Today is Seize The Means of Production Day #comrades.
So let's talk about what that means, in today's high-tech, distributed world.
From my home, I can produce: Books (but not paper, or ink), Music (but not instruments), Movies (but not the media on which to distribute them), various plastic bits and baubles (but not the plastic itself), applications/games/programs (but not the machines that they run on.)
I am a producer, but in order to produce, I am also a consumer of raw and semi-raw materials.
Often, I can recycle those raw materials (I pick up used instruments and audio gear, I repair old computers) or I will soon be able to do so (I want to get a grinder and an extruder for turning failed prints in to new filament, for example.)
We live in an age of abundance. There are millions of blank CDs and DVDs out there. We could stop making them for a while, and be okay with the overstock.
But eventually, the Overstock won't be enough.
We need to be able to make CD-Rs in our basements. We need community owned CPU factories.
The Raspberry Pi enables me to make All Kinds! Of Neat Things! but it depends on an international shipping infrastructure and the goodwill of several corporations.
We need a community made pi. We need a #comrade64
@theoutrider Maybe you and I are confusing what "Community" means in this case.
When I say "Community Owned" I mean a place is owned by the people who work in it, and the people who have a stake in what it does.
You're saying, I think, that it should instead be controlled b a central governmental body?
The end result is the same. People own the factory, or people own the government that owns the factory.
But even that's not really enough in this case. (more soon.)
@theoutrider Just the foundry would be a massive undertaking, yeah. But that doesn't even account for all the other resources that need to be understood and managed, you know?
Where do we get our silicon? Our gold? There are a lot of problems with manufacturing tech beyond just the expense.
Andrew Roach ✅
smol Florian 🍑