Is anyone else going to be at the UN Open Source week in June? I have put forward a tentative suggestion for an open source hardware event, but would need help to make it a reality.
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Hi @julianstirling do you need help on location and/or remotely?
For example, I might be interested in helping but almost certainly cannot attend the event in person.
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Thanks Pen. Iāll certainly need in person help to make it possible, if I get that then Iāll let you know if remote help is useful.
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Tom Igoe (Arduino) is in NYC teaching physical computing at NYU.
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Hi Julian That sounds great ! How about we do a session on Open Source Hradware Futures ! I have been working on this for a little while and I know the UN has many amazing futurists so Im sure they would be open to this ! And as you know OSHWA had their conference in NY last year so Im sure they have many great connections there still we could tap into
Let me know if I can help, and if you want to have a chat ?
best
Freyja
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I suppose it depends what we mean about āfuturesā and āfuturistsā. I am of course very interested in creating a future with open hardware, but I am far more interested in the nuts and bolts of what we need to do to move to the next step than I am in imagining a the long term future.
For example the WHO is marking healthcare technologies positively if the technology is Open Source, UNESCO have an Open Science recommendation that mentions open hardware. I want to drill into exactly how we can go from big organisations saying Open Hardware is nice to have, to making it a reality in fields of endeavour where quality assurance is paramount.
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Hi , well that alligns very well with what I am proposing ! What would this timeline be to reach a scenario where what you propose has happened, so if we imagine we have achieved this (when ?) we can imagine what society would look like and what impact it may have on economy, welfare etc. Which helps people to understand the benefits of OS and become prepared to make decisions and take actions now and tomorrow to get to that scenario/future.
Without a vision its hard to know what we need to do and by backtracking this vision comparing it to the situation we are in now we can update our strategy/roudmaps and anticipate any challanges we and others may face and how we may avoid/mitigate them.
I think it will be a very good excersize beforehand also to see if we agree at least somewhat about what we think the problems and sollutions are. The idea is not to agree on just one future for all, but to have alternative futures alligned with the needs and preferences of different peoples,societies,industries.
Happy to chat more but if you are not interested thats fine too 
For those who are intersted in AI , the AI2027 āpredictionā is an interesting read
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I am decidedly not interested in so-called āAIā (really tired of the hype!) 
, but I am curious about this āAI2027ā thing you mentioned. Is it this website?
Such an interesting discussion. Just want to thank @julianstirling and @Freyja for your insights on this matter. I feel this is truly a situation where not only both can be true at the same time, but also that we need both at the same time. I.e. have:
- a clear vision (or visions) of what we want to see in the future; and
- a clear idea of the immediate, concrete steps to take (i.e. the nuts and bolts).
Without 1, our tactical decisions in the present will not be sufficiently informed and might even be counterproductive. And without 2, we canāt translate our high level strategies into real change.
Sorry I donāt actually have much to add, but this is my attempt at a short summary!
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