[p2p-research] Debugging our Code of Conduct (was: Junto and a possible "social software stack")

[Alex Rollin]

On Wed, Jun 9, 2010 at 10:51 PM, Patrick Anderson <agnucius at gmail.com>wrote:

> Alex Rollin wrote:
> > On a list like this, with thousands of members, it seems to me that
> > someday we'll get together and sponsor one of these servers.
>
> Yes, yes, I am very interested in this too.  How can we share Physical
> Sources?...
>
> And how can we share without accidentally becoming one of the same
> beasts we currently fight (facebook, Google, etc.).
>
> We need a detailed description of what to do and what not to do at
> each step so we can finally create a business model that is better
> than *either* of Capitalism or Corporatism.
>
A list of the steps would be good too!  I have found several pages on the
wiki that talk about "business models" and principles or characteristics of
one kind or another.  I am doing little bits here and there so that these
pages could be seen together as descriptive of a whole system of
characteristics for use in such a step by step outline.
http://p2pfoundation.net/Category:Business_Models
Michel put in a lot of work on this page:
http://p2pfoundation.net/Open_Business_Models
It links to characteristics like transparency, and could link to things like
"profit".

>
> This "Code of Conduct" would be a legal document that members of any
> group could apply to any material assets they intend to share.
>
>
> But we will need to simplify our analysis to find what we have been
> doing wrong and how to correct it.
>
> So let's start with just 2 people and see what we can discover:
>
> > We can keep the profits without ever spending them!
>
> Hmm... If 2 people are sharing some tangible object (say a computer),
> is there such a thing as profit?
>
I have read your mails before on the subject.  Tis particular message was
cross-posted from the [OK] list.  I should have said, more correctly, that
we 'keep profit by never creating it' but that doesn't have the same ring I
was looking for.

>
> The 2 people must pay for the costs to purchase, install, maintain,
> etc. the machine.
>
> But I don't think they pay profit - for who would they pay it to?
>
> Also, they do not 'earn' Profit, but are instead paid in 'Product'.
> Their ROI is the very output of that production.  In other words, they
> are owning and working for Use-Value alone.
>
Yes.  I have seen a few entries on the wiki about profit.  Here is the main
one:
http://p2pfoundation.net/Profit
This could do with some development, and additional perspectives, as well as
how it relates to other characteristics of a system that can withstand the
test of time while paying out returns as 'unitized' use value: server space
etc.

>
>
> Ahhh, but if a 3rd person appears that does not yet have ownership, we
> can charge him more than real costs and thereby extract Profit.
>
> Now, he could have avoided paying Profit if he just had the ownership
> needed to protect him...
>
> So if he could gain some property of his own - let's say we used some
> of that Profit he just paid toward the purchase of another computer
> that he and other late-comers would eventually co-own.
>
> Treating profit as the payer's investment creates a negative-feedback
> loop that auto-levels resource allocation (growth only occurs during
> overbidding, and overbidding only occurs when growth is truly needed),
> distributes control to those who are willing to pay for it (in the end
> those who are willing to work for it), and safely drives Profit toward
> 0 while also creating a basis for production withou fear of automation
> or unemployment.
>
> Patrick Anderson
> Social Sufficiency Coalition
> http://SourceFreedom.BlogSpot.com
>
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