From d66a5be7ee0e72310ec4b3235bc2e1a0df109219 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Sacha Chua Date: Sun, 2 Oct 2022 00:13:39 +0000 Subject: Add new talks --- 2022/talks/maint.md | 77 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 77 insertions(+) create mode 100644 2022/talks/maint.md (limited to '2022/talks/maint.md') diff --git a/2022/talks/maint.md b/2022/talks/maint.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..48440cc4 --- /dev/null +++ b/2022/talks/maint.md @@ -0,0 +1,77 @@ +[[!meta title="Maintaining the Maintainers: Attribution as an Economic Model for Open Source"]] +[[!meta copyright="Copyright © 2022 Sid Kasivajhula"]] +[[!inline pages="internal(2022/info/maint-nav)" raw="yes"]] + + + + + +# Maintaining the Maintainers: Attribution as an Economic Model for Open Source +Sid Kasivajhula (any pronouns, commonly he/him) + +[[!inline pages="internal(2022/info/maint-before)" raw="yes"]] + + +# Table of Contents + + + +The problem of supporting open source software and contributors is a +pressing one, and one for which we don't have good solutions. + +So many developers today pour their creative energies into +freely-distributed works only to have those same works of passion turn +into a pain in the neck when they find themselves eternally on the +hook to provide support in exchange for minimal or no compensation, +and often with limited assistance. + +Fundamentally, the reason it's this way is that traditional economic +systems operate on supply and demand as the basis of value. In such +systems, open and unlimited availability translates into zero market +value, and consequently, open source enterprises are not economically +sound. Even in high profile projects, developers make a living purely +through value added services rather than from the core of the value of +their contributions – that is, from the code they wrote. Since, from +a market value standpoint, that code is worthless. + +Copyright and patents (not to mention proprietary software) are an +attempt to address this within the existing economic model by imposing +artificial scarcity in order to induce market value. In principle, +they also provide safeguards against appropriation. On the other hand, +the unlimited availability of creative works is a profoundly good +thing from the perspective of maximizing value, and thus suppressing +it is deeply misguided. Organizations like the Free Software +Foundation have campaigned against such restrictions for some time +now, for related reasons; nevertheless, the problem of providing a +viable economic basis, aside from these crude attempts, remains +unaddressed. + +Attribution-based economics is a new model that aims to remedy this +state of affairs by changing the basis of value from supply and demand +to collective recognition. This is facilitated by a process of +"inheritance attribution" where we collectively agree on the extent of +inherence of ideas and works in other (e.g. derivative) ideas and +works, by means of transparent and evolving standards. This model is +capable of recognizing a much larger set of valuable contributions, +including forms of value that cannot be coerced into a +supply-and-demand equation. That is, in this model, there is no need +to artificially restrict availability in order for something to be +considered valuable. By virtue of the curious property that +innovations on the process are themselves subject to the process of +recognition in a self-reflective way, we gain accuracy, and by the +property that agreed-upon standards apply equally to all, we gain +fairness – guarantees that are at best tenuously present in today's +economic systems. + +This talk introduces some early experiments with attribution-based +economics in the Emacs community, and some initial proposals that +point the way forward on how, with your help, such a system might +scale up to larger projects and communities far beyond open source. + + + +[[!inline pages="internal(2022/info/maint-after)" raw="yes"]] + +[[!inline pages="internal(2022/info/maint-nav)" raw="yes"]] + +[[!taglink CategoryCommunity]] -- cgit v1.2.3