Been thinking about this for a while for all sorts of things, from printers to computers & âsmartâ household appliances.
I remember visiting a mall in Shenzhen in the early aughts, each floor had vendors for specific cellphone components. One could essentially shop from the bottom to the top of the mall & assemble your own cellphone.
I know people in China whoâs business is struggling from all the tariff / other manipulations. Would be cool to have some kind of a brand / movement that crowdsources / matches ideas & customers.
â
Hereâs a tangentially related idea:
Challenging the âsolutionsâ of problem-reaction-solutions using specifications.
(The Spec is mightier than the Sword)
Imagine a crowdsourced platform for specifications. (I remember a platform that crowdsourced idea solutions in early 2010s, cant remember name).
âExit & Buildâ is one way to fight back, but this is arduous & expensive. A parallel option could be to build specifications, rather than actual products, and use these to challenge proposed PRS âsolutionsâ. To wake people up (lawmakers, MPs) to better alternatives & ultimately steering policy / technology in a more desirable direction.
A reputable platform containing specifications for better designed tech. Eg A better way of implementing âage verificationâ â or demonstrating how a similar outcome could be achieved without age verification. These crowd sourced / collaboratively designed specifications by people with expertise could outline a more logical, less aversive way forward, thus providing an avenue of pushback against technological & technocratic assault. The goal would be to shift technological / governance solutions in a better direction, by giving local & state legislatures / policy makers / stakeholders the ammunition & good reasons to push back, possibly even to prove âwhy bring in these expensive, unnecessary âsolutionsâ in the first place?â
And of course, these specs could also serve as ideas / templates for interested manufacturers.