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Friday, 12 February 2010

JOURNAL: Indications of Open Source Economies

Open source warfare isn't a model based purely theoretical musings.  It was grounded in observations.  First, the combination of qualitative evidence gathered in Brave New War and on this blog allowed the creation of a working model for open source warfare that was both explanatory and predictive.  Second, the hard and ground breaking work by Bohorquez, Gourley, Dixon, Spagat, and Johnson demonstrated (see Nature: Common Ecology Quantifies Human Insurgency) it empirically and provided a method to model it computationally.

OSS GrowthThe same process should be used to build a working model for open source economies.  A strong indicator that open source economies are emerging is the rapid growth of its software component.  Analysis done by Dirk Riehle back in 2008 (while he was at SAP) calculated that open source software has grown and continues to grow exponentially (see attached chart on the growth in the number of non-duplicate lines of source code in open software projects -- click for larger version).  This occurred despite host of negative feedback loops that should have slowed or reversed its growth and very few positive feedback loops that impelled it.    

Posted at 01:01 PM |

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On Brave New War

  • Purchase Brave New War
  • New York Times Op-Ed
    ...a fast, thought-sparking book.. -- David Brooks
  • Greenpeace
    I read it twice and bought six copies for my friends -- John Passacantando (Exec. Dir. Greenpeace)
  • G. Gordon Liddy Show (radio)
    ...this is a seminal book in the truest sense of the term.. way ahead of the curve... go out and buy it right now -- G. Gordon Liddy
  • City Journal
    Robb has written an important book that every policymaker should read -- Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit)
  • Small Wars Journal
    Without reservation Brave New War is for professional students of irregular warfare and for any citizen who wants to understand emerging trends and the dark potential of 4GW -- Frank Hoffman
  • Scripps Howard News Service
    A brilliant new book published by terrorism expert John Robb, titled "Brave New War," hit stores last month with virtually no fanfare. It deserves both significant attention and vigorous debate... - Thomas P.M. Barnett
  • Chet Richards DNI
    John has produced an important book that should help jar the United States and other legacy states out of their Cold War mindset. You can read it in a couple of hours – so you should read it twice...
  • Washington Times / UPI
    Robb correctly finds the antidote to 4GW not in Soviet-style state structures such as the Department of Homeland Security, but in decentralization -- William Lind (the father of 4th generation warfare).
  • Robert Paterson
    Having painted a crystal clear picture of how a war of networks is playing out, he comes to an astonishing conclusion that I hope he fills out in his next book.
  • The Daily Dish
    John Robb of Global Guerrillas has written the most important book of the year, Brave New War. - Daily Dish (The Atlantic)
  • Simulated Laughter
    Well-written. Brave New War reads more like an action novel than a ponderous policy book. - Adam Elkus
  • FutureJacked
    Go buy a copy of this book. Now. If you are low on cash, skip a few lunches and save up the cash. It is worth it. - Michael Flagg
  • ZenPundit
    The second audience is composed of everyone else. Brave New War is simply going to blow them away. - Mark Safranski
  • Haft of the Spear
    There aren’t a lot of books that make me recall a 12-year-old self aching for the next issue of The Invincible Iron Man to hit the shelves. Well done. - Michael Tanji
  • Ed Cone
    His book posits an Army of Davids -- with the traditional nation state in the role of Goliath. - Ed Cone (Ziff Davis)
  • The Newshoggers
    I highly recommend reading and re-reading this work. - Fester
  • Shloky.com
    This is the first real text on next generation warfare designed for the general population and it sets the bar high for following acts. It is smart, it is a short read, and it will change your thinking. - Shlok Vaidya
  • Politics in the Zeros
    I suggest this is something Lefties need to start thinking about now, as that decentralized world is coming. - Bob Morris
  • Hidden Unities
    A thoughtful book that should be read more widely than the latest Tom Friedman whopper, Chalmers Johnson scare tale or Bill Kristol hack fest. - EB

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