Smoltech

The video for my talk was published recently. The video quality is terrible, and I definitely need more experience with public speaking, but I think it went pretty well.

https://youtu.be/cQBb6vqEW2E?t=1790

Thank you!

I'm currently working on preparing for a talk I'm given on the topic for the Massachusetts Pirate party on Saturday.

There's no reason we couldn't have an Amazon-like app that buys from the stores around us.

Or services like door dash/Uber/etc that are managed inside the community with tools shared with other communities.

It is an idea that would pair well with locally managed fiber (municipal or local business), and community clouds.

I'm starting with makerspaces, but I could see it operating without them too.

I've written about it: https://medium.com/tech-stoa/the-smoltech-answer-featuring-worcshop-806d8306eae

I've been looking at ways to leverage open source technology to enable local economies. I'm starting with working with maker spaces

I've spent my career in the tech industry, specifically around open source software.

Corporate powers helped fund the work of individuals for their own purposes, but I can ways we can use them to rebuild local economies instead.

We just need to change how we're using the tools. This can be done by existing skilled workers who are willing to make new choices around who to work for, or by motivated new engineers who have access to the free tools and free training material.

We're destroying the world through overproduction and over consumption.

I see a future where people can work less, instead of an attempt to keep people working full time.

That would be smaller, with less waste at the top.

I think a perspective shift is necessary.

"Destroy the economy" is about sabotage.

"Work for each other and against wealthy investors" would result in a smaller economy, but the focus is on the positive thing built, instead of just sabotage.