TED conference has a presentation by Marcin Jakubowski on Open-sourced blueprints for civilization. Here is a video of Marcin’s talk. It is 4:11.
Here are excerpts from the transcript.
We've identified the 50 most important machines that we think it takes for modern life to exist -- things from tractors, bread ovens, circuit makers. Then we set out to create an open source, DIY, do it yourself version that anyone can build and maintain at a fraction of the cost. We call this the Global Village Construction Set.
Here is a radical idea. Can you imagine a data center built like this?
I realized that the truly appropriate, low-cost tools that I needed to start a sustainable farm and settlement just didn't exist yet. I needed tools that were robust, modular, highly efficient and optimized, low-cost, made from local and recycled materials that would last a lifetime, not designed for obsolescence. I found that I would have to build them myself. So I did just that. And I tested them.And I found that industrial productivity can be achieved on a small scale.
Now you wouldn’t build this in the US, but maybe you could take this approach in an emerging market.
Wouldn’t it be cool if Facebook’s Open Compute Project supported the same vision of Marcin?
If this idea is truly sound, then the implications are significant. A greater distribution of the means of production, environmentally sound supply chains,and a newly-relevant DIY maker culture can hope to transcend artificial scarcity. We're exploring the limits of what we all can do to make a better world with open hardware technology.