I think humanity is in dangerous territory in respect of the ever-increasing concentration of money, therein power, in consequence of companies, such as Facebook, “shamelessly” [to quote the BBC] avoiding tax via offshore holding companies.
Individuals tend to dislike paying taxes, because it’s often hard for them to see where their contribution goes. However, wherever it goes, ultimately, tax is, at least hypothetically, democratic, wherein voters have a say in how much they pay, and have capacity to influence where it goes.
However, when money, therein power, is pooled into the hands of the few, not the many, we approach a Nero-esque scenario, in which the likes of Facebook executives have influence disproportionate to their experience, and worse still, influence that is undemocratic.
Historically, corporations were, to a lesser or greater extent, held accountable to their customers. However, some major tech corporations, and again, Facebook is a prime example, have positioned themselves such that they are so integral, so embedded into society at large, as for it to be increasingly difficult for citizens to abandon their platforms – and not least when there’s no decent competition.
Currently, there’s a monopoly – a monopoly of global proportions. A monopoly of such massive scale as to not only present dangers to citizens through the extent of the data held – and held in the naive belief that the organisations concerned can prevent against the abuse of that data, but with that, a monopoly as perverts global economics.
I think there are several really important aspects to developing of Open Source platforms, but that the foremost need is the creation of choice, such that Silicon Valley’s idea of what good looks like isn’t imposed on the rest of us.
I think the case for open source platforms is going to strengthen in 2016, and I think it’s a great time for you to be looking at the possibility the project as forwarded.
RELATED:
Silicon Valley tech firms exacerbating income inequality, World Bank warns
See Especially:
The Future: Recent “Core” Work by Robert Steele
See Also:
Open Source Everything @ Phi Beta Iota
