Tuesday, April 20, 2010

You need a job? Why don't you create your own?

Think MULTITUDE !

The multitude movement is a global fast-raising social movement based on the realization that the new technology offers us very powerful tools that we can use to improve our lives, to free ourselves from different forms of monopolies. This movement will rapidly shift the center of gravity in society from hierarchical institutions to decentralized networks, to the multitude, leading to a more democratic society. But how can you help yourself now?

The examples of Linux and Wikipedia demonstrate that governments and large corporations, large vertical or hierarchical organizations, have lost their monopoly on the creation of value. Decentralized organizations, ad hoc groups of passionate individuals, can get together and produce very complex and valuable products, which can compete with the most powerful corporations. Think about this... a few crazy people contributing a few minutes per day can create something equivalent to Microsoft's Windows... Have you ever paused to think about this, how significant this is? Did you ever ask yourself how this is even possible?

There is no magic here. The secret is that the new technology offers us very powerful tools for communication, collaboration, and coordination, which work at the global scale. How many crazy computer geeks do you know who instead of watching the hockey game they sit in front of their computer and write code? I personally know only one and I consider myself lucky. There are a few in every city. But their total number throughout the entire planet is something very large. What happens is that this Internet and all the wonderful communication, collaboration and coordination tools we've built on it makes it possible for them to get together and do stuff. Without the Internet they can rarely meet with one another, let alone to collaborate. The new technology makes possible systems that rely on very, very scarce human resources. This is one important lesson.

Similar structures for the production of material goods and services are just starting to emerge. Models like the Discovery Network promise great economical advantages, with the benefits getting right into the hands of the people. Communication and collaboration tools play a crucial role in the design process of new products, coordination and logistical tools as well as the modern transportation technology become important for manufacturing and distribution. You have a good product idea? Why waiting for some big corporation to buy it from you for a handful of peanuts? Get on the Internet, start making contacts with the people you need, build a network, put your efforts together and build the product! Open yourself to collaboration, don't be afraid that someone will still you idea, count on speed not on secrecy/defense. The most important thing today is to be first to the market with a good product. Read more about Discovery Network.

One good example of production-distribution networks, or flat organizations profiting directly to small producers as well as to the consumer, is the food basket idea.

Individuals can also take advantage of the possibilities offered by the new technology by creating alternatives in the financial sector, and by profiting from these alternatives. Peer-to-peer lending creates wealth for the people, and all of it stays with the people. Search for examples on the Internet.

In the transportation area, new public transportation, as well as transportation of material goods models are emerging, where individuals can benefit form an aging and clogged infrastructure maintained by vertical organizations. You badly need some money ? Why don't you do Taxi for a day, or help a local farmer to transport his vegetables to the city.

These are just a few examples to get you started. Let's start thinking outside of the box! Instead of always looking for a job ask yourself if you can create your own. Look around, try to understand what people need and try to find a different way to address that need. Think of using the tools offered by the new technology. Build symbiotic relations with others, open yourself to the world, communicate, collaborate, coordinate... you have the tools. The opportunities today are endless. People need stuff, there is a need for an economy, the economical depression problem is not in us. The system who defines our daily transactions with the world is rotten. It doesn't allow individuals to exchange freely. The finance and the economy have been centralized, monopolized. We are at the mercy of this system and of those who control it. But there is a way out! Use your creativity to build alternatives to monopolistic institutions. Increase peer-to-peer transactions. It is possible today. Why not take advantage of it?

By AllOfUs

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