How and Why Open Hardware and Open Source can and should be used in non-western countries

Some thoughts from Europe about...
“How and why Open Hardware and
Open Source can and should be used
in non-western countries”
Marco Fioretti
http://mfioretti.com
http://stop.zona-m.net/
Marco Fioretti (marco@digifreedom.net) 2019/02/15 FOSSMeet’19, Calicut
http://stop.zona-m.net/ Some Rights Reserved

Freelance author/researcher/popularizer (Home page: http://mfioretti.com)
Fields of activity:
• Free Software / Open Hardware/ Open Standards / Open file formats
• Distributed/P2P Digital Manufacturing
• Impacts of digital technologies on human/civil rights, economy, environment,
culture...
Board Member of the Free Knowledge Institute (http://freeknowledge.eu)
First of all… Who am I?

Let’s look at some
wonders of
the First World

“Forget all those stories of 20
Gbps speeds and 1 millisecond
latency. 5G will never deliver
performance like that — and
anyway its time is still years
away for most of us most of the
time”
Source: “5G or faux G?” www.computerworld.com/article/3336119/5g-or-faux-g.html
5G networks?

Wasteful and polluting
Doubtful feasibility
Suggested reading:
http://stop.zona-m.net/2018/03/the-internet-of-things-is-coming.-inside-us.-but-not-like-you-think./
Internet of Things... as First World Corporations Dream it
Mostly useless
Incompatible
Image sources:
https://twitter.com/internetofshit/status/618127966405574656
https://coolinfographics.com/blog/2016/5/11/the-growth-of-the-internet-of-things.html

Stupid Smart Homes
“Smart Home” =
Ruby Goldberg machine, just
more expensive and polluting
Suggested reading:
http://stop.zona-m.net/2018/03/the-internet-of-things-is-coming.-inside-us.-but-not-like-you-think./
??
Image source: The Hindu, see
http://stop.zona-m.net/2018/01/are-dumb-smart-homes-also-coming-to-india/

“Just 1.2% of smart
meters will definitely
stay smart when you
switch”
Stupid Smart Cities
“Public Lighting as a
service” =
Lock-in to corporation
Image source:
www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2018/11/less-than-1-5--of-smart-meters-guaranteed-to-stay-smart-when-you/
For image source, see suggested reading:
http://stop.zona-m.net/2018/03/a-too-often-forgotten-problem-with-the-internet-of-things/

Cars? Smart and Driverless, of course!
End result:
Stuck in traffic
just like
today…
But, very likely,
more bored and
uncomfortable
Image sources and suggested reading: http://stop.zona-m.net/tag/driverless-car/ and http://stop.zona-m.net/tag/smart-car/

The First World Bathroom!
Image source: http://maisongram.com/idee-deco-toilettes-moderne-classique-elegante/

UK, 2014: “[Western] sewage
systems and bathrooms are a
disaster” (since the 19th century)
And what is behind and after it
Fatberg!
Image sources: Internet meme, and www.livescience.com/64447-fatberg-
part-deux.html

Renewable Energies?
•Bad match for CURRENT
infrastructures and demands
•Rewrite Rules of Global
Geopolitics
•But introducing OTHER
dependances and physical limits
•Image source: “We Don't Mine Enough Rare Earth Metals to Replace Fossil Fuels With Renewable Energy”
https:/motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/a3mavb/we-dont-mine-enough-rare-earth-metals-to-replace-fossil-fuels-with-renewable-energy

Current mainstream models have big limits..
race to the bottom that nobody wins for long
everybody is burned by the next one who is just a bit
cheaper
wherever they are, every time faster than the previous one
Screenshot sources:
http://techcrunch.com/2016/12/09/africas-tech-hubs/
www.forbes.com/sites/pascalemmanuelgobry/2014/08/
25/china-understands-what-the-west-doesnt-
africa-is-our-next-superpower/#2557b5e41330
http://theweek.com/articles/547623/why-africa-next-
china

… huge ecological and human costs...
April 24th, 2013,
Rana Plaza, Bangladesh
“deadliest garment-factory
accident in history”
Death toll: 1324
Up to 95% of all plastic debris found in
the sea is carried by 8 rivers in Asia
and 2 in Africa
Source: Banega Swachh India
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4970214/95-plastic-oceans-comes-just-TEN-
rivers.html

..with still little-known consequences
[In UK] “High street
brands expect
turnarounds [so
quick]... that factories
in Turkey and India
simply can’t meet.
[This has lead to...]
quasi-Victorian labour
exploitation”
“technology is not being
used to replace
workers altogether,
but to make them
increasingly
resemble robots”
Source: see http://stop.zona-m.net/2017/10/robots-displacing-humans...-or-humans-becoming-robots/

Proprietary, monolithic, one size-fits-all products
imposed top-down by corporations or central governments
Designed for lock-in, to...
• sell or lease as much “iron” as possible
• do it from scratch again, every 5/10 years
• don’t worry, wealth will “trickle down”!
… as well as economical and political ones

"Many large Asian cities are becoming intolerable places to live [and]
risks losing their own culture”
“When it comes to the future of the planet, decisions in Beijing, New
Delhi, Jakarta and Lagos will be more important than those taken in
Washington or Brussels”
“[Developing nations] need to... “stop being subservient to western
ideas about progress”
“It will require human cooperation way beyond the scale being
envisioned here to solve [all this]”
India, Asia and their destiny
Quotes from “The west can’t fix the climate crisis. Asia will have to do it” by Chandran Nair, December
2017, www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/05/west-climate-crisis-asia-developing-nations

Considering all this…
“How and why Open
Hardware and Open Source
should be used in non-western
countries???”

ALL countries have the same rights to the same minimal standards of
material wealth, hygiene, education, mobility…
Each country should achieve that goal in the sustainable way that is
culturally and politically best for ITSELF
• Cooperating with other countries , on equal footing
• Without repeating well known errors
But there is simply no way to get there without Open Hardware
My answer:

Disrupt things like toilets, not gadgets!
What about an Open Hardware “dry toilet”... as easy and glamourous
as a Nespresso coffer maker and...
Online platforms (cooperatives?) to collect and reuse toilet waste?
No rocket science here, see “Uber for poop” in Senegal!
See http://stop.zona-m.net/2018/07/hey-silicon-valley-why-dont-you-disrupt-toilets/

Make Open Source home appliances!
What about a washer machine, or
a fridge that is:
Orderable to a fablab
Assemblable at home, or in a
rural village
Designed to be 100% repairable
and last 50 YEARS
Controlled by 100% user-
upgradable Free Software
Source and links: see http://stop.zona-m.net/2018/02/open-source-home-appliances/

Make Open Source, really clean renewables
“If you want REALLY clean solar energy, you need Open Source lawn mowers”
Because “clean energy” from photovoltaic installation may pollute a lot without them
See http://stop.zona-m.net/2018/06/if-you-want-really-clean-solar-energy-you-need-open-source-lawn-mowers/

Make Open Source medical devices that save lives!
Made in India!
Made in India!
For links and more, see
http://stop.zona-m.net/2018/01/on-digital-diy-and-its-place-in-india/

Try to compare
Star Wars...

farming drones, greenhouses, micro-watering systems,
pest mapping... that are Community- designed, owned
and managed!
To today’s reality:
the part of Star Wars
that matters...
is now a concrete
possibility for villagers
worldwide

[above] all a socio-cultural phenomenon, and human rights issue
an extremely powerful, pacifical tool for improving people lives
• Affordable wellbeing and healthcare
• Minimized political and economical lock-in, as well as pollution
• More freedom for both individuals and nations
As long as it is…
• used to not REPEAT the errors of others
• supported by reforms of laws and regulations
Open/Free as in Freedom Hardware is

And we are all in this together!
Reach one, global critical
mass on what should be
the same everywhere (e.g
open standards/ hardware..)
In order to
Western countries
really must
learn from
other cultures
Others cultures can and
should learn from
Western-style excesses,
or unintended
consequences of
“running first”
Working together, minimize
the effort neeed locally, to
build social/legal structures
that are the best ones for
each culture

PLEASE contact me, and help me to reach others!
• Home page http://mfioretti.com
• Blog: http://stop.zona-m.net/
• Email: mfioretti@nexaima.net
• Twitter: @mfioretti_en
QUESTIONS?
Thanks and… let’s work together!

How and Why Open Hardware and Open Source can and should be used in non-western countries

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