The Caretaker-Tech-Project is not about developing something called “Caretaker-Tech”. It’s a meta-project and its first step is to conceptualize how the potential of the internet could be used to support the emergence of a modern emancipatory kind of society beyond capitalism. The second step is the discovery of existing apps and technology which could be part of such a vision. The final third step is to inspire & support activists and developers alike to use, extend and/or develop (if applicable) such tools to strengthen social transformation more precisely.
In the end, it is all about advanced methods of sharing, handling complex cooperations based on voluntariness and self-organization as well as methods to steer the overall economic process according to individual values and needs. Especially because the sought software-infrastructure consists of preferably free and open source apps – which could be independently developed, but interconnect through protocols and standards –, this is a rather complex endeavor.
The technical and social challenges of this project can obscure the vision of a life in which such an infrastructure exists. So for a moment, let’s imagine somewhere the dependency of working for money is decreased, there is a wider pool of jointly used resources (“commons”) and, among other non-technical methods, different apps are used to interact within a software-infrastructure of the conceptualized kind to provide a livelihood for the participants. How would these people interact with this digital infrastructure?
for authors:
There is no need to read more about the conception (which is still an ongoing process). Just use the following information for the stories. Try not to pollute the vision with technical details.
Interacting with Caretaker-Tech#
They will search for resources they need and these available resources can be filtered according to their terms of use and how they apply to those who want to use them. On the other hand: They define how others are allowed to use their private resources and transmit the terms of use of shared resources when these resources can be used by others.
They will explore open tasks and possibly commit to some of them. After they commit, it can take a while until all dependencies for the task are available. As soon as they are available, there is a time frame, in which the task should be accomplished. Sometimes someone commits to a task, but the task isn’t necessary any longer – this can mean, the problem which the task should have solved, is solved another way. On the other hand: they transmit their personal needs and define scenarios how these needs can be satisfied. They also transmit other economic problems they recognize like what is to repair or what resource policies need to be updated.
If they commit to a task and this task will be part of a greater plan, they can communicate with all agents who are somehow connected with this process (e.g. providing reasons the activity depends on or waiting for their task to be finished). On the other hand: they are notified when their decision is needed / there is a social process necessary to make a decision about something related to them in some way.
They define their personal values and therefore the direction they want to give the overall economic process (marks in tasks + sharing). On the other hand: they define and verify aspects of life that apply to them, which could possibly be considered by others.