Information - Spread Innovation | Commercial - Improve the Status Quo | Guardian - Maintain the Status Quo |
Imagine a programmer working at 2 AM to add a feature to an Open Source program he didn't write. The programmer is not paid for this work; he does it because he wants the program to be more usable and more popular; he has been working for ten hours without a break. At 2:30 AM he adds his name to the list of authors, uploads the improved program to a web site for free distribution, then spends the next hour reading free articles on-line. | Imagine a small neighborhood shop. The employees should be ready to do business with anyone who walks in, and must maintain a reputation of honesty with both suppliers and customers. The store must continually improve, or the other stores will lure away its customers. A small business owner does not have a lot of free time and must work efficiently. | Imagine a fortress guarding a frontier. The soldiers must always be prepared to fight, but most of the time they are training or relaxing. Strict discipline is necessary to make them a unified fighting force. One traitor, or paid spy, can get them all killed. Visiting merchants are a distraction and a security problem; too much money floating around can weaken their dedication to the task. |
Shun force | Shun force | [Rely on force] |
Shun trading | [Rely on trading] | Shun trading |
Use intelligence | Use initiative and enterprise | Exert prowess |
Publish all information | Be honest | Deceive for the sake of the task |
Be idealistic | Be optimistic | Be fatalistic |
Ignore comfort | Promote comfort and convenience | Make rich use of leisure |
Respect authorship; Ignore ownership | Respect contracts | [Defend your territory] |
Demonstrate the superiority of your own ideal | Dissent for the sake of the task | Be obedient and disciplined |
Invent and create | Be open to inventiveness and novelty | Adhere to tradition |
Shun authority | [Adapt to the system] | Respect hierarchy |
Collaborate easily with strangers and aliens | Collaborate easily with strangers and aliens | Be exclusive |
Accept largesse | Be thrifty | Dispense largesse |
Be unique; Develop a reputation | Be industrious | Be ostentatious |
Be productive | Invest for productive purposes | Take vengeance |
Cooperate | Compete | [Fight, when necessary] |
Be skillful | Be efficient | Be loyal |
Gain mindshare | Come to voluntary agreements | Show fortitude |
Treasure reputation | [Treasure financial success] | Treasure honor |
Thursday, 20 November 2003
A third morality?
crw from #joiito pointed me to Chris Phoenix's extension to three of Jane Jacob's two moralities:
According to Jane Jacobs, the Commercial and Guardian systems each have developed a distinct and identifiable set of ethics. You will be able to identify these ethics in governments, police departments, and a variety of commercial organizations. The Information ethics, and this table, are a synthesis of the work of several authors. If you are not familiar with any organizations that operate by creating information and then giving it away, think of your friends who are avid hobbyists - chances are that they have written articles or put up web sites without being paid.
Jonathon Sciola: mentioned this in Brilliant.
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