing. To describe a new society completely thus probably makes no sense. What are useful limits of such a description? Leveraging capitalism --------------------- How can capitalism be leveraged to support peer production? What can be done to leverage the productive capabilities of capitalism for peer production beyond its current limitations? Form of means of production --------------------------- Means of production are formed by the society they are made for. Thus a peer production based society needs different means of production than for instance capitalism. How can such means of production evolve? Grüße Stefan _________________________________ Web-Site: http://www.oekonux.org/ Organization: http://www.oekonux.de/projekt/ Contact: [email protected]