earthhacking

Spacepunk is all about living by good ideas (lifehacking), spreading good ideas (earthhacking), and spreading space science till we ensure human survival (spacehacking). To understand good ideas and how to spread them, we look to memetics:

A meme is any unit of cultural information, such as a practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another.

A meme is defined within memetic theory as a unit of cultural information, cultural evolution or diffusion that propagates from one mind to another analogously to the way in which a gene propagates from one organism to another as a unit of genetic information and of biological evolution. Multiple memes may propagate as cooperative groups called memeplexes (meme complexes). Via Wikipedia.

Biologist and evolutionary theorist Richard Dawkins coined the term meme in 1976. He gave as examples tunes, catch-phrases, beliefs, clothing fashions, ways of making pots, and the technology of building arches.

Meme theorists contend that memes evolve by natural selection similarly to Charles Darwin's theory of biological evolution through the processes of variation, mutation, competition, and inheritance influencing an organism's reproductive success. So with memes, some ideas will propagate less successfully and become extinct, while others will survive, spread, and, for better or for worse, mutate. Memeticists argue that the memes most beneficial to their hosts will not necessarily survive; rather, those memes that replicate the most effectively spread best, which allows for the possibility that successful memes may prove detrimental to their hosts.

@WogGryphin tweets a great article called Gin, Television, and Social Surplus by Clay Shirky to us: One of those ideas that floats as an vapor in the back of your mind, found one who puts it in words. thx @lxpk for blog:

And television watching? Two hundred billion hours, in the U.S. alone, every year. Put another way, now that we have a unit, that's 2,000 Wikipedia projects a year spent watching television. Or put still another way, in the U.S., we spend 100 million hours every weekend, just watching the ads. This is a pretty big surplus. People asking, "Where do they find the time?" when they're looking at things like Wikipedia don't understand how tiny that entire project is, as a carve-out of this asset that's finally being dragged into what Tim calls an architecture of participation.

Now, the interesting thing about a surplus like that is that society doesn't know what to do with it at first--hence the gin, hence the sitcoms. Because if people knew what to do with a surplus with reference to the existing social institutions, then it wouldn't be a surplus, would it? It's precisely when no one has any idea how to deploy something that people have to start experimenting with it, in order for the surplus to get integrated, and the course of that integration can transform society...

It's also become my motto, when people ask me what we're doing--and when I say "we" I mean the larger society trying to figure out how to deploy this cognitive surplus, but I also mean we, especially, the people in this room, the people who are working hammer and tongs at figuring out the next good idea.

http://www.shirky.com/herecomeseverybody/2008/04/looking-for-the-mouse.html

Over a long enough timeline, the survival rate for each of us drops to zero, but the survival rate for everyone approaches infinity on the edge of a razorblade: Either humanity prospers in outer space forever or we all perish by cosmic murder or technological suicide. If we're going to ride that edge all the way into the sunset, we're going to need to engage in organized counter-eschatology. The war on terrorism is a blip compared to the war on the ends of the world.

There's a variety of threats that could end your life, end your community or end humanity and all life on Earth. Each is known and observed by a certain number of people who try to guard against such an end of the world scenario.

Here's a tool that lets you see a summary of the eschatologies and rank the ones you're most concerned about: End Of America.

“Here Comes Science” is a children’s album and animated DVD that teaches science to kids created by They Might Be Giants, and it comes out September 1st and is available for pre-order through Amazon.They Might Be Giants are also going on tour in September. I'm excited. I think they may just have made a huge fan out of one spacepunk. Said spacepunk for one will be belting out these tunes in my (I mean his or her) car and shower.

Music videos promoting science are made of win. We will have to combine this with some Kompressor for a Spacepunk kids' learning program to compliment The Polymath's Primer. This would also be a great way to combine learning music with learning science. Combine this with some guitar hero gameplay and real instrument Scool of Rock-style gameplay and you have win.

Also, if you buy the album through the link, we get a tiny associate reward to help fund spacepunk!

"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."

—Douglas Englebert

CodeCorps: Code the change you wish to see in the world.

Codecorps is a movement of coders who wish to make the largest net difference in the world by developing pointed software and contributing it to the global code commons.

Wiki In Progress

CodeCorps.cc is a wiki in progress and for conceptual development of the project.

Domain

 CodeCorps.cc is the domain name. If you manage to snipe a better one, let us know.

Insignia

The CodeCorps insignia was inspired by the AmeriCorps logo and the Creative Commons mark. The pixelated earth represents a digital future. The "C" shaped arrows represent the development cycle, program loops, and successive iterations toward a better organization, a better society, a better world. The "C" shaped arrows also represent circles, but circles that are open, representnig both Open Source and Open Content. The outline of a gear symbolizes progess.

Theme Song

 Code Corps' theme song is a military snare drum beat played on a computer keyboard symbolizing coders on the march empowering humanity one line of code at a time.

Creative Commons Involvement

Code Corps' mission includes expanding the global commons so that knowledge as well as code can be shared to benefit everyone. As such, some of our first projects will be aiding in some of Creative Commons' coding projects. Concordantly, all documents produced by Code Corps (including those on this wiki) are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License (CC-BY-SA), unless otherwise noted. (For example the CodeCorps insignia, which we need to control for brand image purposes, so it is licensed with the Non-Derivative [ND] attribute.) The addittion of the Non-Commercial (NC) attribute is up for debate.

AmeriCode: Future Americorps Involvement

CodeCorps has a goal to become connected with AmeriCorps much like City Year is (City Year gets about one third of its funding from Americorps).

About AmeriCorps

AmeriCorps is an opportunity to make a big difference in your life andin the lives of those around you. It’s a chance to apply your skillsand ideals toward helping others and meeting critical needs in thecommunity. Code Corps' Americorps participation program could be called "AmeriCode". At some point, we could develop software for government offices and services, as well as teach coding and other computer skills, such as how to use the powerful Linux operating system.

CodeCycle: Future City Year-style Program

CodeCycle is an opportunity for volunteers interested in a City Year-like experience to do a year of full-time code service, giving them the skills and opportunities to code the change they wish to see in the world. As coders and mentors, these young developers will make a difference in the lives of everyone empowered through free and open technology.

CodeCyclists will probably get referred to as Cyclists for short.

About City Year

City Year unites young people of all backgrounds for a year offull-time service, giving them the skills and opportunities to changethe world. As tutors, mentors and role models, these young leadersmake a difference in the lives of children, and transform schools andneighborhoods in 18 U.S. locations and Johannesburg, South Africa. Justas important, during their year of service corps members develop civicleadership skills they can use throughout a lifetime of communityservice.

Opportunity Search: Geekcorps, etc.

Codecorps' opportunity search finds a CodeCorps volunteer a deployment opportunity to contribute to or create a code commons project to meet a need in the world. These needs are by no means limited to the United States. International opportunities can be found through Geekcorps: http://www.geekcorps.com/

Year of Service

Codecorps volunters can sign on for a one year tour of duty. However, as our program is still building it's formal structure, we may offer options to sign up for smaller coding sprints.

Codecorps "Solarcyclers" can re-up at the end of their first year and become involved in training the next wave of Codecorps trainees.

RebootCamp

RebootCamp is a training program for coders and newbs alike to get up to speed with the elite technical skills they'll need to complete their missions. RebootCamp leads to advanced individual training in your particular technical specialtizations.

Venue - a Hacker Space

We are currently seeking any locations to use as hacker spaces. Once we find a good one, expect an unconference. Then expect several. Once we get funding, expect a central headquarters somewhere around the San Francisco bay.

Corporate Structure, Management, and Culture

Our corporate structure will be based on that of AmeriCorps and City Year. Which means, once we have our corporation, we will register as a non-profit and apply for AmeriCorps funding. Our management techniques will be based off of agile software development, specifically SCRUM. Our culture will be based off of City Year.

Educational Software Initiative: A Polymath's Primer

Code Corps' first (and in many ways primary) mission is to produce great educational software that can be used to the benefit of AmeriCorps' preexisting teaching and tutoring infrastructure, which includes such programs as Teach For America and City Year. AmeriCorps tutoring affects 20,000 youth anually in the United States. Our long-term goal is modular educational software that can be directed towards the development of A Polymath's Primer. (This is a reference to Neal Stephenson's Young Lady's Illustrated Primer: a Propædeutic Enchiridion)

Task one: "Equations of Attack" Educational Minigame

Our vision for the Primer is that it will be a multiplayer virtual world filled with educational characters, games, and stories. Easy work that can be done now is the production of simple, educational minigames. The first will be based on an existing lesson plan called "Equations of Attack." The lesson resources can be found here: http://illuminations.nctm.org/LessonDetail.aspx?id=L782. The game is much like 'battleship', and teaches the algebraic skill of graphing linear equations, which includes the important concept of slope.

Ideal Integration with One Laptop Per Child

Our vision is to design these educational minigames and other educational software to be operable on XO Laptops, the mainstay of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) non-profit organization. Not only are these laptops affordable, but their self-proclaimed mission is to "create educational opportunities for the world's poorest children by providing each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and software designed for collaborative, joyful, self-empowered learning." It would be wonderful to cooperate with this fantastic project. Their website is located at http://laptop.org

Free and Open Source Software

In alignment with CodeCorps mission and goals, all software produced by CodeCorps will be licensed under the CC-GNU GPL V3, a standard copyleft license for software. It is the license used by the powerful Linux operating system--including our favorite distribution--Ubuntu.

CodeCorps insignia licensed

Spacepunk Pseudokrow turned me onto the late Viridian design movement birthed and buried by cyberpunk scifi author activist Bruce Sterling. It is worth examining the ideas of Viridian and other foregoing and ongoing creative movements with links to spacepunk. Wogs and makers will particularly like the closing call to arms with multitools and material hygiene.

I strongly recommend that you carry a multitool. There are dozens of species of these remarkable devices now, and for good reason. Do not show them off in a beltpack, because this marks you as a poorly-socialized geek. Keep your multitool hidden in the same discreet way that you would any other set of keys.

That's because a multitool IS a set of keys. It's a set of possible creative interventions in your immediate material environment. That is why you want a multitool. They are empowering.

A multitool changes your perceptions of the world. Since you lack your previous untooled learned-helplessness, you will slowly find yourself becoming more capable and more observant. If you have pocket-scissors, you will notice loose threads; if you have a small knife you will notice bad packaging; if you have a file you will notice flashing, metallic burrs, and bad joinery. If you have tweezers you can help injured children, while if you have a pen, you will take notes. Tools in your space, saving your time. A multitool is a design education.