An open question about the developing countries and the Third World
This article is not meant to state an opinion or a personal point of view. I would like just to address a question related to P2P processes.
To become more specific: if P2P processes (i.e. peer governance, peer property, peer production or whatever possible new process that will be characterised by this intersubjective dynamic at work) transform from a subsystem within the current capitalist community -we are speaking about the societies of the developed countries- to the dominant mode of civilisation, will, and if yes how, the developing countries and the Third World benefit from this socioeconomic change?
What will the socioeconomic, political and even ethical, direct on indirect, impact to the development of those fore mentioned countries be (or what is the impact at the moment, if there is any) during the evolution of P2P processes?
In other words, P2P is just for the developed world’s progress/change?
June 13th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Reading this RAND report one would be inclined to state that P2P will only flourish in certain societies..
Look at the geopolitical areas where Wikipedia flourishes, and to areas where it doesn’t. What are the underlying reasons for such a distribution? There’s a lot more to it than the simple question of whether or not people have access to PCs and the internet.
June 16th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
The GNU Mode of Production applied in the material sphere will be enforced between instance owners just as the GNU GPL already is, so is transferable to anywhere private property is allowed. An inter-owner contract that can be voluntarily applied to joint physical property will allow anyone anywhere to begin to foster the self-governing solidarity of P2P.
The details of such a legal document – which could be thought of as a Free (as in Freedom) Trade Agreement are of course vital, but my study leads me to believe it will also be quite simple, really just a generalization of the GPL to help current Owners protect User (consumer) Freedom. I have written an experimental version entitled which might be summarized as:
==GPLv4 Object instance DEED
As an owner of this copy you may:
0. USE it for any purpose.
1. MODIFY it to suit your needs.
2. COPY it by gaining access to it’s physical sources.
3. SHARE it (trade), whether MODIFIED or not.
If you SHARE this Object you must:
A. Attach this DEED to each instance.
B. Invest all profit as user shares in physical sources.
C. Issue GNUrho currency against those investments.
This is meaningful for joint ownership, as profit is separated from wages when workers are hired by owners.
June 29th, 2007 at 6:04 pm
Dear Patrick, today I saw your comment and I would like to request more info about this intriguing experimental version as the links on your comment do not work (maybe the blame is on my browser). You can publish the additional links here or just send them by email at kostakis.b@gmail.com. Thank you very much.
June 29th, 2007 at 7:07 pm
I messed up the XHTML when I created the link, and there is no [preview] button for these posts, so couldn’t correct it…
The better link for this is EcoComics.org/general public law.html.
Please note that, while I have been working on variations of this since 1999, it is still a work in progress, and needs much simplification to really be usable.
I have had some insights over the last couple weeks about how to present this in a more straightforward manner. See EcoComics.org/diary.html to get a better idea of where I’ve been heading.
Thank you for your patience.