Presentation given to the 1st Social Fab Conference (Tokyo, 31 Aug 2013) and the "Beppu Bay Conference" (Oita, 1 Sept 2013)

1. Fab
Lab
Society?
Peter
Troxler,
Research
Professor

2. What
is
Happening?
1. Changes
on
the
surface
2. Changes
underneath
3. Changes
in
pracDce

3. What
is
Happening?
1. Changes
on
the
surface
2. Changes
underneath
3. Changes
in
pracDce

4. 12,800,000
results
1,570,000
blogs
17,300,000
videos
519,000
discussions

5. Industrial
RevoluDon
• Neil
Gershenfeld,
2005:
Fab.
The
Coming
RevoluDon
on
Your
Desktop
• Jeremy
RiTin,
2011:
The
Third
Industrial
RevoluDon.
How
Lateral
Power
is
Transforming
Energy,
the
Economy,
and
the
World.
• Chris
Anderson,
2012:
Makers:
The
New
Industrial
RevoluDon
• Peter
Marsh,
2012:
The
New
Industrial
RevoluDon:
Consumers,
GlobalizaDon
and
the
End
of
Mass
ProducDon

6. Jeremy
RiTin
[T]he conventional top-down organization of society that characterized
much of the economic, social, and political life of the fossil-fuel based
industrial revolutions is giving way to distributed and collaborative
relationships in the emerging green industrial era. We are in the midst of
a profound shift in the very way society is structured, away from
hierarchical power and toward lateral power. (Rifkin 2011, p. 36f.)

7. Jeremy
RiTin
1st
revoluDon
AutomaDc
prinDng
press
Steam-­‐powered
technology
19th
century
2nd
revoluDon
Electrical
communicaDon
Oil-­‐powered
combusDon
engine
20th
century
3rd
revoluDon
Internet
Renewables
Smart
buildings
Smart
grid
E-­‐mobility

8. ©
2010
Kevin
Dooley,
cc-­‐by
2nd
revoluDon
Electrical
communicaDon
Oil-­‐powered
combusDon
engine
20th
century
©
2011
Waag
Society,
cc-­‐by-­‐nc-­‐nd
©
1968,
Elgin
County
Archives,
St.
Thomas
Times-­‐Journal
fonds
1st
revoluDon
AutomaDc
prinDng
press
Steam-­‐powered
technology
19th
century
3rd
revoluDon
Internet
Renewable
energy
21st
century

9. ©
1907
E.A.
Thomson
Bu`e-­‐Silver
Bow
Public
Library
2nd
revoluDon
Electrical
communicaDon
Oil-­‐powered
combusDon
engine
20th
century
©
2009
mars_discovery_district,
cc-­‐by-­‐nc-­‐
sa
1st
revoluDon
AutomaDc
prinDng
press
Steam-­‐powered
technology
19th
century
3rd
revoluDon
Internet
Renewable
energy
21st
century
©
2011
adafruit,
cc-­‐by-­‐nc-­‐sa

10. • Icon
steam
engine
>
conveyor
belt
>
3D
printer
• Actor
capitalist
>
management
consultant
>
maker
• Structure
paDarchical
>
hierarchical
>
lateral
• Supply
Chain
colonial
>
global
>
conDnental
/
regional

11. • Transport
railway
>
automobile
&
air
travel
>
???
• CiDes
crowded
inner
ciDes
>
suburbia
>
???
• Social
working
class
>
middle
class
>
???
• ConsumpDon
consume
>
mass
consumpDon
>
prosumer

12. • Media
newspaper
>
radio
>
social
media,
UGC?
• Encyclopedia
Diderot
>
Britannica
>
Wikipedia
• Sofware
electromechanical
(?)
>
proprietary
>
open
source?
• Design
craf
>
design
>
open
design

13. What
is
Happening?
1. Changes
on
the
surface
2. Changes
underneath
3. Changes
in
pracDce

14. Chris
Anderson
• 2011:
Atoms
are
the
New
Bits
(Wired)
• 2012:
Makers.
The
New
Industrial
RevoluDon.
• “Maker
RevoluDon”
• Custom-­‐fabricated,
do-­‐it-­‐yourself
product
design
and
creaDon;
US
focus

15. Neil
Gershenfeld
• 2005:
Fab.
The
Next
RevoluDon
on
Your
Desktop
• 2012:
How
to
Make
Almost
Anything.
The
Digital
FabricaDon
RevoluDon.
(Foreign
Affairs)
• “Personal
Digital
FabricaDon”
• Personal
fabricaDon
for
a
market
of
one
• Locally
develop
soluDons
to
local
problems

16. Alvin
Toffler
• 1970:
Future
Shock
• 1980:
The
Third
Wave
(2006
republished
as
RevoluDonary
Wealth)
• Post-­‐Industrial
Society

17. James
R.
Beniger
• 1986:
Control
RevoluDon.
Technological
and
Economid
Origins
of
the
InformaDon
Society.
• “a
society's
ability
to
maintain
control
–
at
all
levels
from
interpersonal
to
internaDonal
relaDons
–
will
be
directly
proporDonal
to
the
development
of
its
informaDon
technologies”

18. David
Noble
• 1988:
Forces
of
ProducDon.
A
Social
History
of
Industrial
AutomaDon.
• division
between
white
collar
and
blue
collar
work
• struggle
of
managers
to
gain
control
over
workers
• “military
thrust
toward
total
control
[that]
indulged
technical
enthusiasms
while
it
raDfied
managerial
propensiDes”

19. Shoshanna
Zuboff
• 1988:
In
the
Age
of
the
Smart
Machine
• 2002
(together
with
James
Maxmin):
The
Support
Economy
Why
CorporaDons
are
Failing
Individuals
and
the
Next
Episode
of
Capitalism
• “TransacDon
Crisis”
• Example:
Old
Aged
Peoples’
Homes

20. Shumpei
Kumon
• Info-­‐Socionomics
• 2004:
情報社会学序説
―
ラストモダンの時代
を生きる
(Living
in
the
age
of
Last
Modern.
IntroducDon
to
Info-­‐Socionomics)
• "Wisdom
game"
as
dominant
paradigm
in
InformaDon
society

21. Umar
Haque
• 2011:
The
New
Capitalist
Manifesto
Building
A
DisrupDvely
Be`er
Business.

22. Yochai
Benkler
• 2002:
Commons-­‐based
Peer-­‐ProducDon
• 2006:
Wealth
of
Networks
2011:
The
Penguin
and
the
Leviathan

23. Beniger
–
Control
RevoluDon
Noble
–
Forces
of
ProducDon
Zuboff
–
Smart
Machine:
Technology
as
OpDon
Anderson
–
“Makers”
Gershenfeld
–
InvenDve
Power
of
the
World
Zuboff
/
Maxim
–
Distributed
Capitalism
Haque
–
ConstrucDve
Capitalism
Toffler
–
Post-­‐Industrial
Society
Kumon
–
Info-­‐Socionomics
Benkler
–
Peer
ProducDon
RiTin
–
Lateral
Power

24. What
is
Happening?
1. Changes
on
the
surface
2. Changes
underneath
3. Changes
in
pracDce

26. h`p://fab.cba.mit.edu/about/charter

27. Fab
FoundaDon(s)
local
meeDngs
NaDonal
Networks
Global
Fablab
User
Group
annual
workshop
&
symposium
fab
wiki
Fab
Academy