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Sonaar Luthra

CEO / Co-Founder Water Canary Inc., Water Canary

TEDCRED 50+
TED Fellow

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If you could open-source one piece of technology, what would you choose and why?

*This Live Conversation will take place on January 18, 2012 at 3PM EST / 12PM PST

Perhaps you'd choose a feature on your favorite video game system, perhaps you'd choose a life-saving medicine, a means of transportation, a fabrication method or a communications protocol... This is an invitation to think big about what would happen if you could take things that already exist and open them up to the world.

Topics: Live Conversation Open Science colaborative innovation open source transparency
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Closing Statement from Sonaar Luthra

Thank you everyone for sharing your ideas - this was an excellent conversation.

What I find most striking as I look through the comments is how many scenarios we came up with where open sourcing existing ideas, technologies and systems could promote both efficiency and a better quality of life/social welfare, instead of requiring any compromise between them.

The benefits of open source scientific research can both eliminate waste in bringing more resources to bear on solving problems and developing cures to diseases, while simultaneously making the benefits of those solutions more accessible for everyone. Open agriculture won't just lead to better, sustainable ways to grow food, but systems that allow more people to get out of poverty. And opening up educational resources - like the "dyslexie" font that Kristine O'Connor-delgado mentioned - can both improve the way we teach and learn as well as dramatically increase how many people receive an education.

I'm particularly excited to see where the projects we discussed go from here - please keep us all posted. Thank you for participating!

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    Tim Pastoor

    • +1
    Jan 19 2012: At the last minute (been thinking about the primary open source project I'd love to see at this moment, so beside "the Government"...):

    I'd love to see an open source social network.
    I'd love to see an alternative to facebook.
    I'd love to see an alternative to sharing my (personal/business) info with friends and others without other people making a profit out of it.
    I'd love to see people coming together and work on this project.

    Problem is, in my humble opinion, that most projects which currently exist are still to immature to meet my demands that I'd like to see in a social network.

    I know we can do this, I feel it's necessary.

  • Anatoli Babenia

    • 0
    Jan 19 2012: If I could open source physical laws, I'd do this for the more efficient energy source.
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    Christophe Cop 500+

    • 0
    TED AttendeeTEDx OrganizerAssociate
    Jan 19 2012: not really a technology pur sang:
    If laws could be open-source debated like wiki... then maybe a lot of administration could become more efficient and focused... they could be picked up or assisted by any politician,...
    And it would be very democratic.
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    Laura de Haan

    • 0
    Jan 19 2012: Information is here an open door. What would really make my life better, nicer?
    To open source public transportation on land...not wise economically, I know. Don't you think that the days of money and economics ruling the world are ending.The era of protection and respect can start....

  • Lac Ku

    • 0
    Jan 19 2012: I choose the Internet (if it is one piece of technology), the answear is simple, regarding the laws of evolution. Considering the nature of the living there is no such thing as "closed source". All the living creatures based on the same bricks like genes, amino-acids. If you look at those living craetures you must realise that "they" use and reuse&reuse&reuse the same bricks, if you block any of it than the whole process (the evolution) stops. The life itself will stop. Do we want it?

  • Arie Johannes de Vries

    • 0
    Jan 19 2012: i would use the communication methods on the internet to create a political party website,
    wich votes for the people voted online in the government.
    this is called direct democracy, to reach polics without politicians.

    i hope this idea would awaken most of the peoples mind about what we should do to make a better country or world, instead of awakening the power of voting for their own echo.

    we can never know, unless we try.

    one for all and all for one.
    -------

    opensourcing one technoligy, i would call; nano technology to make multiple life long products, wich couldn't break or crash for really long time.

  • Pascal Koot

    • +1
    Jan 19 2012: I'm looking for the ONE app that combines ALL my messages and communication: phone, mail, tweet, facebook, linkedIn, Skype, texting, WhatsApp, etc, etc. That would really make things easier!

  • Ian Collister

    • +2
    Jan 19 2012: The Patent and copyright system.

  • Sachinthaka Abeywardana

    • 0
    Jan 19 2012: All drugs that are deemed deadly without it. The way I see it (perhaps from an outside point of view) is that drugs have not had the same kind of advancement as software due to the fact that people do not share their "code" so freely.

    It will only prove to be a cost effective way of producing drugs, a faster advancement in the area of drugs, and of course a healthier planet.
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    Elma van Kruijssen

    • 0
    Jan 19 2012: I should say: our money system. The experts and politicians on that matter don't have innovative ideas, they try to keep everything the same as it always was (and that's what caused the problem)
    There's enough work, more than enough ideas and oppertunities, but the lack of money always seems to be the big problem!

  • Thomas Seiler

    • 0
    Jan 19 2012: I would love to say "a system for collaborative innovation and problem solving" but from one perspective that is what the Internet essentially is.

    For lack of a better dedicated system to do this, I guess the next best thing I would like to see would be a universal language for the communication of ideas. Written language certainly works, but can be inaccessible across border lines and has many other barriers to entry. I think of the abstract function of simile, metaphor and analogy where I can communicate my X by relating to your Y and am compelled to extend that function to use the rich experience of the internet and all the tools it has to offer.

    I would love to see a neuroscientist able to convey a problem to an auto mechanic in terms both understand in order to facilitate sharing of perspectives and insights.
    What if an artist had a unique insight into the patterns of the cosmos that an astrophysicist may never consider?

    I think with exposure to many domains of thought, an individuals insight into the universe expands rapidly.
    I think If we can find a way to facilitate and improve the process of understanding between diverse knowledge domains, our ability to work with each other using this budding "collaborative innovation system" will improve dramatically.

    I feel examples of these are starting to emerge with sites like TED, RSAAnimate and others and I really hope to see more diverse and innovative examples like these in the future.

    I think a great (and possibly the only) way to build such a language is with the open involvement of everyone.

  • Abhimanyu Sharma

    • 0
    Jan 19 2012: I think the software development kits; SDK's should be prided free of cost to all the interested people and more emphasis must be laid in integrating the productive part of technology: promoting its use among common people by making it cost effective, the greed of big firms should not stop the flow of technological resources in the international market..

  • CJ Printer

    • 0
    Jan 19 2012: Molecular fabrication.

    If molecular fabrication were available as open source technology & perfected to the point of becoming commonplace it could solve nearly every problem facing mankind today. Imagine having a box that could produce ANYTHING from our garbage…

  • Roy Oldham

    • 0
    Jan 19 2012: People's ideas and self expression.

    Our ideas and self expression are increasingly becoming the property of social networking sites through unfair terms of use that should be illegal.

    Would we ever have allowed the telephone system to be put in place if all users had to sign over the right to record and use all conversations to the phone company? Why do we allow this on the net?
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    Sebastien Jean-Felix

    • 0
    Jan 19 2012: I would open source all research on energy. Because I think that alternatives are out there that could help us stop a great deal of pollution. The way i see it is, if we can help the planet the planet will feed us, heal us, house us and much more.

  • Andrew Mason

    • +1
    Jan 19 2012: Few people think of agriculture as technology; however, it is the single piece of technology that put us humans on the map. Also agriculture is a field in which too many people and continents are lagging behind. I would open source agricultural research since this would have the greatest potential to quickly make an impact on global poverty and hunger in all of its forms.

    Also, the incentive to contribute would be greater since (except for GM crops) most agriculture is done by farmers and relatively smaller companies in an almost perfect market.

  • Corey Lunden

    • +1
    Jan 19 2012: Anything by Buckminster Fuller.

    I'm actually not even sure if his designs are copyrighted... I just wish they were put into practice, or that people would collaborate on them to incorporate more modern technology to his work. He was crazy innovative, I have no clue why his plans weren't put into practice.

  • Geordie MacDonald

    • +1
    Jan 19 2012: Great question: I would open source government or at least parts of it. Legislation could definitely stand to be open-sourced. I don't know exactly how it could be done, the process would have have ground rules, like Wikipedia's NPOV policy and self-corrective processes. Each bill can be iterate through hundreds of revisions, each law could leverage previous laws by reference (reusable code). Elected representatives would still vote on the bill, but the open sourcing the process of writing the bill should help us avoid making laws that are unconstitutional, short-sighted, or ill-conceived in the first place.

  • Jared Watkins

    • +1
    Jan 19 2012: In short... legislation. Require any bills passing through congress to be managed with the same sorts of revision control systems used for managing software development. All changes must be checked in and signed with someones name on the changes and the public should have read access to everything. Transparency... accountability.. and no more of these backroom deals in regard to the law.. and end the doctrine of 'pass it to see what's in it'.

  • pixels sideways

    • 0
    Jan 19 2012: Zynga games and their subliminal addictive mind control code. :-)

    On a more serious note, everything related to healthcare from research to documentation that illustrates how (and why) a hospital can get away with bililng $100 for a couple of Q-tips.

    I like what Warren Huber said -- "If medical research and care & prevention provisions were seen as vital a public service as the military or police force are (and I would argue that the health of the populace is MORE important than either), then the government (that is, the government of and by The People) should be in charge of providing it at equal investiture."

    This should also be tabled for open source (well, at the very least, some discussoin toward solutions) and that is the future of the aging baby boom gen. With limited (and dwindling) income, increasing healthcare costs, affordable housing and assisted living needs, etc., coupled along with an increasing number of children being diagnosed with Autisim, we're looking at the perfect storm of holy crap. How and who will be taking care of all these millions of people with special needs?

  • John Holmlund

    • 0
    Jan 19 2012: I would open source the printing of money. Most people, even criminals, would probably not print any because it is in their best interests to maintain the value of their currency. However, poor people would be able to use the technology to overcome poverty. The surest indication that poverty no longer exists would be that no one wants to print any more.

  • Kristine O'Connor-delgado

    • +1
    Jan 19 2012: I would open source the newly unveiled but as yet unavailable, weighted "Dyslexie" font for helping children with Dyslexia, discern similarly shaped letters since their brains can't process the sqiggles of written language the same way as most. I would open source programs like FastForWord and similar phonetic awareness training programs because despite the plethora of research which establishes Dyslexia as a neurological disorder with neural oscillation synchronization problems, I've yet to find a medical insurance plan that will assist these kids with the therapy that they need so badly. Insurance companies apparently prefer to treat the depression with which many of these kids will ultimately contend due to their struggle. I'm happy to see the innovative products targeted for the Dyslexic population, but sad that they remain out of financial reach for most children who need them.

  • Harper Mann

    • +3
    Jan 19 2012: Emphaticaly, all forms of birth control. Overpopulation is our number one world problem

  • Alex Espinoza

    • 0
    Jan 19 2012: I would open source Windows. I think at this point, if that OS could be open, it would create so much innovation just because of its ubiquity.

  • Steven Rummel

    • 0
    Jan 19 2012: Microstoft Windows, only because it is pervasive and well-known. I would hope that the ability for technically savvy people to review and compare the source code against other operating systems currently in the open source realm.

  • Jana Odesa

    • 0
    Jan 18 2012: I'd open-source all peer-review journals. In my opinion these papers are the best source of knowledge.
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    Warren Huber

    • 0
    Jan 18 2012: Yeah... maybe. But you need to have money for materials and tools.
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