Re: [ox-en] Re: Open Money?
- From: ernie yacub <yacinfo mars.ark.com>
- Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2002 08:28:33 -0800
At 11:04 AM 1/20/2002 [PHONE NUMBER REMOVED], Stefan Merten wrote:
This question is often the first one people have when confronted with
the phenomenon of Free Software. Frankly meanwhile I have difficulties
to even understand the question. I mean if development of Free
Software is seen as a hobby, where is the difference to say painting
pictures or collecting stamps then?
So, as long as fs dev is a hobby, which means that s/he is most likely a
student, independently wealthy, or working for some globocorp like ms, s/he
can give it away for free. In any case, s/he needs money to live in THIS
world. Therefore it makes sense to use a money that is in sufficient
supply and comes back when you spend it along with as the other stuff that
flows through our communities to those who already have more than they
need. This is particularly useful if you are a starving student, an Enron
worker, and countless others who don't have enough money to live.
However, nobody poses the question "If hobby artists receive nothing
for their painting, how they are to live?". I'd be interested in
learning about the assumption which makes the one question make sense
to many people while the other doesn't.
Actually, neither makes sense to me. If fs and art is important to us, why
must they be relegated to hobbies? How about a world where artists and fs
developers are fully supported so they don't have to work for
globocorp? This is actually doable with open money.
Does this count as an answer?
> How will we all live without the means to buy the
> necessities of life?
This is of course a question which reaches (far?) into the future. And
I guess for people grown up in money-based societies this is really
difficult to imagine.
No, not difficult to imagine a mythical land of "if" where everyone grows
their own food and no-one needs software anymore and there are no cities
and the population is a minuscule fraction of what it is now spread
throughout the warm fertile regions after the great dieoff.
Free Software shows us one example where this is already happening:
You simply take what you need and make available what you like.
It seems there is considerable disagreement that what you describe is
actually what is happening.
ernie
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