[p2p-research] important appeal: social media and p2p tools against the meltdown

[Nathan Cravens]

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for your feedback. This proposal fits well with Open Source Market
Economy we've discussed, in that, it anticipates the decrease in monetary
necessity.

It’s an excellent model for community resilience–simultaneously a
> cushion that could enable the unemployed to subsist outside the wage
> system and form the nucleus of a future post-mass production economy
> centered on production outside the wage system.


My hopes are that these environments help people thrive and support
independent living through community organizing. It would be a place to
network and learn skills that help to revise, add, or replicate various
parts most personally attractive based on the resource dynamic, like
available applicable knowledge and material resources. The intention is to
make the organizational approach transparent and self organizing.

I recently read Wallerstein's introduction to world systems analysis. I find
the approach very attractive. This view provides the empirical backing for
the effort.

First comes developing this proposal further into something adoptable.


A few points:
>
> The Fab lab concept should be expanded to include all forms of
> small-scale production tools affordable by individuals. This would
> include well-equipped home workshops with conventional machine tools,
> as well as intermediate-sized tools like the multimachine. This
> broader conception would coincide with the community workshops
> advocated by Colin Ward, Karl Hess, etc.


I will look into Ward and Hess for more background. My influences presently
are that of Factor e Farm and NYC Resistor. Factor e for more rural settings
and NYC for an urban model.

Local agriculture should place a premium on alternative water sources
> (esp. rainwater conservation with cisterns), edible permaculture
> landscaping, etc., for resilience against drought and other forms of
> climate change associated with global warming.


The Vigyan Ashram has developed affordable methods of ground water
detection. For dry areas there are ways of condensing moisture in the air.
Desalinization can be used for communities near the sea.

Appropedia is a good hub for the various ways of water.
http://www.appropedia.org/Portal:Water




> And adding housing as a fourth and separate category, rather than only
> related tangentially to the other functions of the Cafe, would fill a
> big gap in the overall resiliency strategy. It might be some kind of
> cheap, bare bones cohousing project associated with the Cafe (water
> taps, cots, hotplates, etc) that would house people at minimal cost on
> the YMCA model. Squats in abandoned/public buildings, and building
> with scavenged materials on vacant lots, etc. (a la Colin Ward), might
> tie in with this as wel


Fabs can support rapid fabrication for housing. I'll look into the YMCA
model. I can imagine hostel-like rooms for those that avidly work in these
areas.

In an urban area, one large multi-level building could provide all basic
needs. A floor for  hydroponicly grown food, the fab, and cafe. The
remaining space can be used for housing. The more sophisticated the fabs and
availibility of materials, the better conditions may rival or exceed present
middle class standards.

Vinay Gupta’s work on emergency life-support technology for refugees
> is also relevant to the housing problem: offering cheap LED lighting,
> solar cookers, water purifiers, etc., to those living in tent cities
> and Hoovervilles.
>

Cafes and CSAs without fabs can draw from Vinay's work and that of Open
Source Ecology, particularly the Hexcube for rapid housing.


Nathan
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