[p2p-research] Repurposing Profit for User Freedom

[Ryan Lanham]

On Tue, Jan 19, 2010 at 2:16 PM, Patrick Anderson <agnucius at gmail.com>wrote:

> Samuel Rose wrote:
> > One problem in the real world is that of trust. How do project
> > participants know they are not pre-purchasing "vaporware"?
>
>
> Yes, this is a problem for any small organization...
>
>
> But Co-Ownership is important too.
> Let's share fields and factories.
>
> Co-Ownership is one way to hold physical sources.
> Access to these is required to control our objectives.
>
> Co-Ownership is complicated but it's not impossible.
> It is what the Capitalists are doing against us already!
>
> But they do it wrong when they treat profit as reward.
> Because this incents scarcity, destruction, even war.
>

There are already large numbers of ways to do this.  Foundations, co-ops,
governments, trusts, etc.

If the argument is against profit as reward, you will lose.  No one wants to
hear that in the mainstreams of societies.  No one has ever really believed
that innovation and quality ought not to be rewarded for those who seek
rewards.  The attempt to norm societies away from that is utopian and
futile.

Technology can make profit extremely difficult--hard to achieve...and that
has the same effect.  The moral argument against profit is a non-starter.
The technological approach to not preserving profit is the P2P way forward.
It is happening whether we want it to or not.  It is a fact of history.
There is no need for political will.  What is needed is more technology
evolving faster and faster.  Ownership then becomes moot.
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