The Next Edge

I love the idea of “catchment in webs of trust” – Blais’ idea that extended networks of trust can begin to harness flows of energy within a group of people. The community can then become a generative social infrastructure for all sorts of amazing endeavors.

Blais urges to go even a step further, however, by recognizing that we must somehow “move beyond the logic of commons/enclosed, of free/private” so that the intrinsic dynamics of nature – beyond human control – can have their play.

She cites the Six Nations of the Lakota, who suggested in the late 1940s that even the very notion of human rights needs to evolve:

- There is a hue and cry for human rights – human rights, they said, for all people. And the indigenous people said: What are the rights of the natural world? Where is the seat for the buffalo or the eagle? Who is representing them here in this forum? Who is speaking for the waters of the earth? Who is speaking for the trees and the forests?

One can imagine the commons being the crucible for an enlarged conception of human rights — one that more closely integrates human needs with those of the rest of the bio-physical world.”

- Michel Bauwens

Compared to previous generations, Millennials seem to have some very different habits that have taken both established companies and small businesses by surprise. One of these is that Generation Y doesn't seem to enjoy purchasing things.

The Atlantic's article "Why Don't Young Americans Buy Cars?" mused recently about Millennials' tendency to not care about owning a vehicle. The subtitle: "Is this a generational shift, or just a lousy economy at work?"

What if it's not an "age thing" at all? What's really causing this strange new behavior (or rather, lack of behavior)? Generational segments have profound impacts on perception and behavior, but an "ownership shift" isn't isolated within the Millennial camp. A writer for USA Today shows that all ages are in on this trend, but instead of an age group, he blames the change on the cloud, the heavenly home our entertainment goes to when current media models die. As all forms of media make their journey into a digital, de-corporeal space, research shows that people are beginning to actually prefer this disconnected reality to owning a physical product.

One of the problems we need to solve during this transition is to define a strategy to play the open game. How can we make sure that those who invest in open products get rewarded for their contribution? How can we make sure that one can feed his family from participating in the design, production and distribution of open products. We often hear: "if your product is successful you'll get copied"; "if you offer your recipe to everyone no one will buy your product, people will make it themselves"; etc.

Playing the open game is not just about releasing all the information and knowledge about the product.

Games require rules. A lot of efforts have been spent on drafting licenses for open products (see example from p2p foundation). But these licenses are, in some sense, as good as patents, i.e. as good as YOU can defend them.

http://p2pfoundation.net/Peer_Production_License