hackerspace-blueprint/7-the-legacy.md

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7. The Legacy

Because every good idea that was once written down has been misinterpreted, we included information that led us to the system and the guidelines in this repository as The Legacy. This should by used as a "cipher" to interpret the system and the guidelines correctly and to explain a bit of the rationale behind them.

Some of these documents, discussions and comments on them are archived in the legacy folder of the hackerspace blueprint repository.

  • The fall of the hacker groups makes the claim that it is becoming rare for creativity to arise from groups or teams. Even though the technological advances should make it easier to create and maintain hacker groups, they are becoming increasingly rare. The author poses the theory that this is because the same technological revolution bombards us with a constant flow of information and fear, and because we dread the thought of being alike, of sharing multiple views and opinions. As such, we are turning progressively judgmental of who we should be partnering with, on the basis that "they do not understand".

  • The tyranny of structurelessness is an essay by American feminist Jo Freeman inspired by her experiences in a 1960s women's liberation group that concerns power relations within radical feminist collectives. The essay looks back on the experiments of the feminist movement in creating organizations that do not have any structure or leadership. Jo Freeman states that leadership and structure did actually exist in these organizations but its existence was denied. This made it hard to hold the leadership accountable for their actions and made it hard for newcomers to figure out how the organization worked. As a solution, Freeman suggests formalizing the existing hierarchies in the group and subjecting them to democratic control.

  • Dealing with disrespect by the legendary Ubuntu Linux community manager "Jono Bacon" explaining that "Most people are good people". "This book is about helping us to focus on good people creating good things, to preserve that spirit of sharing, and to protect against those whose primary contribution is obstruction and disrespect."