Re: [OS:N:] IP - Was: Questionaire about ...
"M. Fioretti" <[email protected]>
| Newsgroups | gmane.org.open-source-now |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
(the real comment is at the end and on topic, please be a bit patient) On Thu, Aug 14, 2003 08:31:34 at 08:31:34AM -0400, Greg Ackerson ([email protected]) wrote: > Sorry if this is a bit off-topic, but the way I look at it (and a lot of > industry talking heads feel the same way, at least about America) is that > we're headed toward a services-only oriented society. Correct. Writing valuable stuff (be it manuals or poems) is a very valuable service, and the *author*, not the greasy impersonal amoral corporation for heaven's sake should be the only one to decide how every piece goes: for Free or to afford an average lifestyle without making night shifts too. [snip] > I firmly believe we aren't too far away from a technological > revolution [...] > In this future age the only value will be service. And you'll have so much > free time, you'll be able to generate all the content you want pro bono. In the seventies I and a lot of adults I knew then believed sincerely that before the turn of century we would drive hydrogen cars, have Mars already colonized, and a paperless office thanks to computers. Frankly, I put this belief of yours in the same shelf with these others: I hope for it too, but see it centuries away. Even if *all* the necessary technology were here today or next year, which is already a huge leap of faith, it would still take quite some generations because humans (common people, not bilionaires) should adjust to it first. There is an awfully big lot of people today who would go postal if they were told "you have the whole day free, all days". They were trained from the cradle to identify themselves with work, career, etc... In any case, this is irrelevant. A society like that, with billions of people free all day to fill the web, would need capable writers, directly and properly compensated, even more. We may evolve to the point where food energy and shelter won't be scarce for anybody, but there will always be scarcity of good ideas, synthesis and analysis capabilities, and ability to explain things clearly. I dare you to challenge that. Ciao, Marco Fioretti -- Marco Fioretti m.fioretti, at the server inwind.it Red Hat for low memory http://www.rule-project.org/en/ Preserve the old, but know the new. _______________________________________________ Subscription and Archive: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/open-source-now-list/ - For K12OS technical help join K12OSN: <https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/k12osn>