The generalization of ecological production under socialist conditions can provide the ground for the overcoming of the present crises. A society of freely associated producers does not stop at its own democratization. It must, rather, insist on the freeing of all beings as its ground and goal. It overcomes thereby the imperialist impulse both subjectively and objectively.
Sounds like the open source movement, doesn’t it. “Freely associated” groups come together to learn and share with each other, adopting the common core for their own needs, then giving it back to all without undue concern for the narrow self-interest of the profit motive. Would this not be a vastly saner and more sustainable economic system?
Before you say, well, that’s unworkable, consider this. The vast bulk of web servers on the planet already run open source software (Apache, MySQL, php, etc.) as does this blog (WordPress,) and I’d say they do a far better job of it than proprietary for-profit software.
Imagine if open source became the model for all business. You bet we could solve global warming quickly.
