The Futuof the National Space Society

Andrew-

Thanks for the comments; they are very interesting and I will have to
contemplate them some more.

To address one point you raised of immediate usefulness, one reason I
have thought in terms of a larger effort than just space infrastructure
(so, all of technology, including historical technology and imaginary
technology) is so that the people who work on such a project coudl come
from many interest groups, some of which may have a much shorter time
scale. For example, industrial arts teachers using the system might have
very specific short term classroom needs to demonstrate how some system
works. Or people running a Living History Farm might want to add in
their farm technology for educational purposes or to do some kind of
analyses with a simulation. Or people planning an off-the-grid home
might want to do some though experiments. Or people doing an educational
space activity liek various Space Settlement contests might find it of
useful for student projects. So, while I think you raise some excellent
issues, they seem to affirm the notion that a free technology project
should be of much larger scope than just space habitats etc. to get
going, and once their is some initial traction than ever larger efforts
coudl build on that base...

Also, I would appreciate any specific links or references you might wish
to post on these sorts of non-software free or open technology projects
which you refer to.

While there are a few proprietary technology amalgamation sites, here
are some free ones I know of:

My favorite is the "The Humanity Libraries Project"
http://www.humaninfo.org/
"The Humanity Libraries Project of the Human Info NGO is a network
project of more than 100 partners. Its aim is to provide universal free
or low-cost information access through co-operation between UN Agencies,
Universities and NGO."

Here is one at MIT which seems to be in a similar spirit to OSCOMAK
which appears to be much more ongoing (including having their second
conference):
http://thinkcycle.org/
"ThinkCycle is an academic, non-profit initiative engaged in supporting
distributed collaboration towards design challenges facing underserved
communities and the environment. ThinkCycle seeks to create a culture of
open source design innovation, with ongoing collaboration among
individuals, communities and organizations around the world."

And there is the Buckminster Fuller Institute (who coined the phrase
"Comprehensive Anticipatory Design Science"):
http://www.bfi.org
"This site is devoted to advancing Humanity's Option for Success,
inspired by the principles articulated by Buckminster Fuller. We hope to
empower site visitors to see the big picture and exercise individual
initiative. Everyone on board our Spaceship Earth can live abundantly
and successfully on an ecologically sustainable basis. Humanity has the
option to make it. We must choose it before it expires. ...
"Whether it is to be Utopia or Oblivion will be a touch-and-go relay
race right up to the final moment." -- Buckminster Fuller 1980"

There are others as well -- http://www.luf.org/ for example.
"The Living Universe Foundation seeks to preserve the ecology of the
Earth while colonizing the oceans and outer space, all as part of
humanity's attaining its highest possible scientific, humanitarian, and
aesthetic development."

Or also:
http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/first/re-design/opensource.html

I don't think any of them focus on the details of licensing issues as
much as I have -- perhaps that is why they have all made more progress. :-)

--Paul Fernhout