Marcin Jakubowski: Open Source Ecology Lecture

TED Senior Fellow Marcin Jakubowski, founder of the Open Source Ecology initiative, presents the open-source Global Village Construction Set, a “starter kit for civilization.” At the STUDIO main space, CFA-111.

Presented in partnership with the CMU School of Architecture Spring 2014 Lecture Series. 

TED Senior Fellow Marcin Jakubowski, a Princeton-trained physicist-turned-farmer, is using the power of the DIY movement to create a free, open-source “starter kit for civilization.” Jakubowski directs the Open Source Ecology initiative, which aims to develop a set of easy-to-follow, open source blueprints for the 50 machines most essential for modern life. The 50 machines comprise the Global Village Construction Set: a “lifesize, scalable, modular LEGO construction set” for building modern life, and include an automobile, an induction furnace, and a bakery oven.

Jakubowski is testing the feasibility of this concept on “Factor e Farm,” a 30-acre parcel of land near Kansas City, Missouri. According to its website, Factor e Farm “aims to take what civilization has learned about what it means to thrive, and determine whether it is feasible to use abundant local resources to create industrial civilization. [….] This is a Big Hairy Audacious Goal, but its achievement has huge implications on solving Wicked Problems.”

Marcin Jakubowski’s ideas and work have earned him international acclaim, including distinction as a TED Senior Fellow, a Shuttleworth Foundation Fellow, and a White House Champion of Change. He has been profiled by news outlets and academic journals worldwide. During Jakubowski’s visit, he will first participate in a panel discussion with School of Architecture faculty members Dana Cupkova, Madeline Gannon, and Matt Huber about the social responsibility of digital design; then he’ll offer a lecture and participate in a Q&A session about his work with Open Source Ecology and Factor e Farm. Jakubowski also seeks to meet one-on-one with talented designers, creators, and thinkers interested in helping kickstart Factor e Farm as the first full-scale implementation of Open Source Ecology.

For more information on Jackubowski, see this New Yorker article, “The Civilization Kit” (9MB PDF).