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• Mode of production describes how a society reproduces itself
• Important features
  
  
  1. Products produced and means of production used
  2. Societal embedding of production
  3. Productivity
  
  
  






Mode of production is the fundament of a society

Enjoying task and project == Selbstentfaltung
• Opposite: alienation

What is a germ form?



• Germ form theory describes how development happens
  • Originated in critical psychology (Holzkamp)
  • Explains how the human psyche came into being
  • Applicable to other fields
  • Key characteristics of a germ form
    
    
    1. Structurally new
    2. Emerging from and existing in the old
    3. Potential to take over
  
  
  




Germ form theory explains how fundamental change takes place

But on an abstract level things can be said



• Selbstentfaltung (aka freedom) is...
  • ...no longer a contradiction to society
  • ...it is rather its fundament
  • More automation reduces unwanted activities
  • All goods are freely available
  • Overcoming labor society
    • No commodities, no labor
    • No exchange, no money
    • No alienation
    
    
  
  

  
  The dawn of a free society

• A sustainable and enduring economy exists

  
  

  I.e.: A system where goods are produced and distributed

  
  

• Though not an economy based on exchange...

Last frontier: The desktop

But Ubuntu comes for the helping

Similar phenomenons became visible



• Wikipedia (= Free encyclopedia)
• Creative Commons licensed works
• OpenAccess (= Free Science)
• Free Music and other media (think: YouTube)

Selbstentfaltung (simplified):



• Having fun individually
• While maintaining a relationship to society

Something individuals and society benefit from

This combination is pretty new to mankind!

Openness in two ways



• Internal openness: Everyone may contribute
• External openness: Everyone may use the results

Technology of digital copy is the historical enabler of openness

Made external and internal openness easy

"Free" in Free Software really means:



• Internal openness is a prerequisite for external openness
• And vice versa



That defines a positive feedback cycle

No exchange in the core of peer production




Cannot be explained by classic economic theory



• "This is doomed to fail" - they say
• But: It exists, grows and is adapted in more and more fields

• Selbstentfaltung aiming at absolute quality
  • If it is "your baby" you want to be proud of
  • No boss stops you from doing it
  • Impossible if you need to make profit
  • Positive feedback cycle of openness leads to sustainable expansion
  • Basic principles are stronger than those of proprietary software

Emerging of the new



• First appearances of the germ form
• Think: Free Software in 1984

Crisis of the old



• Slump of the old forms
• Think: Crisis of classical Unices on midrange servers

• Disseminating and expanding

  
  
  • Germ form becomes important in the old process
  • Think: Free Software today

Achieving dominance



• The germ form becomes dominant form
• Think: Proprietary software on the decline

Restructuring society



• Restructuring of entire system process

Governments will back this increasingly
• Basic income for this type of activity

Companies exploit these principles more and more
• See Eric v. Hippel's work on User Innovation