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This resonates with my own experience. It's an interesting perspective which requires a re-definition of the word 'elite'. I think the root of the problem is t

This resonates with my own experience. It's an interesting perspective which requires a re-definition of the word 'elite'. I think the root of the problem is that value creation and value capturing are independent from each other. A well-functioning economic system should be designed in such a way that the two are intertwined such that an individual cannot capture value from the system without first creating at least as much value for the system. The problem we have nowadays is that the current monetary system has created opportunities for people to capture value (in the form of fiat currency) from the system whilst not creating any new value in return (in the form of useful products and services). The monetary system has even made it possible to capture value whilst actually destroying net value from the system. As an open source developer, I got to experience the downside of this dynamic; I was able to create a lot of value but not able to capture any value in return. I know that if I had tried to capture any value back from the system, my ability to create value would have been reduced to 0 (adoption of my product would have been 0; because nobody would have paid for it; not because it doesn't add value for them, but because they needed to start using it to understand its value and they wouldn't have started using it unless it was free to begin with; simply because there is too much noise in the market place; too much cheap 'newly printed' fiat capital sloshing around advertising competitors' expensive but inferior products). The system allowed me to create value, but only on the condition that I would forfeit my ability to capture the proceeds of the value I created.

jart 5y ago
Open source isn't about value capture. It's about doing awesome things that make people happy. When you do that good things inevitably happen plus it helps if you're coming from a place of security due to how you're sharing your inner creativity to enrich the world. That's how most of the big leaps managed to happen historically. Imagine an ancient agrarian society that produces a surplus of food. People who were harvesting the fields are now sitting around bored trying to figure out what to do, so they come up with things like logic and philosophy. Some figured out how to use it to conquer the known world. Some were punished. But the thing they all shared in common is that they were wealthy in knowledge, and that's the wealth that matters most. I like to think of open source as the latest modern recreation of that pattern.
- cryptica 5y ago
  Not everyone has the luxury to engage in open source for fun. For some people, open source is the only way for them to compete with big tech and their army of marketers. It's a way to reduce margins to 0 in order to have any chance to compete.
  - jart 5y ago
    If you're in it for the buck then how are you different from them? There's a time and place to get rich and there's a time and place to have fun. Open source is where we go to have fun and help out. Not everything in this world needs an economic reason. If someone gives you software who is angry and feels like you're exploiting them, then would you want to use it?
    - cryptica 5y ago
      Money is the most important thing in life. It's always people who have money who say it's not important. But then when you ask them to give you or loan you or invest in you a tiny amount of their money, suddenly they act as if it's the most precious thing in the universe and they do this while simultaneously lecturing you about how unimportant it is. Hypocrites. Many corporate CEOs constantly shout at their staff... Open source people are the most patient people on the planet. I don't know any angry open source person so I don't understand this argument at all. It took me 10 years of open source work before I was able to experience some financial success for the first time. I didn't start doing open source for money; I did it for attention, but these days, money and attention are the same thing. So now everything I do is 100% about money. It's easier to get money than attention nowadays... Look at companies like Snap and Uber; they don't earn any money (not profits) but they're valuable because of attention.

jart 5y ago

Open source isn't about value capture. It's about doing awesome things that make people happy. When you do that good things inevitably happen plus it helps if you're coming from a place of security due to how you're sharing your inner creativity to enrich the world. That's how most of the big leaps managed to happen historically. Imagine an ancient agrarian society that produces a surplus of food. People who were harvesting the fields are now sitting around bored trying to figure out what to do, so they come up with things like logic and philosophy. Some figured out how to use it to conquer the known world. Some were punished. But the thing they all shared in common is that they were wealthy in knowledge, and that's the wealth that matters most. I like to think of open source as the latest modern recreation of that pattern.

cryptica 5y ago
Not everyone has the luxury to engage in open source for fun. For some people, open source is the only way for them to compete with big tech and their army of marketers. It's a way to reduce margins to 0 in order to have any chance to compete.
- jart 5y ago
  If you're in it for the buck then how are you different from them? There's a time and place to get rich and there's a time and place to have fun. Open source is where we go to have fun and help out. Not everything in this world needs an economic reason. If someone gives you software who is angry and feels like you're exploiting them, then would you want to use it?
  - cryptica 5y ago
    Money is the most important thing in life. It's always people who have money who say it's not important. But then when you ask them to give you or loan you or invest in you a tiny amount of their money, suddenly they act as if it's the most precious thing in the universe and they do this while simultaneously lecturing you about how unimportant it is. Hypocrites. Many corporate CEOs constantly shout at their staff... Open source people are the most patient people on the planet. I don't know any angry open source person so I don't understand this argument at all. It took me 10 years of open source work before I was able to experience some financial success for the first time. I didn't start doing open source for money; I did it for attention, but these days, money and attention are the same thing. So now everything I do is 100% about money. It's easier to get money than attention nowadays... Look at companies like Snap and Uber; they don't earn any money (not profits) but they're valuable because of attention.