3 ms·

I feel like tractors are like AK-47s, kinda de facto grandfathered in before Neo-liberalism and Globalization made exporting IP law a big part part of of geopol

I feel like tractors are like AK-47s, kinda de facto grandfathered in before Neo-liberalism and Globalization made exporting IP law a big part part of of geopolitics.

lazide 5y ago
Basic tractors, like the AK-47, are also designable by most decent mechanical engineering students without a lot of work if they spent an afternoon googling first for prior art (and that prior art has long had any patents expire). Which if there is an ecosystem related to this, that’s great as the manufacturing is where you need economies of scale pretty badly and everyone benefits from it. There is no also no need for a basic excavator to cost $30k or more. Let’s do something about that too!
- coding123 5y ago
  https://www.harborfreight.com/9-hp-towable-backhoe-62365.html https://www.harborfreight.com/9-hp-towable-backhoe-62365.htm... You said basic. :shrug: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fK6EtRXqS4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fK6EtRXqS4
  - lazide 5y ago
    I'm not sure if it counts as an 'excavator' (towed digger maybe?), but that is still pretty neat. Thanks for the link.
- Ericson2314 5y ago
  Look, I really want open source to meet the "real world", and not be stuck as another "socialism for the rich" where companies can do things on the cheap but the software is useless to the average person as an alternative to anything. (Great example: Google using Linux in Android does not mean the user is any more free of advertizing and spying!) But unless I misunderstand what this is for, I think the economies of scale needed are in way fancier things like combine harvesters. When farmers decry the rent-seeking of John Deere, I don't think they are talking about basic tractor-bulldozers? Conversely, as the other replies say, there is little issue with decades-old-style tractors, right? What I really want to see is an open source Khrushchyovka. The worlds needs more cities, not villages.
  - lazide 5y ago
    I think you’re right, and doing some more digging this seems if anything a somewhat useless engineer-wouldn’t-it-be-cool type project that isn’t solving any of the real problems that people face. Sigh.
    - Ericson2314 5y ago
      On the more positive side, maybe some things in here are necessary first steps, and best get to more useful things later building upon them. I am not sure, I didn't dig to deep yet.

I feel like tractors are like AK-47s, kinda de facto grandfathered in before Neo-liberalism and Globalization made exporting IP law a big part part of of geopolitics.

lazide 5y ago

Basic tractors, like the AK-47, are also designable by most decent mechanical engineering students without a lot of work if they spent an afternoon googling first for prior art (and that prior art has long had any patents expire). Which if there is an ecosystem related to this, that’s great as the manufacturing is where you need economies of scale pretty badly and everyone benefits from it. There is no also no need for a basic excavator to cost $30k or more. Let’s do something about that too!

coding123 5y ago
https://www.harborfreight.com/9-hp-towable-backhoe-62365.html https://www.harborfreight.com/9-hp-towable-backhoe-62365.htm... You said basic. :shrug: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fK6EtRXqS4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fK6EtRXqS4
- lazide 5y ago
  I'm not sure if it counts as an 'excavator' (towed digger maybe?), but that is still pretty neat. Thanks for the link.
Ericson2314 5y ago
Look, I really want open source to meet the "real world", and not be stuck as another "socialism for the rich" where companies can do things on the cheap but the software is useless to the average person as an alternative to anything. (Great example: Google using Linux in Android does not mean the user is any more free of advertizing and spying!) But unless I misunderstand what this is for, I think the economies of scale needed are in way fancier things like combine harvesters. When farmers decry the rent-seeking of John Deere, I don't think they are talking about basic tractor-bulldozers? Conversely, as the other replies say, there is little issue with decades-old-style tractors, right? What I really want to see is an open source Khrushchyovka. The worlds needs more cities, not villages.
- lazide 5y ago
  I think you’re right, and doing some more digging this seems if anything a somewhat useless engineer-wouldn’t-it-be-cool type project that isn’t solving any of the real problems that people face. Sigh.
  - Ericson2314 5y ago
    On the more positive side, maybe some things in here are necessary first steps, and best get to more useful things later building upon them. I am not sure, I didn't dig to deep yet.