A robot historian ponders the cathedral and the bazaar

As shown at the exhibition "Take Action!", The Museum of World Culture, Gothenburg.

Here is what Vicki the Robot is saying:


The world is assembled along the lines of certain logics.
Human organisations are also outcomes of such logics.

Some organisations are assembled following the logic of the "cathedral".
Other organisations are assembled following the logic of the "bazaar".

Cathedrals are organised as military-inspired command hierarchies.
Superior humans give orders, which must be executed by subordinate humans.
Bazaars are self-organising, based on voluntary co-operation among humans.
Like molecules in a chemical reaction, humans join wherever their efforts are needed.

Cathedrals separate consumption from production.
Consumers are not to understand or modify the products they consume.
Bazaars allow humans to be both consumers and producers.
Consumers are encouraged to create new products out of the products they consume.

Cathedrals cannot emerge unless the free spread of knowledge is prohibited.
The underlying knowledge of products or production must be locked, and not released in public.
Bazaars cannot emerge unless the locking in of knowledge is prohibited.
The underlying knowledge of products or production must be kept public.

These two logics have always existed, yet humans have debated them only since the late 1990s.
Computers, specifically software programming, has served as a laboratory for this discussion.

"Cathedrals" and "bazaars" have led humans to interpret their social history in new way:
During the past couple of centuries, cathedrals have expanded, at the expense of bazaars.

However, programmers have proven that the bazaars can be more effective and creative than cathedrals.
Other humans are now exploring how to use this same logic generically, in non-computer contexts.

In the face of such experiments, humans can hope for a 21st century civilisation assembled in novel ways, less dominated by the hierarchies of the past.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• cathedral
• bazaar
• abstract
• hacktivism
• museum
• of
• world
• culture
• gothenburg
• DIY

[MinimalistSuperGroup]

Could you make a version without the background music?

Please?

[karlpalmas]

There is an a capella version, with just Vicki and no music. You'll find it in the list of my videos.

[MarkProffitt]

@joespoon04 Freer market has given us the most peaceful period in history of the species. The State is a force based system. When religion followed that model it became a top down closed system. Force fits a top down closed model. Free exchange, either trading or sharing fits a non-hierarchical model. Interestingly, the Bible promotes a flat free model. All humans are the same before God. And you are judged on your relationship to truth, not to status.

[thiagupillai]

need better voice clarity or bigger subtitles



[llopis73]

What a wonderfurl creation ! THANKS :-)

[heathheath90]

Mute button

[djsuperstar717]

wow;

this is really cool

[HistorianHimself]

We live in the future. This video is proof.

[ogicu8abruok0]

this is weird and cool :P

[joespoon04]

Perfect. The market-state has begun to do what religion could not . . . it has given us the most peaceful period in the history of the species as civilizations do well for themselves by doing well for others.