Episode-1587- Marcin Jakubowski on Open Source Ecology
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (12.7MB)
Marcin Jakubowski is a Polish-American who came to the U.S. from Poland as a child. He graduated with honors from Princeton and earned his Ph.D. in fusion physics from the University of Wisconsin.
Frustrated with the lack of relevance to pressing world issues in his education, he founded Open Source Ecology in 2003 in order to make closed-loop manufacturing a reality. He began development of the Global Village Construction Set (GVCS)—an open source tool set of 50 industrial machines necessary to create a small civilization with modern comforts.
His work has recently been recognized as a 2012 TED Senior Fellow, in Time Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2012, as a 2013 Shuttleworth Foundation Fellow, and a White House Champion of Change in 2013.
What is Open Source? Open Source refers to the model of providing goods and services which includes the possibility of the end-user’s participation in the production of these goods and services.
This concept has already been demonstrated in Linux, the open source computing system. With Linux, a large number of software developers have contributed to creating a viable alternative to the proprietary Windows computer operating system.
Many people can readily see the advantages- all Linux software is free. Please read these articles on the concept of Open Source software and its implications for changing business.
What is Open Source Ecology? Open Source Ecology derives the organization’s name from a concept which refers to the integration of the natural, societal, and industrial ecologies- Open Source Ecology- aiming at sustainable and regenerative economics.
The OSE team is convinced that a possibility of a quality life exists, where human needs are guaranteed to the world’s entire population- as long as we ask ourselves basic questions on what societal structures and productive activities are truly appropriate to meeting human needs for all.
At the end of the day, the goal is to liberate our time to engage in exactly that which each of us wants to be doing- instead of what we need to do to survive. All have the potential to thrive. Today, an increasingly smaller percentage of the world’s population is in this position.
Resources for today’s show…
- Join the Members Brigade
- The Year 1587
- Join Our Forum
- Walking To Freedom
- TSP Gear
- PermaEthos.com
- AgriTrue.com
- GenForward
- The Duck Chronicles – Video Series
- Safecastle Royal – (sponsor of the day)
- Knife Kits – (sponsor of the day)
- Open Source Ecology
- Open Source Ecology Workshops
- The Open Source Ecology Wiki
- OSE Newsletter
Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK (866-658-4465) and you might hear yourself on the air.
Want Every Episode of TSP Ever Produced?
Remember in addition to discounts to over 40 vendors who supply stuff you are likely buying anyway, tons of free ebooks and video content, MSB Members also get every edition of The Survival Podcast ever produced in convenient zip files in blocks of 24. More info on the MSB can be found here.
Loved this episode. I’d heard about OSE’s 3D Printer, but it was just awesome to hear more background. Totally agree that it’s great to have someone with this guys obvious mental horsepower working on these issues.
That was a lively session hitting on some of the key positives. The real power comes in when this stuff goes viral if the greater community recognizes that we don’t have the answers, but are creating a kernel upon which many people can build upon. The greater participation and improvements is what will make the products outstanding – and only then can new ideas gobble up the status quo.
What a great interview! I was practically bouncing up and down in the drivers seat listening to you and Jack talk. Have you read either of Daniel Suarez’s Daemon series books? It’s a contemporary fiction thriller that involves a lot of technology re-writing the economy into distributed, resilient, permaculture-practicing “holons” (integrated communities; I had to look it up!). Your work also reminds me of Neal Stephenson’s “The Diamond Age” wherein nano-technology allows print-on-demand sort of service as well as molecular-level recycling of almost any product. Both stories are fascinating and imaginative, but you’re doing it right now! Props to you and your team, and I hope to be involved some day.
I need to connect with Marcin. My now deceased partner had created an affordable home program that could be built by 2 people without any heavy machinery or by a community program to be used by all. It was his life’s work and I have many many volumes of how to “Start to finish”. All computerized, part by part. I would like to honer his final wishes of making this an open source project for all to share.
Thank You
Another industry that could use some open source ecology. Has anybody priced appliances lately? Beside being priced through the roof, they are designed with planned obsolescence. Circuit boards that get tortured with heat. Control boards and circuit panels instead of simple mechanical controls. I had a camper with a stove and it had no circuit board, was 30 years old and will likely go another 30, sure it didn’t get heavy use, but I don’t understand the need for all these complex controls on such simple devices. I remember the stove at Permaethos, like new, but didn’t work cause circuit board took a crap and would cost 300 bucks or something to get it fixed, what a scam.
Hi Jeff, I completely understand. I’ve worked in Commercial HVAC & Refrigeration for almost 20 years now, when I first started I was with Sears as an warranty repair tech for appliances. This was in the mid 90’s when most of the manufacturer’s started to import most everything…was a nightmare with 1 month old units needing new compressors, electric fan motors going out in 1-2 years.
The worst as you said are the control boards, the manufacturer’s use their own board and are required by law to make them for X many years (can’t remember if it’s 5 or 10 years) past when they last produce that model. They figured out though if they jack up the cost of replacement parts your better off buying a new unit.
I was just out in my garage admiring my beer fridge, a 46 year old workhorse that my parents received as a wedding gift from their parents. It’s been moved more times just from when I’ve had it than I care to remember. Same compressor, same refrigerant charge, the only thing I had to do was fix a dent in it that I put in when I was a teenager and I replaced the door seal around 10 years ago. It just keeps working!
I’ve thought often if I had the money and wherewithal I would love to create my own appliance brand and build them for a lifetime of use, with interchangeable parts, open source etc. I think you can still get high quality long lasting appliances like a Sub Zero & NXR/Wolf/Viking.
Planned obsolescence = return customers & profit for the manufacturers.
Looking forward to the Miracle Orchard workshop! Hope you can make it Jack.
Raspberry Pi and other small open source computing platforms are good tools to roll your own control system for appliances or other closed system control hardware. For now the chips and PCBs are still somewhat hard to home brew but even these barriers are falling rapidly. In the meantime $25 of external input will have to do!
This episode is one of the most encouraging and amazing I have heard. I am
a 69 year old grandma who listens to TSP and enjoys it very much. I am hoping that groups of people who are trying to change our culture by changing the way we do things will keep gaining momentum and actually cause a shift in the way we think. It will take time but is possible.
Dobberdiane – thanks. New paradigms are in order. We just posted our newest workshop on Open Source Mapping and Site Design – http://opensourceecology.org/workshops-and-programs/
Really good episode!
Are there any plans to take any of the contents online so we-who-don’t-live-in-the-US can also learn from you?
David – yes – the course materials will be published, and we are looking for video people to join the event to produce instructionals. If you know any video editors/producers, please send them our way and we can do a trade for admission to the workshop.