Re: [ox-en] Open source vs capitalism
- From: Scott Mackinney <scominney yahoo.com>
- Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 18:59:03 -0800 (PST)
But at the moment that's far from what Free Software is. Actually the
vast majority of P2P-ed music is copyright.<<
But to the end user, its still all free. Only the cost of the
download, free to use, free to play, etc. I very rarely pay for
specific pieces of information but I have access to practically an
infinite source of it.
Though I don't believe it, software may have some special conditions
/ features other information products do not share. Works of art like
music may be an example because the product is usually not patched like
software is. But, then, this may only be the wrong way to look at it.
If you see any kind music in a bigger context, it all results on
inspiration from others. On the other hand as often pointed out
science shares a lot of principles with Free Software and if production
of goods is getting more and more scientific ("Verwissenschaftlichung")
as Marx says and which seems at least plausible to me, then the
principles of Free Software apply to most if not all of future
production.<<
When you suggest the production of goods is getting more and more
scientific I believe you are referring to the development of modern
industries based on a theory, such as chemistry, or quantam physics.
Do weak theories such as alchemy, copyright, or religous thought get
defeated when technology is used, yes. So, the inferior ideology,
which fails to provide good progress is replaced by an improved viable
alternative based on science.
"Nothing meaningful exists outside of discourse and without language
meaning could not be exchanged." - Stuart Hall
I believe the nature of free information is related to recent
developments in hardware but more importantly, the fact that software,
is a way to communicate. Simply, put a language, is something almost
everyone needs and has. Isn't it to be expected that our information
technology develops free communication channels where any and all
languages are exhanged?
Well, I don't like to grow my own food. Not now and not in forty
years. Frankly I don't understand why many of you want to go back to
basic subsistence all the time. What's bad about a super market if only
the cash desks are removed?<<
You would probably like to grow your own food if it was easy as using a
microwave. Isn't there plenty of free food in forests. What I was
suggesting was not about farming but about technology that allows food
sources to be in abundance. I want this because I dont want anyone to
profit from the provision of resources vital to me needs. In the years
to come why can't biogenetics produces orchard plants that can grow
along roadsides, or make farms 10 x more productive, or 10 x cheaper?
Aren't science developments based on a majority of people working
together in a civilised altruistic manner going to create these sort of
advances during this century?
<<Well, Free Software is *not* based on altruism. People publishing
Free Software have a range of individual interests in doing so. BTW:
Personally I think if you base a society on altruism you get nowhere.>>
I sorta feel all of society is based on a form of altruism.
The most important next step for open source would be > to provide
an unlimited and free source of clean energy. Isn't this thinking in
the tons-ideology of the industrial age? I don't know.<<
Not sure what you mean there. Could you explain that?
Sure, abundance makes things easier, but as I tried to point out, I
think scarcity is the problem. And there are lots of ways to fight
scarcity, removing limited supply being only one of them.<<
I think academics in the universities around the world had better do a
much better job quickly and I think the internet allows for this to
occur at a global level. I think the good politicians need to work
much harder. Together with the staff working for our governments, both
academics and politicians need to collaborate in a manner similiar to
the development of free software to provide the vital needs to everyone
at no cost. If not, our planet's ecology will not exist, in its
current form for too much longer. I have a radical survivalist
environmental discourse.
I do not believe any software licensing arrangements will ever work
effectively. I think it is bizarre to suggest that someone that sells
something, then has any right over the product. Information deserves
no special rights such as the GPL, or copyright. Information is not
special, its one of a number of vital resources we all need for our
surival. To create peace, my utopia we must ensure everyone has
abundant access to vital resources, like information.
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Scott Mackinney
http://www.users.bigpond.com/scottpmack
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