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[ox-en] Fwd: [ox-de] Request for Comments: Die Peer-Ökonomie



[Translation from ox-de, by StefanMz; the book annouced is in english!]

http://www.keimform.de/2007/09/20/request-for-comments-die-peer-oekonomie/

Request for Comments: The Peer Economy

By Christian Siefkes, September, 20th, 2007, 23:15

The big text I was working on for the last nine months is ready. It is 
about the question of the potential of peer production -- the way free 
software is produced. We know that this new mode of production is of 
great importance when it is about free software -- success stories like 
GNU/Linux, Apache or Wikipedia speak for themselfs. However, is this 
mode of production only relevant for information goods? Or is there a 
potential for more, maybe a revolution of the entire societal 
production?

The results of my considerations are now published having the 
title "From Exchange to Contributions: Generalizing Peer Production 
into the Physical World". Initially It was intended to be a long 
article, but due to the complexity of the topic it became a book!

This the announcement text:

    A new mode of production has emerged in the areas of software and
    content production. This mode, which is based on sharing and
    cooperation, has spawned whole mature operating systems such as
    GNU/Linux as well as innumerable other free software applications;
    giant knowledge bases such as the Wikipedia; a large free culture
    movement; and a new, wholly decentralized medium for spreading,
    analyzing and discussing news and knowledge, the so-called
    blogosphere.

    So far, this new mode of production--peer production--has been
    limited to certain niches of production, such as information goods.
    This book discusses whether this limitation is necessary or whether
    the potential of peer production extends farther. In other words: Is
    a society possible in which peer production is the primary mode of
    production? If so, how could such a society be organized?

    Is a society possible where production is driven by demand and not
    by profit? Where there is no need to sell anything and hence no
    unemployment? Where competition is more a game than a struggle for
    survival? Where there is no distinction between people with capital
    and those without? A society where it would be silly to keep your
    ideas and knowledge secret instead of sharing them; and where
    scarcity is no longer a precondition of economic success, but a
    problem to be worked around?

    It is, and this book describes how.

The entire text of the book can be downloaded as PDF (125 pages)
<http://www.peerconomy.org/text/peer-economy.pdf>
A smaller 2-up version (2 Pages on one page, 62 pages) is also available
<http://www.peerconomy.org/text/peer-economy.2-a4.pdf>

The text can be modified and copied following the condition of the 
Creative Commons NonCommercial-ShareAlike-Licence.

A paperback print shall be released in some days an will cost 9 Euro -- 
recommendable for all, who want to do their eyes, their printer, or 
simply me a favour:-)

Since then I will be happy about feedback, critics, and inspired 
debates. If my book leads to a reflection, that a post-capitalist 
economy is no longer utopian as it seems to be, then its ends are 
achieved.

-- 
|-------- Dr. Christian Siefkes -------- christian siefkes.net ---------
| Homepage:    http://www.siefkes.net/  | Blog:  http://www.keimform.de/
| OpenPGP Key: http://www.siefkes.net/key.txt       (Key ID: 0x346452D8)
|------------------------------------------------------------------------

Modern methods of production have given us the possibility of ease and
security for all; we have chosen, instead, to have overwork for some and
starvation for others. Hitherto we have continued to be as energetic as 
wewere before there were machines; in this we have been foolish, but 
there is no reason to go on being foolish forever.
        -- Bertrand Russell, In Praise of Idleness


-- 
Start here: www.meretz.de
_________________________________
Web-Site: http://www.oekonux.org/
Organization: http://www.oekonux.de/projekt/
Contact: projekt oekonux.de



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