This post is dedicated to the memory of Aaron Swartz.
Rolling around in my mind more and more is this idea of an open-sourced society and the feeling that it's almost around the corner. In that light, it seems that institutions and/or societies will have to crumble or fall if they don't have an 'ethical' base or one that DOES NO HARM.
There is no limitation to "do no harm", and it's not difficult. We must be willing not to be influenced by the patterns we've lived by for, perhaps, many, many centuries. We must be willing to step out of those patterns and recognize that our choices are either for the good of the planet and for the good of any entity on the planet, or they are not.
Choices, like raising and processing food (fishing, whaling), the way we are developing medicines (pharmaceutical companies), the way that we amass funds (Wall Street) or don't, the way we access information (Pay for view vs. Open Library), the way we force beliefs upon others...
Perhaps the time is here when we can now look within ourselves to determine those choices and key to that, recognize that many of our choices are made due to cultural beliefs that may hold no validity any longer. No room for dogma - or the lies we tell ourselves and each other.
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