From: Patrick Salsbury (salsbury_at_sculptors.com)
Date: 03/20/00
Message-Id: <200003201229.EAA02751@bootstrap.sculptors.com> Subject: Re: ball connection Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2000 04:29:52 -0800 From: Patrick Salsbury <salsbury_at_sculptors.com>
>
> Patrick Salsbury wrote:
>
> > You have to think in statistical numbers to properly
> > appreciate the scale and magnitude of these houses
> > in proper production. Thus, keeping each component as
> > simple and modular as possible allows us to use
> > standard components, and perhaps farm out the
> > manufacturing to multiple companies, so we have
> > redundancy and can scale orders to the capabilities
> > of each shop, large and small. So you may have a
> > ball-end maker (or 7 of them), a strut-pipe maker
> > (or 7 of them), a hub-maker (or 7 of them), an
> > aerogel-panel maker (or 7 of them), and octet-truss
> > floor makers (or 7 of them).
>
> I like the approach you're taking here -- moving the basic parts for dome
> house manufacture into the same pre-fab realm as, say, plywood, or screws
> -- things the do-it-yourselfer would not think of trying to manufacture
> on her own. One question: who places the orders for these parts? That is,
> how do they eventually get into the hands of the homeless end-users we're
> trying to benefit? Is it going to be through the benevolence of some
> agency like Habitat for Humanity, or federally-subsidized housing, or...?
>
> (Well, I guess that was more than one question....)
>
> jmr
>
Well, I'd like to see us ("Reality Sculptors, The Company")
doing that, at least at first. As you've seen, there's going to be
enough demand to probably handle all the output that most companies
could manufacture. It's just a matter of being able to pace our
revenue so we can afford to keep buying parts...
Eventually, I'd hope to see 20-30 different companies getting
into the game, and making their own design improvements, much as we
see in the global market for autos, or computers. I suspect though
that we're going to have to demonstrate that it's a viable business,
though, and that there's lots of demand for those services.
And there's also something to be said for being early into
the game. We don't have to look to benevolent charities or rely on
government tax-supported programs. By offering different styles of
product, with different capabilities, we can meet different market
needs.
For example, the almost-spaceship autonomous house that we
sell to a rich yuppie or multi-millionaire who spent $8.4 million on his or
her last house, and wants a new toy, would probably be able to fund
thousands or tens of thousands of emergency disaster-relief shelters
made of Corrulite, and dropped into emergency zones.
The arctic or rainforest science lab and residence facility
for scientists, with fully equipped chem/bio lab and computer linkup
that we sell to a research institution, or corporation that needs to
send their people into the field, can likewise help support magnitues
more of the destitute that are currently living in rooms carved out
of mountains of garbage in the hills surrounding Mexico City, or Rio
de Janiero (sp?).
A good portion of this exercise is basic
wealth-redistribution, but not in the sense that everyone expects.
People think that those who want to make profit are heartless and
cruel. They feel that government taxation is the only way to assure
that "those rich folks" are made to pay up. But I think that if we
properly meet the needs of those rich people, in ways that others simply
can't with their standard housing/living technologies, we stand a
good chance of getting their business. And make no mistake, rich
people are often willing to spend HANDSOMELY in order to get what
they want. (Witness that $8.4 million house...)
As good designers, it's our challenge to figure out ways to give
the rich what they want, in a form they'll happily pay for, then use
that money to give the poor what they need, in a way they can afford.
In fact, selling to governments may play a big part in this. So
will selling to non-governmental organizations (NGOs). But that won't be the
only part. There are many different ways we can intersect these
problems, and all of them will yield different results.
Pat