Stephen Pahl

Team Culturing Information

last updated: 19. May, 2011

WHO are you?

• Name - Stephen Pahl

• Location (city, country) - Redding CA., USA

• Contact Information (email, phone, Skype) -

Stephen (at) solarmaxfarm (dot) com
530-275-8403 (message)

• Introductory Video -

• Resume/CV -

• Hobbies and Pastimes -

Weight lifting (exercise)
Reading (SciFi), Action Thrillers
Project Design/Research - new farm designs

WHY are you motivated to support/develop this work?

• Do you endorse open source culture?

of course, without it information is hidden from those who can really use it the most, its the fastest way to spread useful info, debunk edited or poorly sourced info and bring unrealized resources to bear.

• Why are you interested in collaborating with us?

It seems to be a proper match, you are looking for info resources to create a sustainable farm and I'm looking to present my sustainable farm idea to other interested parties which may lead to funding resources

• Are you interested in teaching about the GVCS?

not as a primary occupation but the concepts and ideals fit alongside my ideas about grass roots programs to counter industrial farming and land destroying practices

• Are you interested in economic relocalization possibilities arising from the GVCS?

Large scale industrial farming has its place in the food chain and centralized industry has produced the volume of goods sometimes needed, but centralization operation lead to large scale pollution and disregard for the environment

• Do you want to use the GVCS technologies yourself? Do you want to build them yourself?

The technologies presented by the GVCS can be applied by Solarmax Farm to fulfill many of it's machine needs. Not really interested in becoming a equipment manufacturing location

• Are you interested in starting up enterprise using the GVCS technologies?

No, not directly- I'm really interested in seeing Solarmax Farm become a reality

• Are you interested in having the GVCS technologies fabricated by your local custom fabricator?

• 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 interested in bringing information and technologies developed by Solarmax Farm to farmers, gardeners, etc. and bringing along GVCS resources where applicable

• 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?

As a secondary product of their uses with Solarmax Farm

• Are you interested in the potential of the GVCS for developing local food systems?

Yes

• Are you interested in doing academic studies/papers, publishing books, or doing other analysis of our efforts?

under the right circumstances

• Are you interested in financial investment opportunities arising from our work?

Not in a position to take advantage of any opportunities at the moment

• Are you interested in the distributive economic aspects of our work, and if so, how do you see this playing out?

I'd very much like to see OSE and Solarmax work in concert to improve the lot of 1st, second and third world farmers, while helping to bring farming practices and farm fertility understanding into the 21st century

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

YES

• Are you interested in building resilient communities based on access to the GVCS?

Yes

• Are you interested in creating a bug-out hut using GVCS technologies?

not specifically

• How do you think that the GVCS can help alleviate the instabilities of global monetary systems?

• How do you think that the GVCS can address issues related to resource conflicts?

Not sure, resource conflict seems to be driven by greed, ignorance and our willingness to discard without reuse. Unless GVCS can address those problems. - ?

• How do you think that the GVCS can address issues of overpopulation?

Not sure, other than help to feed everyone, I don't see how GVCS can reduce world birth rates or change the habits of underdeveloped population to have more children than they can support because high death rates leave few adult children to take care of aging parents

• How do you think that the GVCS can address issues of resource depletion and environmental degradation?

By developing procedures, education, training and equipment that allow users to prevent destruction of and repair areas of resource over tapping and environmental apathy

• Do you have any other comments that you'd like to make?

I currently find that Solarmax Farm would be user 24 of the 50 machines under development and I believe that a 51st. machine should be added to the list. The first Super machine, the only machine actually necessary for the survival of mankind- the Farm itself, the living machine (put in raw materials and produce finished products-food)

• What should happen so that you become more involved with the project?

Not sure

• What are you missing in the project?

if your going to produce information to help those who need it the most, the results and produces of your work needs to be more understandable by users without an education, your wiki writers need to chop about 70% of their long winded treatments into shorter more easily understood statements

• What are your suggestions for improvement of the project?

a complete make over of website with a less industrial look and easier navigation, A system that leeds users through a less complicated collection (>2000) of pages and projects. Videos that play and instruction set videos that impart a better working knowledge through information build up as compared to only seeing the finished product

WHAT

• 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)

Just my offer to use Solarmax Farm as stepping stone to other Farm designs

Communications

• I'm told I'm a pretty good teacher in regards to technical matters, that I can explain difficult matters in an understandable way. As for the rest, I'm looking for most of those guys myself

Organizational

• I created Solarmax Farm from scratch.

Computer Support

• No

Finances

• No and Yes

Sociology

• Yes

Home Economics

• Yes, Yes, Yes, Gardens and small plots and livestock growing up, Yes

Design

• No formal degree, studied most of the subjects listed above and have a good understanding or working knowledge of most areas of science and engineering.

Building

• A working knowledge of most of the skills listed abovegrew up in a family construction business

Electronics and Magnetics

• A working knowledge and some military training training (US Navy Submarines, nuclear plant and equipment operations- H2O distilling to 90 megawatt propulsion plant operations) Pumps, motors, generators, etc.

Automation

• Understand but not design

Metallurgy

• Understand but not worked with

Engineering

• Knowledge and understanding, worked with and used some skills listed

HOW can you help?

• How are you interested in contributing to the work of GVCS development?

Yes

• Can you volunteer to work with us, and if so, how many hours per week?

no -not directly- most of my efforts are geared towards seeing Solarmax Farm get off the ground, but i'd like to help if I can to developed GVCS's Farm design

• 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?

Not really

• Are you interested in Dedicated Project Visit?

Not able to take off that much time or the finances

• Are you interested in purchasing equipment from us to help bootstrap development?

If the time comes - Yes

• Are you interested in bidding for consulting/design/prototyping work?

Not sure

• Are you a True Fan? If not, why not?

Not yet - finance position

• Would you like to see yourself working with us on a full-time basis?

more interest in a collaborative arrangement

• 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.

Yes