share the wealth >> by stephen van esch >> *spark-online9.0

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sharing the wealth

by stephen van esch

If the Internet is good for one thing, it's making corporations dance around like they're standing on hot coals. Ever since the average citizen of the world could slap up a homepage and criticize any corporation they want to, things have never been the same.

With the advent of MP3s, the recent re-broadcasting of network TV shows over the Net by iCrave, and the Linux groundswell cum tsunami, the coals have just gotten hotter. Pity the poor lawyers that are battling the brush fires and forest fires all over the web as corporations try (vainly I feel) to protect their work. Take a look at the eToys debacle of this past Christmas to get a peek at what the future may bring.

With the lawsuits flying fast and furious these days, I started thinking that all of this could be laid to rest if people would just learn to share.

What's that? Share? I don't understand.

Simple; it would be terribly nice, friendly and socially acceptable to share all of the stuff that is currently being "stolen". Personally, I find the hoarding mentality a bit, well, primitive.

The notion of controlling everything that we produce or pay to have produced seems a bit quaint. Why not share the wealth? Why not produce things and place them on the market without any price tags? See something you like? Take it. No charge, no hassle. Just pick it up and go.

We'd all still work, though. We've got to produce these objects that are free, right? We've got to keep the system that produces these objects, right? This way we still work and find some fulfillment through work but are freed from the chains of always trying to find a way to get more and more.

Of course, the need to accumulate is just another extension of the primitive need to prove power over others through material things. That's an entirely other story, though.

To make the sharing system work, we'd have to abolish money. No need to buy, not need for money, get it?

Already I can hear people tearing this argument apart. How will people "get ahead"? How will people lord over others their prestige, power and money? What will motivate people to work?

The logical response to the first two questions is that they won't do these things anymore. Terrible as it sounds to pretty much anyone on the planet, I think we can do without these things. Why not simply enjoy the life you have instead of running after something like a BMW to fulfill a perceived need? As for motivation, people already have motivation to pursue hobbies and interests. Why not just do what interests you the most full time? You're happy, you're work is better because you love to do it and society enjoys the fruit of your labours.

The Internet, I believe, is just one small cog in the machine that will drive humanity from a consumer/acquisition culture to a more open, sharing community. Some examples are already visible in collaborative software projects, the sharing of music, and even the essays and articles that you see here on *spark-online. Information on the web is traded freely for the goal of greater good.

I don't harbour any illusions that this will occur overnight. Massive changes in the human psyche must take place first. I do believe that it will happen, though.

Welcome to the 21st century. Evolve and join the party.

Stephen Van Esch is a writer and instructional designer living near Toronto, Canada. He is the owner and CEO of the Text Pound.