Support creation of Mars First! virtual world

galiel · 2004-02-09 15:04:48

Public Interest Entertainment Corporation, [http://www.piecorp.org/]http://www.piecorp.org/ , is a new nonprofit creative studio that uses the technology of online computer games to develop and support large-scale, socially-constructive virtual worlds. Our first project is "Mars First!", a 3D virtual world that realistically simulates a new human colony on Mars in the latter half of this century. In Mars First!, online participants from around the world will work together to meet the challenges of building a sustainable democratic society in a new "New World".

Mars First! is designed to provide an immersive experiential learning environment where participants learn-by-doing civics, non-violent conflict resolution, and critical thinking.

Designed in consultation with space scientists and experts in the fields of architecture, public policy, psychology, sociology, economics and art, Mars First! is a realistic extrapolation of future trends in human society and will foster public enthusiasm for science education in general, and peaceful exploration and exploitation of space in particular.

A third mission of Mars First! is to generate significant subscription income to support other nonprofits working in our areas of interest. Our plan calls for our projects to become quickly self-supporting after launch, and then to serve as funding engines for other worthy causes in a virtuous cycle. 100% of net income from Mars First! will be donated to nonprofits working in the fields of civics education, non-violent conflict resolution, critical thinking education, science education and space exploration.

Most of all, Mars First! will be fun! An entertaining, story-driven dramatic environment that will immerse participants in a future we all want to live.

Finally, all original code, tools and technologies developed by Public Interest Entertainment Corporation in order to realize Mars First! will be offered for free public use under Open Source and/or Creative Commons licenses. We hope to spark an explosion of creative effort as the tools and technologies required to develop and run large-scale online simulations become accessible to all.

As a nonprofit, Public Interest Entertainment Corporation ("PIECORP") relies on donations in the form of individual contributions, institutional grants and inkind donations of software and hardware. Our first task is to create a "demo", or prototype, of the Mars First! environment. We need $50,000 to complete this task, and hope to raise it in the form of direct contributions from one or more generous individuals.

PIECORP has already formed an agreement with an award-winning animation and visual effects studio, Rustmonkey Productions, to create the look-and-feel and manage production of the Mars First! demo. A prominent Boston law firm, Lucash, Gesmer & Updegrove, LLP, is providing pro bono legal assistance--their first service was to aid us in submitting our 501?3 tax-exemption application, as well as review our bylaws and articles of incorporation.

What we need now is help raising funds for the Mars First! demo. If you have any possible funding leads for us please email me directly at--pie@galiel.com. If you have any other questions, know someone you think should participate in our expert advisory panel or just need more information, you can email me as well.

To read more about this unique project, and how it will help our common cause of promoting peaceful exploration of space and Mars colonization, read our Executive Summary at [http://www.piecorp.org/]http://www.piecorp.org/

Should you be so moved, you can also make a donation directly at [http://www.piecorp/org/]http://www.piecorp/org/ , via PayPal.

Thank you for your support.

David Galiel
Executive Director
Public Interest Entertainment Corporation
"The Technology of Human Imagination"

[http://www.piecorp.org/]http://www.piecorp.org/

Bill White · 2004-02-09 15:19:25

Before the launch of NewMars, I was an active poster at the Mars Society CivCulture mailing list. David Galiel was active there as well.

My recollection of galiel is that he is enthusiastic, strong minded, and thoroughly committed to the goals described in this venture. I encourage people to check out his links.

= = =

[EDIT to ADD] - - - > My comment above was intended solely to comunicate my personal knowledge that David Galiel is a committed space advocate and Mars advocate. His active participation in prior foums was both personal and genuine, IMHO. He has strong views on a "cooperative Mars" and I very much respect his views even if I do not necessarily agree with all aspects of them.

That said, I have absolutely no personal or financial involvement with his project and I offer no opinion (as of today) either for or against helping with his fundraising goals. Money can be a sensitive subject and each of us must make our own decisions.

I do not want my comments to be misconstrued as being more than I intended.

That said, it does look like a fascinating project.

clark · 2004-02-10 06:20:18

I wonder why he wants to develop this under a non-profit corporation when the for-profit venture (in which it was originally tried) failed. The executive summary, to which his link leads to, also notes that they haven't quite yet incorporated as a non-proft entity. What are they waiting for?

Looking over everything, the concept looks sound. I got a kick out of their "Three Martian Colony" types, as it was discussed on Newmars a while back (don't worry, the names and places have been changed to protect the innocent! )

Maybe someone in the 'know' can properly explain, in laymen's terms, what the Creative Commons Liscence actually entails. I've learned that when we start signing some of these new agreements (results from this internet experience) we seem to lose some rights or privellages we may assume we still have but gave up upon signing.

"Mars First: Freeing a world without firing a shot." That should be the tag line (it will make sense if you read the executive summary).

galiel · 2004-02-10 16:49:38

Thank you for your comments, Clark. I'll try to answer all your concerns in a single post.

I wonder why he wants to develop this under a non-profit corporation when the for-profit venture (in which it was originally tried) failed. The executive summary, to which his link leads to, also notes that they haven't quite yet incorporated as a non-proft entity. What are they waiting for?

Second question first. PIECORP was incorporated as a Massachusetts nonprofit corporation on May 5, 2003. Our Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN) is 54-2112380, as can be verified on the Massachusetts Corporation Division website.

What is pending is our 501c3 status, which is the IRS designation for federal tax exemption and allows for tax deductable donations. (Incorporation is a state matter, tax-exempt status a federal matter.)

As explained on our home page, this means that current donations are NOT currently tax deductable. It also means that (since we filed our application within 15 months of incorporation as required) *if and when* the IRS grants us 501c3 status (there are no guarantees in this world), all donations from the date of our incorporation WOULD BECOME retroactively tax-deductable.

Of course, IANAL. As such, I was unable to do the complex and careful submission of the 501c3 myself, so it had to wait until we secured the pro bono legal services as noted. (I have paid for all corporate expenses to date out of my own pocket, including the $500 fee for the 501c3 application, but I cannot afford the kind of top-tier legal expertise Lucash, Gesmer & Updegrove, LLP provides us for free.)

Now, to your first question: I choose to do this as a nonprofit in order to avoid the ethical and moral contradictions inherent in trying to "make sense" while "making cents". The venture-funded way required too many compromises with those focused on profits and commercialism, risk-avoidance and copycatting, to the exclusion of all else. The language and thinking of commercial ventures is replete with "capturing market-share", "dominating the competition", "hoarding intellectual property", "exit strategies" and other warlike metaphors. I'm simply not interested in playing that zero-sum game. I'm not in this to "cash out".

What you choose to call a "failure", I choose to call...a learning experience. (Of course, it took a couple of years of perspective and therapy to look at it that way).

I choose to do what I do in order to make a difference, not in order to make someone rich - including myself. By structuring PIECORP as a non-profit, I relinquished all rights to the project and any opportunity to "profit" on the back-end as I would have in a commercial venture. No stock options, no profit-sharing, no humonguous salaries.

Our "Corporate Compass" is a document I have created that provides ethical and moral guidance to the corporation, must be signed by ALL employees, including executive managment, and is an integral part of our legal charter--it can only be revised by vote of the board of directors, of which I am NOT a member.

Among other things, the Compass specifies that the highest paid executive in PIECORP will *never* earn more than 5 times *in total compensation* what the lowest paid full-time salaried employee will earn. It's a better ratio than the last Ben and Jerry's formula (7 to1), which they have since abandoned entirely. This is compared with the average corporate CEO who earns more than 400 times the *average* worker in the same corporation.)

Looking over everything, the concept looks sound. I got a kick out of their "Three Martian Colony" types, as it was discussed on Newmars a while back (don't worry, the names and places have been changed to protect the innocent! )

I must admit to ignorance regarding past discussions on this topic in New Mars--I've been too busy getting this off the ground The Mars First! concept, including the three colonies with different socio-political, economic and cultural roots, is over five years old, for what that's worth. The basic 3-group idea is nothing more than paper-rock-scissors, and is as old as the oldest game and as common as can be.

Maybe someone in the 'know' can properly explain, in laymen's terms, what the Creative Commons Liscence actually entails. I've learned that when we start signing some of these new agreements (results from this internet experience) we seem to lose some rights or privellages we may assume we still have but gave up upon signing.

The Creative Commons licenses were created in order to fix what is broken with our current copyright system. Creative Commons allow authors to offer their creations for public use while retaining credit as author and protecting their creations from being grabbed by corporations and turned proprietary.

Creative Commons was founded by Prof. Lawrence Lessig, Eric Eldred and others. The Creative Commons licenses are written in plain English and are a nonprofit labor of love, freely offered by people dedicated to making IP better. You can learn all about it at: [http://www.creativecommons.org/]http://www.creativecommons.org/.

"Mars First: Freeing a world without firing a shot." That should be the tag line (it will make sense if you read the executive summary).

We'll take it into consideration.

Skepticism is welcome and a good thing. As a rational thinker, I value skepticism as an essential tool in the critical thinking "toolkit". Cynicism is another matter, and is overwhelming our civilization with alarming rapidity, along with its pathological twin, apathy. I hope to encourage skepticism and critical thinking while avoiding cynicism and apathy.

In a world where everything is either monetized or considered irrelevant, a message like ours sounds unusual. That is unfortunate, because all I am doing is attempting to approach each and every decision, consciously and thoughtfully, from the standpoint of how it makes a difference. It is nothing less, IMO, than we all should try to do in everything we do.

Poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko said,
"One day posterity will remember,
this strange era, these strange times,
when ordinary common honesty was called courage."

I don't think there is anything courageous in deciding to do what's right, and then doing it. It should be standard operating procedure for all of us. The fact that it sounds so odd is more a comment on our times than a comment on the principle. I can hardly imagine doing anything less. As I like to say,
"If it doesn't make a difference, what's the point?"

Thank you for your comments and feel free to contact me with any other questions at--pieATgalielDOTcom

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#1 2004-02-09 15:04:48

Re: Support creation of Mars First! virtual world

#2 2004-02-09 15:19:25

Re: Support creation of Mars First! virtual world

#3 2004-02-10 06:20:18

Re: Support creation of Mars First! virtual world

#4 2004-02-10 16:49:38

Re: Support creation of Mars First! virtual world

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