forceOfHabit
Aug 24, 2017 · 1 min read

“Seize the Means of Automation.”

Sounds so old fashioned Marxian. I’ll tell you who has a great idea for an effective, modern alternative: Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation. After all, a large part of software is AI, and a large part of the software billionaire’s power come from repressive, outdated, intellectual property laws that they can use to stifle competition and secure an absurd degree of control over the speed and direction of innovation.

Stallman’s inspiration about open source software and the Gnu Public License are a way, not to seize anything, but to ensure that you, and anybody else, can read, understand, and modify the software that is so central to AI and pretty much everything else in the modern world. And it all makes sense even in our current legal and regulatory framework!

The principles behind Free/Open Source Software and the GPL are no panacea. There is not yet an equivalent for hardware. Patents are still problematic. Running big AI server farms requires massive amounts of other technology like electricity and cooling systems. Databases, and internet infrastructure and so much more remain in private hands. But still, Stallman’s ideas about intellectual property, which are currently widely (but not as widely as they need to be) in use around the world (think the Linux operating system!) are a giant step in the right direction.

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