Free Geeks not Freemasons
(About Free Geeks not Freemasons) This text below was written by Kathey Sutter, and was her best sense of the truth at the time it was written (Summer 2009), but has not been submitted to the larger Portland Free Geek community for any kind of review or approval. --ks 21:19, 30 July 2009 (UTC)
What are the differences between a Free Geek and a Freemason?
Free Masonry is made up of secret societies. Free Geeks aspire to transparent collaboration.
Free Masons base themselves on a supposed history of autonomous masons. Free Geeks base themselves on a recent history of unemployed techies.
Free Masons might be completely different from what they say they are (because they are secretive). Free Geeks might be largely different from what they say they are (because they are nerds, or etc.).
What's free?
But probably the "free" in freemason is the same kind of freedom in the "free" of freegeek. One is about liberated craftsmen, and the other is about liberated techies. Freedom to think for one's self, freedom to think things out together with like-minded, and differently minded collaborators, and the freedom to apply oneself to one's work with commitment and curiosity. This sense of freedom comes from ideas of democracy, and more specifically in Free Geek's case, from the Free Software Movement. Free Geek is committed to democratic governance. Democracy is also an important part of the free software movement. For example, the definition of free software published by the Free Software Foundation in February 1986 had two points:
"The word "free" in our name does not refer to price; it refers to freedom. First, the freedom to copy a program and redistribute it to your neighbors, so that they can use it as well as you. Second, the freedom to change a program, so that you can control it instead of it controlling you; for this, the source code must be made available to you."
Free Geek is committed to transparent collaboration for the same reasons that democracies require freedom of association and freedom of information and freedom to pursue one's own interests. To use a technological comparison, imagine if you had a machine in your house controlled by others, and you were not allowed to control this machine yourself, (not just unskilled or uneducated, but not allowed. The smarts on this machine in your home belongs to and is in the control of others.) That is only be possible in a world where their is secrecy in computer and software design, and (many would say) Free Geeks consider this trend a threat to democracy. Being part of a community-based Free Geek organization is one way to help your community take control of its own resources. Free Geeks help organize community interests to both protect the environment and add value to the resources flowing through it. All of this is a social enterprize, and Free Geek facilitates community members coming together in ways that perpetuate and improve their abilities to work together for the common good. This is one goal of Free Geek's democratic governance.