Open Source and Socialism

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I don't know if this has occurred to anyone else, but it strikes me as though open source software is one of the most socialist developments yet seen. It is developed fairly spontaneously, not really owned by anyone, anyone is able to contribute... it seems almost reminiscent of cooperatives.

This I think brings up an interesting scenario. Perhaps people have heard of the 3D printers capable of producing basic objects (including those needed to construct another 3D printer in one case). If those are developed to the point that they can produce appliances (and there's no reason why not), or even computers, then the designs for these things could be developed in an open source fashion. The production of almost all consumer goods (at least the better established, less cutting edge ones) could non-violently and spontaneously move away from capitalism and towards what is essentially a form of socialism. Even if most people didn't want this, there could very easily be a sub-community who used only open-source appliances, similar to the open-source software using community.

Thoughts?

at some point all we see today will be what robot babies build to practice (metaphor alert)


open source is the future, the company i work for now use open source whereever possible, saving tens of thousands of dollars in the process, often with better features, better compatibility and less general hassle.

OpenSuse/SAMBA for the win

i could easily imagine this becoming an everyman process, the reprap has gained tremendous success and momentum and even drone technology today can be done in your backyard (many quadcopters are printed already)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twAyI4LPk0Y[/youtube]

the 3d printer as in a pre-programed cnc machine? that is possible but beyond aesthetics, people gain value from value givers, so their money is buying value, and a 3d printer doesn't provide that, unless it can pop out a range rover, with a range rover badge on it as well. Value allows us to monetize things, and the debate on whether to shorten or lengthen copyright laws are over the same thing, as in... do things loose enough value over time wherein it is okay to let it out into the public commons for anyone to use. Businesses cater too well to the wants and wants disguised as needs of consumers for something like that to ever take off, take for example the democratization of design campaigns continuously employed by Target and Ikea. And even with the means of production for a great many things in the hands of the common man, like with Youtube, MyspaceMusic, Podcasting, and the many free apps online, we still outsource a great many things to corporate america with their R&D and know-how's. besides, that 3d printer would probably just print out junk that we don't need, and unless you are design-oriented, you would be better off recycling someone else's unused stuff or just making it by hand.

Proprietary software is closets to a communist regime in that all information goes through filters and every bit of society is by and from the prime minister rather than the people.

to be honest i think the open source culture spreads far beyond software already.

look at the hackerspaces that populate the planet and how many brilliant inventions came through there.
the kinect concept was invented by a hacker and not a company.

open source is also more than charity it is cumulative knowledge and because it's free you dont have to sell your sould and first newborn to get access, in 10 years i think it will be hard to see any difference between comercial and open source objects.