Eric Hiatt

=Team Culturing Information=

last updated: 21. April, 2011

WHO are you?

 * Name/Nationality/Ethnicity - Eric Hiatt, United States


 * Location – Ames, Iowa


 * Contact Information – 2.718hiatt (at) gmail (dot) com


 * Introductory Video -

Due to dissatisfaction with academia and the options society forces upon you, I've been living as a philosophical hermit for much of my adult life. I'm acutely aware of of how silly this sounds, but I may as well amuse myself while conveying this embarrassing truth. I understand that OSE needs people to do real work, and these people are needed right now. There's no shortage of ideas and idea people; this endeavor is a magnet for such. Aside from donations, that leaves my role a limited one. As such, I plan to fill my resume doing volunteer work for OSE. For example, I'll be going to my father-in-law's tomorrow to learn some basic welding and torch work. If I attain proficiency, I may be invited to an upcoming Dedicated Project Visit. Completing this month-long endeavor would be the beginning of my resume.
 * Resume/CV –


 * Hobbies and Pastimes - I played percussion for 10 years. I've recently taken an interest in piano and electronics.

WHY are you motivated to support/develop this work?
I've been aware of the power of open-source and the success of Linux and LaTeX as examples of collaborative development, but only recently have I begun to acknowledge the term “open-source” as applying to a coherent strategy and philosophy. My ideas for education, I recognize in retrospect, have been open-source in spirit. My criticisms of intellectual property abuses were similarly based.
 * Do you endorse open source culture?

I think a lot about solutions to big problems. It's my daily fruitless and stressful habit. This experiment is an irresistible synthesis of solutions to big problems. This project is something I've been watching for.
 * Why are you interested in this work?

This is what I'm most interested in.
 * Are you interested in teaching about the GVCS?

The economy is society's metabolism. It's of little use to alleviate social symptoms without looking at the underlying disease. Economic relocalization is the most important aspect of this project. Practically every other goal directly follows from this. In theory of course.
 * Are you interested in economic relocalization possibilities arising from the GVCS?'

I do want to build the technologies, but I can't predict if I'll be in a situation where they'll be an integral component of my own home life. Mastery of the technologies will make me a better teacher.
 * Do you want to use the GVCS technologies yourself? Do you want to build them yourself?

Often to my detriment, I'm interested in everything, but I don't see this as being a feasible option. I have plans for open-source education reform, which will work well concurrently with GVCS, so being an entrepreneur isn't even on the back-burner as of yet.
 * Are you interested in starting up enterprise using the GVCS technologies?

I'm interested in having GVCS fabricated all over the world.
 * Are you interested in having the GVCS technologies fabricated by your local custom fabricator?

It's essential that the third world develop something comparable to what the GVCS provides. As far as disasters go, it seems like you could transport modular equipment pretty easily. Why not have some equipment ready for the next disaster for PR?
 * Are you interested in applying the GVCS to third world development? To redevelopment of crisis areas? To development of derelict areas in the developed world?

I'm not in a position to do this.
 * Are you interested in starting up Industry 2.0 flexible fabrication enterprises for your local community, by drawing from a global repository of freely down-loadable designs and fabricating using open source fabrication equipment?

Certainly.
 * Are you interested in the potential of the GVCS for developing local food systems?

I'm not in a position to do this.
 * Are you interested in doing academic studies/papers, publishing books, or doing other analysis of our efforts?

I'm not in a position to do this.
 * Are you interested in financial investment opportunities arising from our work?

Again, the economic model is the bedrock of this experiment. I can't predict how it will play out. I can express my hopes, but I'm no different from anyone who gets what this project is about. Given the viral structure of everything, I'm curious as to how the enterprise will be greeted by the powers-that-be should a critical mass be obtained. It would be monumentally interesting to see the symptoms of viral decentralization on large-scale territorial sovereignty, as far as grand ideas go.
 * Are you interested in the distributive economic aspects of our work, and if so, how do you see this playing out?

Yes.
 * Are you interested in building renewable energy production facilities based on open hardware (solar concentrator electric, wind, biomass power).

Another yes.
 * Are you interested in building resilient communities based on access to the GVCS?

A cursory search hasn't revealed what a “bug-out hut” is so it can't strike me as a priority. Perhaps you should make a question with a nonsense item to see if surveyors are paying attention. Would you be interested in building a water defibrillator for example?
 * Are you interested in creating a bug-out hut using GVCS technologies?

I've studied very little economics, but I've asked a lot of philosophical questions about the nature of money, none of which I've made much progress on. Money strikes me as having too much power relative to labor. It has superior liquidity, if that's the term I'm after, and it can be hoarded and used to play sophisticated speculative games that seem quite removed from its intended purpose, which is the facilitation of exchange across divided labors and time (quick tentative definition I had to come up with to finish answering the question). All I can say is that I feel, intuitively, that decentralization is the answer. It feels as if it will alleviate the artificial scarcity of jobs and life-sustaining essentials, while preventing hoarding (since there's nothing in the economic structure to recursively exploit using large sums) and making labor “worth” more relative to goods and money itself (if that makes sense, which I can't guarantee). I say this because when resources are cheap and renewable, the only cost to recoup is a person's time. Thus a person's time is the most valuable thing in the equation. If this is embarrassingly off base and naïve, it's the result of thinking on no fuel. I try not to talk about things I know little about as a general rule.
 * How do you think that the GVCS can help alleviate the instabilities of global monetary systems?

If people are content and their needs locally satisfied then there's no need for impinging upon those outside your community. It sounds ludicrously bold to say this given human history, but the GVCS is a solution to war and slavery, among other things.
 * How do you think that the GVCS can address issues related to resource conflicts?

This is a more complicated question and I'm sure volumes have been written about this issue. All I can say is that I hope there's a natural equilibrium feedback mechanism that kicks in for people living in GVCS-modeled communities.
 * How do you think that the GVCS can address issues of overpopulation?

If you're absolutely dependent upon your local environment, you have a vested interest in maintaining it. I imagine that such maintenance will produce a psychological attachment to the land. Land won't be a flat faceless thing that eats gas on the way to wherever. GVCS implements renewable and sustainable fuels. You don't deplete the sun and wind, nor the land if it's cared for. Let's just be careful we don't siphon so much geothermal that the magnetic field disappears (joke, not paranoia).
 * How do you think that the GVCS can address issues of resource depletion and environmental degradation?

I'd say "no", but that's a paradox.
 * Other comments

WHAT
I have begun $100 a month donations.
 * What have you already contributed to the OSE project? (technical contributions, blogging about us, financial support, organizing events, translations, interviews, video editing, publications, publicity work, behind-the-scenes work, CAD work, wiki contributions, computer support, etc)

Communications
 * I hope to become something of a PR person and educator for OSE, but that is down the road.

Organizational
 * Nadda.

Computer Support
 * I have tinkered with programming, but not to the level of skill required to be useful. I have done a little typesetting with LaTex. I will be setting up Linux shortly. I wish I was an augmented reality developer; they're going to make the future an unusual place.

Finances
 * Nadda.

Sociology
 * I have no official training in a sociological area, but this is an area I'm acutely interested in watching.

Home Economics
 * Nadda.

Design
 * Nadda, but in a year I should be able to mess with basic electronics.

Building
 * Nadda, but I hope to learn some basic skills through volunteering.

Electronics and Magnetics
 * Nadda, but perhaps a year from now I'll have some basic skill.

Automation
 * Nadda.

Metallurgy
 * Nadda.

Engineering
 * Nadda.

HOW can you help?''
I'll be applying to dedicated visits to learn various ins and outs.
 * How are you interested in contributing to the work of GVCS development?

I can devote 10 hours to start, though my current skill set probably doesn't leave me much to do.
 * Can you volunteer to work with us, and if so, how many hours per week?

I wouldn't take pay for any of this, my lack of skills aside.
 * Are you interested in working with us for pay? If so, what services can you offer, and what is your hourly or per-project rate?

I'm not in a position to do this.
 * Are you interested in purchasing equipment from us to help bootstrap development?

I'm not in a position to do this.
 * Are you interested in bidding for consulting/design/prototyping work?

Yes.
 * Are you a True Fan? If not, why not?

Perhaps in the far future.
 * Would you like to see yourself working with us on a full-time basis?

Yes.
 * Are you interested in using the technologies that we are developing directly?

I'd love to do this, but my family situation prevents it. I have a son with Asperger Syndrome, which is a difficult situation.
 * ''Are you interested in being part of the world's first, open source, resilient community? The GVCS is the preparatory step for the OSE Village Experiment – a 2 year, immersion experiment (2013-2014) for testing whether a real, thriving, modern-day prototype community of 200 people can be built on 200 acres using local resources and open access to information? We are looking for approximately 200 people to fill a diverse array of roles, according to the Social Contract that is being developed. This may be the boldest social experiment on earth - a pioneering community whose goal is to extend the index of possibilities regarding harmonious existence of humans, ecology, and technology – as a beacon of light to benefit of all people on Earth.