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Ask HN: How can the changing industrial manufacturing world be applied to hacking?

4 points by sbenitoj ↗ HN
I found this interesting study entitled

Industrial Policy: New Wine in Old Bottles (26 pgs):

http://c4ss.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/industrialpolicycarson0109.pdf

The study is a little lengthy, but it's well-researched and I think you'll find it interesting. It essentially focuses on the fact that many people are able to manufacture items from the comfort of their own home which were previously manufactured solely in large plants. The study mentions the availability of cheap hand-tools as one of the reasons. Similar to cheap hand-tools, it mentions, the availability of a computer in everyone's home has permitted cheap video editing, sound editing, and almost priceless transfer of videos/music, but the study doesn't go into too much depth regarding other applications of cheap computers/internet. Obviously the existence of the internet and the many cheap businesses which have been started using it as a medium of distribution are testament to the applications of dispersed manufacturing (or hacking).

The study mentions that manufacturing will continue its trend of becoming available to even more people than it is now, but that centers for development such as a community manufacturing center would still most likely develop.

My questions are as follows:

In what ways do you think the internet will continue to disperse and converge?

Which technologies are still out of reach to most people in terms of price or required technological know-how?

What is the optimal size for hackers to be able to effectively collaborate but not be bogged down by excessive control?

2 comments

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systemtrigger
I look at this problem in terms of automated systems. I think it's interesting how you can architect large groups of people to efficiently deliver a service. If you can conceive of and design systems you can as you put it "converge" nodes of the internet to produce wealth. There is a lot of opportunity and focus on leveraging current software and building social systems around that, which is great. The idea that interests me is how you can build virtual companies of people who do work and deliver value to a customer, which I think is ultimately what you and the paper you referenced are getting at.

> Which technologies are still out of reach to most people in terms of price or required technological know-how?

Entrepreneurs have fantastic building blocks available today. In the first world price isn't a problem, it's know-how. Benevolent hacking can deliver a kid from poverty to financial independence pretty quickly if he's clever enough and can truly solve people's problems. That's an inspiring idea. At some point, laziness becomes the real barrier.

> What is the optimal size for hackers to be able to effectively collaborate but not be bogged down by excessive control?

That's an interesting question. I suppose the answer would depend on the quality of the hackers, the problem they're working on and the parameters they're working within.

hs
In what ways do you think the internet will continue to disperse and converge?

i think the internet helps refining the art by feedback loop. i learnt a lot reading success/fail experiments results posted in forums. needless to say, i won't be able to make fert without the internet -- so dissemination of idea goes without saying

Which technologies are still out of reach to most people in terms of price or required technological know-how?

law can be bigger hurdle, especially for chemistry. price is not normally the problem since the raw materials are usually very cheap. 100x markup for commercial ready products is common.

What is the optimal size for hackers to be able to effectively collaborate but not be bogged down by excessive control?

hmmm ... one -- if you can automate the whole process without human presence (it's very doable in web 2.0 -- much less so as things go more physical or from bit to atom spectrum)