Open Source Utopia

Ordered Chaos

April 26, 2022 Mathias Bolt Lesniak Episode 4
Open Source Utopia
Ordered Chaos
Show Notes Transcript

Anarchy? Far from it! More powerful forces are at play in successful open source projects.

Watch the video version on YouTube



This episode is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Created by: Mathias Bolt Lesniak
Creative advisor: Jeffrey A. “jam” McGuire

Welcome to the “Ordered Chaos” episode …… of the Open Source Utopia Podcast. Human society is built around …… moral and ethical codes. Laws and regulations that stipulate …… how we're expected to behave. If we didn't have laws, we would have chaos. But too many laws would be stifling and oppressive. Anarchy vs. authoritarianism? I think I would choose something in-between. It is easy to call open source anarchy. Anyone can do anything with the code. But, if it was anarchy, open source wouldn't work. There is no benefit in everyone …… making their own version. That's why successful, free, and open source …… projects have few laws, but are far from lawless. In addition to freedom, every open source contributor has an interest …… in making the project succeed. That is also why open source projects …… rarely split or “fork“. Responsible open source people …… do everything they can …… to keep their project together. Being a part of an open source project …… is to accept to live with disagreement …… and competing ideas. But also to trust …

… that everyone has the same goal:

Making the best product possible. This consensus-building demonstrates …… that open source is all about people. People working together. The art of making everyone feel at home …… and cherishing the compromise …… brings me to next episode's topic,

a corner stone of collaboration:

Democracy. See you next time!