I've always been fascinated by the civilizational miracle of free and open source software, which has been made possible by centuries of striving (and for the m

I've always been fascinated by the civilizational miracle of free and open source software, which has been made possible by centuries of striving (and for the most part, achieving) to build a world in which the creative elite is not only allowed to work on pretty much whatever they want, but incentivized, financially and culturally, to do exactly that. How do we explain the phenomenon of a culture which holds individual property rights in high esteem giving rise to a movement fundamentally opposed to the notion of intellectual property altogether? The fact that the output of the latter has been immensely useful to the former explains the continued existence of the free software movement, but it does not account for its emergence. Is it coincidental or a necessary precondition that individual rights be enshrined in law and respected by custom for miracles like free software to happen? I'm leaning toward option two, especially given the author's salient point regarding the recent actions of countries that do not value individual rights and rule of law. I would venture to guess that the vast majority of free software contributors living in such places are politically at odds with their respective governments, whether they feel at liberty to admit it or not.