Hackerspace communes

There should be some kind of community dedicated to engineering. In these communities, people dedicate their lives to the pursuit of engineering, living a monastic lifestyle with other like-minded people. It is like a hackerspace or makerspace, but with more commitment, and higher standards. It is like a commune, or rather a hackerspace-commune.

Conventional hackerspaces are associated with part-time hobbyists. In hackerspace-communes, members live, eat, sleep, and work inside the hackerspace, contributing their ideas to the group and collectively produce new products. Interaction with the outside world could be handled formally through the provision of consulting work, the sale of products, or the provision of services. The hackerspace-commune presents itself as a business to the outside world, but internally, it is more like a religious order than a typical corporation. Such work provides the means of funding for the hackerspace-commune, and for its members to keep in touch with the needs of broader society.

Hackerspaces are sometimes touted for their educational value in getting hands on experience. Hackerspace-communes can provide a more intense form of education. Members mentor each other and teach each other new skills. The entire community is simultaneously an educational institution, a playground, a research laboratory, and a home. The act of making things provides inspiration and motivation to learn mathematics, science, and technology. It feeds curiosity, teaches patience, and injects value into peoples' lives.

Hackerspaces already exist. Intentional communities already exist. Why not combine them both to create a hackerspace-commune?