Open source has nothing to do with technology. Open source is about combating wealth inequality, and wealth inequality occurs when assets are allowed to be entirely privately owned by select few special interest groups, all the while those same private special interest groups bask in public funds. This process is enabled by quantitative easing. It results in empowering individuals and groups to behave in a rapacious manner that seeks self-aggrandizement at everyone else’s expense.
For the psychology nerds out there, this pattern of behavior would rightfully be tagged as narcissistic and psychopathic.
It is self-evident that technology practitioners are deeply uneducated on the fact that the entirety of open source has nothing to do with technology. It has everything to do with combating wealth inequality through the publicization of
assets to serve as one fail-safe in a web of other fail-safes working in perpetual solidarity.
Still, in this day in age of April 2024, there are frontline tech workers who hold all manner of job positions – end users, engineers/developers, researchers, sales/marketing - doubting the legitimacy and power of open source while using & developing on ecosystems built entirely on open source. This is nothing short of
absolute insanity and severe delusion meriting serious clinical psychological evaluation.
Fundamentally, open source has always been and will always be about combating wealth inequality by not allowing select few special interest groups mass control over assets. Since time immemorial, when any individual or group behaves
rapaciously with little to no consequence, it emboldens other individuals/groups to continue acting on self-serving behavior.
The recent acquisition of HashiCorp by IBM is yet another example of this rapacious, self-serving behavior at play – the complete privatization & domination over a publicly developed & funded asset. This is to say that IBM stole from the public by feasting on the countless unpaid labor hours used to develop an asset widely used by countless private & public businesses (and even government entities) to perform fundamental business operations. It just so happens to be that this particular asset is an asset operating in the IT sector, but it could be anywhere.
Take drug manufacturers who deploy their extreme wealth to bully lawmakers into enacting intellectual property laws preventing the manufacture of off-brand alternatives capable of doing the same thing a brand-name drug does. Or automotive manufacturers fining mechanics for manufacturing copies of piston components that are of equal or greater quality than the originals because it now doesn’t have their brand on it. Let’s not stop there. Wheelchair manufacturers who charge obscene premiums on what is essentially carbon steel used to fabricate consumer goods like microphone boom arms and decorative dresser drawer handles.
As I mentioned in my last post on "Open Source Manifesto", fencesitters who doubt/deny the existence of evil and doubt/deny the legitimacy of open source technology pose a bigger threat to the eradication of open source than malicious actors. You know exactly where malicious actors stand in their values and convictions. Fencesitters serve only to peck away at the psyche of those who genuinely do not know much about the topic at hand and those who have chosen to be in favor of open source but may not be confident in their convictions. Fencesitters are simply enablers and malicious actors can only thrive when there are truckloads of enablers of said despicable behavior.
They do this through half-truths, sweet lies, and avoidance of ever publicly taking a stance on a matter while simultaneously peacocking a false confidence intended to win people over with charisma & cult of personality.
We see this peacocking constantly by social media influencers within industrial automation. Doublespeak jargon buzzwords that are poorly defined – so much so they literally have to backpedal to redefine their own words because they cannot keep up with their own lies, conflating unalike concepts, attempting to repackage existing time-tested concepts with cool sounding names. I’m talking specifically about buzz junk like “open architecture”, “unified namespace”, and the promotion of fencesitting through doubling down on using closed source solutions without explicitly publicly supporting open source.
This fencesitting needs to stop and we need to bring back public shaming of such behavior because it is widely resulting in misleading both automation practitioners & the public on the real issue at hand.
Again, the issue at hand is complete privatization & control of assets under few special interest groups (the wealthy), who for decades have been going around using the asset price inflation of their large pool of assets to buy out other assets. This leads to wealth inequality, as this rapacious cycle will never end unless serious roadblocks are placed, namely taxes on wealth. This does not exist in USA and in many other parts of the world. Personal homes are allowed to be used as investment vehicles (assets) by corporations. Assets like x-ray machines that are required for many fundamental healthcare procedures are privatized & intentionally inflated in price.
Wealth inequality is not just about private domination of assets. Allow me to explain. Here in New York State, there are 2 government programs funded entirely by taxpayer dollars called NYSTAR and the Upstate Revitalization Initiative. As I have shown with my coverage (and will continue to do so), these 2 initiatives have failed miserably due to the non-existence of publicly released scientific/technological discoveries. This misuse of $3 billion in taxpayer money has all gone towards privatized closed source assets that primarily benefit individual corporations and none of this development has trickled down to anyone else. NYSTAR literally said so themselves that they do not have any policies mandating that the projects they fund AT LEAST be considered to be open source. There are ZERO incentives and ZERO consequences for taking taxpayer dollars and using it for your own personal gain.
Here’s where it gets worse. For all of you economics nerds out there, this robbery is called “quantitative easing”. This process sounds good in theory, where the government prints money under the auspices to stimulate the economy. In reality, these funds only pad the pockets of a select few, turning public investments into private wealth without benefiting the broader populace.
Basically, there is a pool of over $3 billion in funds. The treasury prints money and the government borrows money to be the executor of said finances. You and I did not receive this $3 billion, THEREFORE WE ARE NOW BOTH OVER $3 BILLION. Except in this case, it is not just this hypothetical duo of you (the reader) and me (the author). It is society at large, with New York State having the top 5 highest population count in all of America. Therefore, we are talking about tens of millions of people suffering as victims due to this clear criminality of sending public funds directly into private pockets to line the asset portfolio of a special few interest groups.
Quantitative easing is counterproductive. Government keeps going down this path because the people who benefit from it are in government & cronies with government officials. This is why Rockwell, Siemens, Schneider, Emerson, SAP, Apple, stick VERY closely to intellectual property lawyers using a propaganda machine to lobby against consumer protections, right to repair, and ultimately open source as a whole. They justify this predatory behavior on the basis of GDP rising, and therefore give no craps about the uneven distribution
Number go up, therefore good!!!!
I can already hear people saying “bUt eNri, wE LiVE iN uSa, uNfeTTereD CAPiTaliSm GOod“!
No, this uneven distribution allows the mega wealthy to continue buying assets to drive your family from your homes, aspiring businesses out of potential customers because they bought up market share through the shilling of proprietary closed source solutions, or in the case of IBM just outright bought & privatized the existing open source asset.
Like many researchers, I’ve had to pay fees to publish in journals like IEEE, only to see my work locked behind paywalls, inaccessible to many who could benefit from it. Knowledge should not be privatized and allowed to be transformed into an asset. Scientific and technological discoveries should never be assets to befall private control.
It is very telling to have the entirety of industrial automation to continue arguing over how badly they want to be screwed – with or without lube.
It doesn’t have to be this way. There is a better option and I absolutely promise you that it does work. What is this secret sauce?
Oscillating your vocal chords to take a clear & explicit stance in support of open source and against private domination of assets. Have conversations with fellow technology practitioners, stage public demonstrations, write & call politicians, write & call to corporations, talk to your neighbors, demand academic figures from colleges (especially public ones) to take a stance, conduct investigative research to serve as a watchdog.
Anyone can do it, you don’t need someone else dictating to you that “it’s within scope” or that it’s an acceptable opinion to have. Have a stance and argue it – don't be a fencesitter and try to play both sides. You absolutely will lose everyone.
No one is coming to save industrial automation. Popular social media influencers from the giant corporate realm & the self-proclaimed “independent” integrator will not save you. Government will not save you. Industry associations absolutely hate you and will never save you. A benevolent billionaire will not save you.
Your only salvation is to take a stand and exercise the power of your voice by sharing your personal story of frustration, the unnecessary suffering & struggles you’ve experienced at the heavy hand of “quantitative easing”, and why you support open source.
Speak up and help educate other fellow practitioners & the public on the importance & nuance of open source & privatization of assets under the control of a select few special interest groups. This is what activism and building solidarity looks like.
This is the way forward. To normalize speaking out and do so consistently. Get away from cults of personality & tribalism. We are all already damned if we do and damned if we don’t, so you might as well try. I absolutely can personally guarantee you it will get far worse if we individually & collectively do NOT directly stand FOR open source & bring it to the public mainstream through the lens of economics. That’s because open source has always been about combating wealth inequality and domination of assets by a select few special interest groups.
Industrial automation and progress in humanity at large absolutely depend on fearless activism in support of open source. It’s not about being right or being a self-proclaimed god-tier programmer. It’s about having the guts to take a stand and fight for it, even if everyone else may not be doing it. Let's turn our collective frustrations into a catalyst for change. Join me in this fight, not just to speak up, but to act. Together, we can reshape the future of technology and society. Stay engaged, stay vocal, and yes, we will discuss more in our next conversation.
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Link To My Article On Open Source Manifesto
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