5 Theses

The theses are available at http://www.beaupoil.de/c/flosh/theses.html.

Theses

• Free* 1 -> Altruism
• Free* 2 -> Copiability
• Free* 1+2 -> Abstraction of the Free Software
  Phenomenon to Free-everything phenomenon
• 1% Machine -> Hardware fulfills Free* 1+2
• It's here already -> Empirical "Proof"
• Steel Bullet Law -> Free Hardware is necessary

Free* 1

• "Altruistic behavior is naturally occurring, intended and stable even under extreme market-place-like conditions" S.S. Levine
• Human beings want "Selbstentfaltung" in the area of their own interest. The Internet provides the capabilities to do this globally with people of the same interest. This leads to a better result than doing the same thing for economic reasons, because the aim is not the fulfillment of a task with minimal effort but to achieve the best result.

Free* 2

• "What can be digitized will be shared" S.S. Levine
• If the possibility exists to make a 100% copy with 0 transaction costs, so that the result of the "Selbstentfaltung" can be passed on to other human beings, who can use it, improve it and pass it on again, it will happen.

1% Machine

Software	=	Sources	+		Build process
Hardware	=	Sources	+	(digital + material)	Build process
		90%	+	10%
		(R&D + Blueprints)	+	90% Standard parts + 10% Special parts

• Most Hardware can be 99% digitized
• Hardware fulfills Free* 1 and 99% of Free* 2. This makes Free Hardware possible.
• The 1% gap is the same gap that distributors close for Free Software by providing an end-user product

It's here already!

• Free Hardware exists
• www.otherpower.com
• www.slashdot.org
• Beamers, Rockets, Aircrafts, Biogas...
• ...I'll publish my link list on Monday http://www.beaupoil.de/c/flosh/bookmark.html

Steel Bullet Law

• "No profit maximizing organization will market a technical improvement of one order of magnitude."
• Current problems of mankind make technical improvements of several orders of magnitude desirable.
• Creation of monopolies, patent law and regulations will slow down proprietary technical progress.

What next?

• License Hardware GPL
• Tools (designforge.org, Free CAD Software, database for standard parts)
• Projects (bring together people fighting alone)
• Distributors for non-standard parts and products
• Adopt further successful methods from Free Software
• Close collaboration with Free Software scene

Please Help!

• opendesign@beaupoil.de
• Thanks

Definitions

Sources

Total information needed to produce the good. For Software this is the source code. For hardware this is all information needed to materialize the product (e.g. part lists, production and assembly blueprints, CNC machine programs...)

Build process

For software a purely digital process which runs on a processor without intervention. For material goods this is the production process.

Standard part

Every part for which an ISO norm and more than one manufacturer exists.