NA-CAP 2007: Philosophy of FOSS and OA
Matt Butcher reports on the North American Computers and Philosophy (NA-CAP) conference that had FOSS and Open Access as its two main topics.
For example, Samir Chopra and Scott Dexter, one a philosopher, the other a computer scientist, presented a paper on the so-called “Freedom-Zero Problem” with the Free Software Definition: How can one claim that it is morally responsible to mandate the unrestricted access to and use of code even in cases where this will certainly lead to harm? For example, why doesn’t the GPL forbid Free Software from being used in nuclear weaponry, or for torturing other humans? This ethically charged issue reappeared in numerous conversations throughout the conference.
Chopra & Dexter have a blog and they have just published the book Decoding Liberation: The Promise of Free and Open Source Software. Read the introduction. This is how Steven Weber thinks about the book:
In Decoding Liberation, Samir Chopra and Scott Dexter recapture and extend a part of the conversation that will ultimately be much more important than business models, patent and copyright law, or total cost of ownership for a piece of software. What does the open source model offer to political, artistic, and scientific freedom, and thus to the human enterprise of creativity beyond the guts of a computing machine? Their book is an eloquent, thoughtful, adventurous, and exciting dive into what really matters about changing the rules of code.
I hope to have time to read the book one day.
Some picks from the program:
- The Freedom Zero Problem: Free Software and the Ethical Use of Software
Samir Chopra & Scott Dexter - Acting for the Best and Acting Legitimately: Challenges Facing the Stronger Claims of the Free Software Movement
Jamie Dow - The Free, Open Source Option as Ethic
John Bork - Open Source Philosophy and “Democratic Rationalization” in Africa
Evaristus O Ekwueme - The Missing Link: Computer Ethics and Formal Methods
Darren Abramson & Lee Pike - Panel: A Skeptical Look at Wikipedia
Panelists: Tony Doyle, James Caufield, Don Fallis & Marc Meola - Web 3.0 – Tools for Co-operation? Social Philosophical Remarks on the Desirable Possible Future Development of the Internet
Wolfgang Hofkirchner
