The information revolution continued

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V. Social consequences of the IT revolution

The price of computers has been coming down. For example, a Toshiba Satellite notebook cost around $2500 in 2003, but only around $1400 in 2006. 

According to Gartner group, in the year 2005, 218 million computers were sold worldwide, which is 15% more than in the previous year. The sales of notebooks increased by around 25%, while the sales of desktop computers increased by 5.3 - 10%. Thus, we see a global spread of information technologies, with a parallel increase in mobile lifestyles.

Cheaper computers, increasing global sales mean an increase in computer literacy globally. 

Spread of general literacy, due to increasing number of books printed, was an important factor in bringing about a global capitalist revolution against the feudal system. We can expect the same to happen vis-a-vis the now decrepid world capitalist system and bureaucratically deformed former "socialist" states. 

Perhaps, a new kind of "Enlightenment" is ahead of us.

1) Private property vs. free information

A cartoon from "The Economist"

Licensed software, aimed at making a profit, is being superceded by free software. For example, Microsoft products, such as "Windows", are being replaced by a "freeware", for example Linux OS.

Shawn Fanning

Shawn Fanning, an inventor of "Napster", a music-sharing program, has been called "an Antichrist" by music companies. "The New York Times", on November 20, 2005, wrote: "Album sales are 30 percent below their level the year when Mr. Fanning let Napster loose, and 10 times as many songs are downloaded from file-sharing services as are bought from

Music sharing (source: The New York Times)

paid services like iTunes". When sales are decreasing, while music sharing is increasing, we can say that the concepts of "commodity", "deficit" and "economy" are on the way out.

People have to invent a new way to produce, which involves sharing. In "The Economy of Ideas" John Perry Barlow asks: "If our property can be infinitely reproduced and instantaneously distributed all over the planet without cost, without our knowledge, without its even leaving our possession, how can we protect it? How are we going to get paid for the work we do with our minds?" One possible answer is doing w/out money, on both sides of the issue. People should be free to use our products, but so can we use theirs. 

Sources of information that charge money are being superceded by free sources of information. One example is the rise of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. "With 45,000 registered users adding some 1,500 articles each day, Wikipedia ranks 37th as one of the most-visited sites on the Internet". According to a recent report, the standard of articles in Wikipedia is comparable to Encyclopedia Britannica. "The confirmation that the collaborative work is as accurate as well-known encyclopedias could spell problems for online pay-to-play encyclopedias, such as Britannica Online and MSN's Encarta."

Growth of Wikipedia articles

Growth of article count in Wikipedia, in different languages, is given by the graph on the right. 

Another example of "intercreativity" is Linux program. In "Copyleft vs. copyright: a Marxist critique" by Johan Söderberg, we read: "The program is the biggest and most widely recognised free software project and is of particular significance. Being an operating system, Linux is of relevance to a wide range of computer applications. And of major symbolical importance, Linux is challenging Microsoft's key product, Windows. Linux is based on the efforts of at least 3,000 major contributors of code, scattered over 90 countries and five continents. Even in the highly organised and hierarchical corporate sector, it is hard to find engineering developments comparable in size and geographical reach to that undertaken by the Linux project".