Ask HN: What do hackers want to get built?

5 points·pizza··3 comments

What could hackers build, that other hackers would use often? It would be great if you all submitted your ideas.

I want to create an open source hacker's lab. A place funded on the open-source philosophy (socialism, if you will). If the lab needs some equipment or parts, then someone buys a bunch and lets others use it, or people split the cost or something. Ideally, it would have a chemistry set and a bunch of sensors and electronics. Maybe a CNC machine or particle accelerator =) ... essentially, a mad scientist's lab.

Anyway, let it evolve into a place to do scientific experiments while being able to access the knowledge to understand the experiments. Ultimately, it would become a community powered educational system, able to rival universities in educational quality.

And if it turns out that no one in the area thinks an open-source building is a good idea, then it will rot on sourceforge like so many other projects.

I have one minor nitpick -- the open-source philosophy is not socialism; socialism has to to do with lack of prices & the use of force.

In a capitalist society you can have communes of any size that function in any way. For example a family is shares, as do clubs, free hospitals/charities... the key is that it is voluntary interaction.

I think what he tries to say by 'socialism' is to divert the focus of research from for-profit, corporation-sponsored goals to more idealistic pursuits, relieving the researcher from a profitability constraint on his work

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