From the Age of Scarcity to the Age of Abundance

[TankGirl]

InfoAnarchy's erik has written a great essay Into the Age of Abundance, focusing particularly on what has happened and is happening in p2p. IMO he cuts right into the core of the content industries vs. people controversy. The technology is quickly taking us into the Age of Digital Abundance, and the old scarcity-based industries are shaking as their business and operative models are being challenged. The unlucky Napster was one of the first heralds of the coming good, giving millions a taste of what digital abundance can mean.

A good read, don't miss it!

Perhaps one of the biggest evils that government-sponsored capitalism produces is artificial scarcity. Effective drugs for treating AIDS and other deadly diseases can be produced and distributed cheaply, but they aren't. Instead, scarcity is maintained by enforcing patents internationally. Similarly, scientific and cultural information could be easily archived and distributed for free to everyone, everywhere. Instead, the "content industry", from music to movie to book publishers, is trying to maintain (and increase) scarcity by lobbying for mandatory copy prevention mechanisms, flooding the market with incompatible storage devices, and demanding harsh punishment for the millions who violate its idea of "intellectual property".

The war on (some) drugs, primarily fought by the United States, is currently the biggest motor of the booming prison industry, and has led to more death and suffering than the drugs it pretends to fight. But if the billion-dollar-heavy oligarchy of content producers has its way, the ongoing war on sharing may well put thousands of "pirates" of all ages behind bars. The coming information economy with its lack of scarcity is shaking the very foundation of capitalism (or at least perceived that way), and the old industries aren't willing to adapt -- they'd rather keep us all in chains to preserve their empires. They seek power and control, not progress.

- tg