187 lines
6.2 KiB
Markdown
187 lines
6.2 KiB
Markdown
# Introduction
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> Nothing liberates us from a monopolist more readily than the revelation
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> that we don't want his wares.
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>
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> -- Yanis Varoufakis
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> It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with
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> capitalism.
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>
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> The army of production must be organized, not only for
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> everyday struggle with capitalists, but also to carry on production
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> when capitalism shall have been overthrown.
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>
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> By organizing industrially we are forming the structure of the new
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> society within the shell of the old.
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>
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> -- From "Preamble to the IWW Constitution", by the Industrial Workers of the World
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Forget, for now, about solving all the world's problems. What does a
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solution for small groups look like?
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This document proposes one answer to that question: a
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co-op/startup/commune/hackspace in the model of the kibbutzim, or Amish
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communities, or Twin Oaks/East Wind. Internally communist/anarchist,
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interfacing with the outside world via the default capitalist framework.
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The aim is to provide an alternative to the default life of work and
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consumption and rent and mortgages, that emphasizes freedom and life
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and joy.
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Make material goods that are useful, or profitable, or ideally both.
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Make things to sell, to make money, to buy the things we can't make
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ourselves yet.
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The work we do should either reduce our dependence on the external
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capitalist economy (how much we need to buy from them), or increase our
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value to them (how much they buy from us).
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Those are opposite sides of the scale of the economic interaction.
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But the goal is not to successfully trade with the external capitalist
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economy - the goal is to secede from it.
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# Goals
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* Self sufficiency/independence
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* Egalitarian
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- radical transparency
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- decentralization of authority
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* Healthy
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* Ecologically sound
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* Inter-generational
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* Peaceful
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* Prosperous
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* Free as in freedom
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* Be well positioned, socially and economically, for coming adversities
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and opportunities (climate change, political upheaval, AI, nanotech,
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etc)
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* Nurture connections to a network of like-minded individuals,
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communities, and organizations both for social contact and for economic
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strength
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# Physiological Needs
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---
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By Hamish.croker - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=164544166
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---
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* 1 gallon/person/day water
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* 2,500 calories/person/day food
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* 4% carbs, 25g
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* 16% protein, 107g
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* 80% fat, 242g
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* Shelter/real estate:
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* ~150 sqft bedroom/person
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* ~100 sqft bathroom/family
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* ~100 sqft kitchen/family
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* ~400 sqft living room/family
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* ~200 sqft garage-shop/family
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* Energy (electricity, fuels)
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* Clothes
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Higher needs:
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* furniture
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* tools
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* weapons
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* bandwidth
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* health care
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* education
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# Independence
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Independence means independence from capitalist coersion, not independence
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from society or ecology.
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Independence is a sliding scale, quantified by the measurement of
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Vitamins. Anything you have to pay money for is a Vitamin.
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Independence doesn't apply just to fabrication, but to all of humanity's
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material conditions: from the basics of survival and procreation; air,
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water, food, shelter, to higher needs like education, health care, etc.
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Track your fucking budget. Count your vitamins. The revolution needs
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accountants. See where you're tied to capitalism. Focus on strengthening
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your independence by cutting those bonds:
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1. Find ways to produce what you need. If you need an item, and the
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default way of getting it is to buy it from an external supplier, try
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to figure out what it would take to produce it internally. Maybe you'd
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need tooling and raw materials (machine X and lower-level vitamins Y
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and Z), plus the skill and time to use this new productive capacity.
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While the initial capital outlay of buying the tooling might be
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considerable, and climbing the learning curve might initially take
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longer than just clicking "Buy Now" on JLCPCB or whatever, this
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investment might make economic sense if it can be amortized over a
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long productive life. The new productive capacity might serve the
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enclave and aligned external sibling-enclaves.
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2. Acquire what you need by trading with your network instead of with the
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capitalist superstructure. This is the flip side of option 1: maybe
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some sibling-enclave has already taken on the task of internalizing
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the relevant production, and now we can lean on them (while supporting
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them) to satisfy our needs.
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3. Do without. This one is simple enough - but the goal is abundance,
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not austerity. Material conditions will determine our actions,
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and many goods are worthless. Be stingy by default.
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# Bootstrap
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Minimize up-front capital outlay!
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This means:
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* Make do with the space/infrastructure/tools I have available right now.
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This includes my house & garage, and the hackspace.
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* Bootstrap while making money at a dayjob? I sure don't want to burn
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through my retirement savings while trying to start this up.
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* Generally emphasize learning & using skills over spending money.
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This dovetails with the ultimate goal of independence and resiliency.
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But also note that sometimes, spending money is more efficient than DIY.
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* When learning new skills, first review the literature of those who
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went before. Try to collaborate on their documentation, or start new
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public documents with info & links to help the next person.
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* Fabricate open-source hardware, primarily for use by the comrades but
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also for sale to the public.
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Perform wage labor in the external capitalist economy, in order to
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earn currency, to fund our existance and our development towards FALC.
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Remote software engineering jobs are an obvious target here, as it keeps
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us together and earns good money (in 2023 when this was first written).
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The work should both make money and offset living expenses. It should
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scale up as you add people and capital, to provide work and/or sustenance
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for others. The work should fit into a larger picture of diversification,
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building towards resilience.
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## Traps to avoid
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* Working on stuff that makes money but doesn't further the mission.
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* Working on stuff that furthers the mission but isn't economically
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sustainable.
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* Spending down my retirement savings and having to go back to a normal
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day job.
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