Open Source Society

Just say the words quietly to yourself: open…source….society…. A society where the inner workings of the government, the economy, every aspect of everyday life, are placed under the spotlight for every citizen to see, examine, and have an impact on.

These are my goals: to present ways you can improve your own life and the lives of your friends and family through the benefits of the open source movement; to present ways you can give back to the movement through your own ideas, labor, or financial support; to present ways you can have a positive impact on other aspects of your life completely unrelated to technology through the use of an open source philosophy; to create a movement hellbent on remaking the world into a more cooperative, friendly, honest, and above all equitable place to live, work, and play.

I believe in meritocracy and that individuals or groups who contribute to the community should be rewarded based on the value of their contribution. I think the type and manner of contributions our society currently values and rewards the most are grossly out of line with the survival and prosperity of humanity and the structures we collectively call modern civilization. I believe we need to shift our fundamental priorities and values to reflect a cooperative spirit, not a spirit of perpetual conflict and antagonism. I also believe we need to reward individuals who do work vital to the existence of our society on a higher scale than individuals who perform little if any constructive labor and who may in fact be contributing to the deterioration of our community. To put it simply, your garbage man should make more money than your stock broker, the farmer more than the day trader, the truck driver more than the real estate broker, the civil engineer more than the football player.

I think the community as a body of individuals should take it upon themselves to ensure that this happens, instead of relying on the mysterious and demonstrably inept forces of free markets to determine their values for them at random. A community which only values that which brings in the most profit, has really declared its value to be wealth itself, otherwise known as greed. I do not accept the arguments of those who say greed can be steered towards good ends. Greed must be restrained and discouraged by the community, or the community will destroyed by it. There are countless examples of this throughout history.

This blog is not only a source of knowledge and entertainment, it is a call to everyone to look for ways to create a superstructure of cooperation on top of, around, and underneath the existing structures in your community, so that which ails us can rot away and leave only the good behind.