From Exchange to Contributions: Generalizing Peer Production into the Physical World

This 155-page document explores the notion of peer production beyond the knowledge sector, attempting to answer the following: "Is a society possible in which peer production is the primary mode of production? If so, how could such a society be organized?" The author prefaces his exploration of peer production as an economic and social base by noting that much of the analysis of peer production has evolved using the field of internet software and content production as its example. "A new mode of production has emerged in the areas of software and content production during the last decades. This mode, which is based on sharing and cooperation, has spawned whole mature operating systems such as GNU/Linux;... giant knowledge bases such as the Wikipedia; a large free culture movement often based on Creative Commons licenses; and a new, wholly decentralized medium for spreading, analyzing and discussing news and knowledge, the so-called blogosphere; among others."


Peer production differs from other categories of production, for example, 'market-based' production or 'firm' production, because it is based on contributions, not equivalent exchange or hierarchical planning. Regarding communications, and particularly related to the internet, the term "commons" refers to ownerless resources available to all. The notion is particularly important for projects related to internet software development, where knowledge is "equipotentially" available (uniformly accessible to all, rather than distributed according to hierarchy or function). The author describes those who work on open software projects as "prosumers", those who develop and improve what they use out of a passion for problem solving. He suggests that even highly complex products can be produced by engaged groups of consumers using suitable organisational models, without requiring the support of private firms or the state.


The document attempts to apply the characteristics of knowledge production, allocation, and distribution (now made more functional and egalitarian by the internet and knowledge designated as "commons" fully and freely reproducible versus copyrighted), to manufactured goods. In doing so, the author intends to outline aspects of a social system that parallels the kind of fabricating of open software systems, applying theories derived from the appearance and function of social networks to economic systems of distribution.