[p2p-research] Non digital commons a lot more complicated than Free Software

[Patrick Anderson]

j.martin.pedersen wrote:
> When enough eyes see the materiality of the virtual,
> the hack might emerge. We are far from that.


Yes, why is the "materiality of the virtual" so vehemently denied?

Why do so many claim the costs of storing and delivering Software,
Video, Music, etc. are 'marginal' - as though they should be ignored?
The Physical Sources required to host these Virtual Sources are
*massive* for corporations such as Google, Facebook, etc.

This problem is *NO DIFFERENT* from the ancient problem of Land
ownership for the purpose of basic subsistence.
We must learn to work together.  We cannot overgrow the Capitalists in
solitary confinement.

But instead of facing the problem of co-owing Physical Sources, we are
told by Eben Moglen, Richard Stallman and many others that each of us
must own these things in *absolute isolation* to retain Freedom.

The Open Manufacturers are also in denial; they focus solely upon
design and *individual* ownership of manufacturing plants (RepRap,
etc.),
even though the original manufacturing plants (organisms that create
food, medicine, soaps, etc.) have been forever available for
individual ownership (gardening)

Individual, isolated ownership *DOES NOT WORK* because we are then
each forced to have the extreme skills needed to operate and deal with
the outputs of those Servers, Robots or Organisms which is far more
time and labor intensive as compared to the efficiency of scale the
Capitalists enjoy.

Furthermore, some Physical Sources are *meaningless* when owned in isolation.

For example, We, the Users, will need collectively purchase and/or
build and then co-own the material infrastructure that our ISPs and
Cell-Phone providers hold against us before we can finally have any
real say in how those networks are governed.

Once we see that Property Ownership can be used as a force for good,
we can then begin to co-buy our way out of subjection.

But such an organization will be very unstable unless we are able to
admit the true origin and purpose of Profit, for otherwise the
originators of such a facility will surely treat that Price above Cost
as a reward for themselves - which will concentrate power and
eventually cause the group to be no different from any other
Capitalist endeavor.