What’s the best way to overthrow the current establisment and bring in a new way of doing things?
Arms?
Force?
Poetry?
Propaganda?
We should know well by now that all of the above will eventually overthrow an establishment with much blood, strife and turmoil. But it will never bring in a new way of doing things.
Most revolution, war and even personal conflict revolves around one simple thing, wealth.
Side A has the coveted object (land, money, women, etc.) and Side B wants it. Side B’s desire of the coveted object only reinforces Side A’s love for it. The dispute grows and eventually the only resolution to the conflict seems to be for Side A and Side B to fight for it to the death or humiliation of the opponent.
But there’s another means of settling the dispute which is often forgotten. If by some means one could duplicate the coveted object, the wealth, then both parties would have nothing to squable over. In fact, by duplicating the coveted objected you will have essentially removed it’s value.
The real value in wealth (aside from basic nutrition and clothing) is not the good that it provides for the owner but rather the coveting of the neighbor it brings. This coveting provides the owner with a sense of identity. Thus it is the case that while Gold has nearly no practical value it has been the source of death and destruction between human beings for millenia. To have gold in the middle of the desert means nothing. To have Gold in society where everyone knows and respects you as the “haver of Gold” is very valuable!
And so it is that most revolutions simply shift wealth around. Capitalist revolution says that the individual can “own” what they manage to get their hands on by whichever means is socially acceptable. Socialist revolution takes the individual wealth, and by force spreads it around to others. Totalitarian/Dictator revolutions are Capitalist revolutions without a broad social concensus to disallow the brutal activities of the dictator. A Monarchy is also Capitalism mixed with some form of religious belief which helps to keep the king as the owner of all the goods in the society (the God’s deem him the owner… who are we to argue with them?).
What would a truly revolutionary overthrow of the current institutions and powers be then? It would be the institution of a rule of order in which wealth is created and freely used by all. It’s not communism… it’s open source ism! If we are all entitled to profit from the collective resources of the community, but none are entitled to own them then we have a group of people in which identity can not be found in what is owned. Identity as found in what we own is and has been the rule of the day amongst humans since the dawn of time.
It’s true that some resources are limited, oil will eventually run out. But oil is not wealth because it has no value by itself unless it provides identity like Gold does. Rather it is the automobile that is wealth because it can provide a needed service, transportation.
Just imagine if all facets of automotive technology were open source! Seat belts wouldn’t have taken 40 years to be standard equipment. We’d have a readily available vehicle that got 500 miles to the gallon of Gasoline. Everyone would have as many cars as were needed and they’d only cost what the raw input of materials cost. And since iron and therefore steel is one of the most abundant elements on earth, it wouldn’t be that much.
In other words, we’d have an incredibly wealthy and efficient society. The downside is that few would be much wealthier than their neighbors. The only differentiating factor between people in an open source world is each person’s natural gifts and skills.
So you want to start a revolution? Join the open-source movement. The more wealth we can create that no one can own the rights to the better!
