[p2p-research] [Open Manufacturing] Addressing Post-Scarcity Pitfalls

[Ryan Lanham]

I actually prefer top-posted items.  They are more fluid and natural as a
form of writing.  But if the group prefers the norm of inter-spaced, I am
happy to comply.  Always amused by the discussion though...I saw it the
first time on USENET at Harvard in the 1980s.  So much for "progress."  I
remember adding the carrot insert code for multi-level inter-spaced to my
EMACS and vi editors about 1987--date may be off.  Stallman probably wrote
it for all I know.  The Internet doesn't maintain much institutional memory
in some ways.  I'm surprised these interactions don't become video over
text...that would be easier and better in some respects.
More substantively...

Japan and European countries are efficient because they need be
economically.  They have few resources, energy intensive small industries
(e.g. specialty steels) and dense populations.

India, China and the US suffer less from these ills/benefits.  China
probably has enough dirty coal for centuries and can buy billions of tons
more from Western Canada, Australia and the US.  India doesn't need heat, it
needs cooling.  Nuclear is an obvious solution for them as it is in Southern
China.

By contrast, Europe has no space for nuclear that is not surrounded by NIMBY
political factions.  Even still, France is by far the most nuclear nation on
earth per capita. Europe will soon get its power mostly from the Sahara I
suspect. It will be interesting to see if they pay for it in fair and
equitable ways.  North Sea oil and gas (and Russian gas) are not endless.
 So the movement toward efficiency, small scale, small vehicle cultures is
easier and more obvious in Japan, Switzerland, Denmark, etc.

The real moral leaders appear to be New Zealand.  Four million people don't
matter much, but good for all of us that they are trying to build national
will and show how a functioning democracy can do good by planning.

Japan uses by a wide margin less power than anyone else.  Few Americans
would or could live as most Japanese do--in very small spaces with very
small vehicles and densely packed offices and transportation systems.
 Japan's economy has coped for 75 years with inadequate natural resources.
 They don't do it for moral reasons.  One need only look at their slaughter
of fisheries, whales, dolphins, etc. to see that motivations are indeed hard
to curb.

Like the America, the same will be true of China and India to a lesser
degree.  One need only look at Korea, which is not very efficient at all, to
see that technological and social advancement have nothing to do with
efficiency.  Green movements thrive where they are economically viable.
 Germany has a strong but weakening green movement.  Most consider the
nation to be moving sharply to the right politically--and those people
aren't going to be very green.

America has a car culture.  It invented the modern automobile as it is
designed, marketed and delivered around the world with very few exceptions.
 Asking it to switch to other models (as with air versus rail, etc.) is
asking for radical social changes that do not fit its culture or its
economy.  America needs to lead on cutting outputs, but those cuts need to
be culturally and economically feasible and fair given where nations started
from and their densities and economic models.

Of course the real issue is what America, China and India do.  Europe
matters a little, but it is a diverse set of post-industrial nations for the
most part.  Those nations are densely populated, highly educated and easily
swayed toward cohesive political will.  America is a diverse, widely
distributed land with many different ways of living.  Same with China and
India (and Indonesia...and Africa).  Those places need much fairer and open
modes of saving that allow for rapid development, fast and low-cost
transportation, etc.  Europe doesn't need these things.  It is truly apples
and oranges.

We need real and diverse solutions that fit differing realities.

Ryan


2009/6/25 Smári McCarthy <smari at anarchism.is>

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> Eugen Leitl wrote:
> > Unfortunately I missed Stan's email, because I killfiled him due
> > to deliberate top-posting.
>
> How unfortunate that you should miss part of the conversation because
> you're not willing to get over yourself.
>
> While you're busy killfiling people that you've deemed unworthy, the
> conversation will continue.
>
>  - Smári
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