Economic Event Horizon

America decries the labor shift to third world countries; worries that work-minded immigrants will impede our economy, cut down n jobs for "true" Americans. Based on our present structure these may be cause for concern. But the problem is not these changes, it's our inability to change, to adapt to a world where past models must be surpassed. Luckily we already posses all the faculties for forward movement. They're in us, literally. Intellect is our most viable economic good - it never dries up, the more of it [people] the better, "it offers not diminishing returns, but increasing returns." (Rise of the Creative Class; Richard Florida).

The concept of intellect as a central and essential element of economy falls under what is called the New Growth Theory. Intellectual property is here at the economic forefront. The shift towards this model has begun, as evidenced by the ever massive number of arguments and litigations regarding the ownership of ideas. While these are inarguably important (credit should be given where due), they create risk by impeding creativity. Lawrence Lessing, a Stanford University law professor has argued that, "our penchant for overprotecting and overlitigating intellectual property may well serve to constrain and limit the creative impulse." (Rise of the Creative Class; Richard Florida). Creativity seems best to flourish where ownership is not an issue, or less so one. Bloggers, youtube posters, factory workers all put forth creativity that may (or may not) be attributed to them, but, regardless, is not "owned" in a patent or copyright sense. These three categories may seem disjointed. They are not. Bloggers blog to put their ideas into the world. Most create not for money, but for the sake of creating, to generate ideas, or share ideas that could have an impact. To stimulate their own minds. People, whether individually or as a group, create pieces explicitly for Youtube with no expectancy of monetary return. It is about the act of creation and existence of a venue in which to share creativity's results, an important impetus for creativity. Financial feedback may not be forthcoming, but views and comments are. The factory similarly creates a venue for creativity. Filled with individuals with specific knowledge it is the perfect place for an outpouring of ideas. Rote production is a model of the past. Many factories now seek individuals who are apt problem solvers and are interested not only in a paycheck, but in a place to put forth their thoughts. When factory work becomes creative, you know that there is a shift in the winds. Marx was correct, though in a way he did not realize, when he said that workers would control the means of production. We are the means of production - our intellect - and it's all ours.

Elements of acceptance, of moving beyond our outmoded economic model are underway. Open source opens the boundaries of intellectual property, acknowledges and utilizes the notion that while one mind or a closed group is good, the many are better. A passive form of open source that has become familiar to most is Wikipedia. The idea involves multiple individuals building an informational database. Each person adds information of which they have special knowledge. No one person knows it all. It is the collection that creates the contents of a massive, multi-layered encyclopedia. Similarly there are design-oriented open-source sites. These function in various ways. A designer can post a finished design, with directions for construction, allowing any individual to use the design, no money down, or ever owed to the creator. To another end a designer can post a concept or partially planned product. Others can then help evolve the concept utilizing their specific expertise, be they an engineer, interior designer, house wife, garbage man, barista, and so it goes. No single person owns the design. It is the brainchild of all and better for it, created from multiple perspectives. Realizing the potential of such a model makes what we presently have seem crippled.

Despite the unlimited possibilities presented by this model and other like it, they bring forth many questions and unknowns. How are individuals compensated for their work? As we live in a world of corporations how do we begin such a massive shift? How are returns on products distributed? If government form follows economic model, how does such a shift affect the future political landscape? If democracy and capitalism are linked (and this is assuming that they are), does a model more closely linked to open source lead to ... socialism or an altered or more true form of democracy? These are big questions and they are the ones that we need to be asking, not  out of the fear that our present model isn't succeeding, but because of the positive possibilities for the future if we allow ourselves to evolve. To open up to new ways of working. To accept the fact that we have not hit our zenith, that this is not the only was to be, nor all that we can be.