Digital goods & roads to post-scarcity

The Blog

Digital products are essentially available for free and new advances in technology will make almost everything free, a Center for a Stateless Society (C4SS) writer predicts.

Commenting on the music industry, James C. Wilson wrote of Taylor Swift's letter to Apple, in which she demanded that she still be paid for her artistic works even during free trial periods offered by Apple Music to customers. While the spirit of her letter is agreeable in fighting for the rights of individual artists to get what they are due, Wilson wrote that the current trajectory of technology will inevitably make all digital products free.

Further, even real products will be made free and a post-scarcity economy will eventually emerge where everything is free as a result of further innovation. From Wilson's analysis:

The increased ability to share and discover information will only help those seeking to finance music and other creative projects do so. Furthermore, the duplication of digital content is just the beginning as advances in three dimensional printing and other technologies are now allowing us to duplicate tangible goods as well. Patents and copyrights are only going to become more unenforceable to our benefit.

The prediction aligns with similar theories including The clubof.info Blog's primary information pamphlet, Catalyst, which predicts an explosion in ubiquitous emerging technologies will overtake states and create an unprecedented era of personal freedom and erosion of power structures.

Alluding to the same inevitable explosion in popular technology, Wilson concluded, "We are on the edge of a world of plenty, and government created artificial scarcity regimes are one of the few obstacles in our way... it is time to rethink the system entirely and embrace its post-scarcity potential."

The #Trance at http://t.co/DPPTgTOklH #Transparency #Transnationalism #Transhumanism pic.twitter.com/74h0xRDCQC

— The clubof.info Blog (@ClubOfInfo) April 1, 2015

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#Keystone Pipeline is Land #Theft

James C. Wilson

The US Congress approved construction of the Keystone XL pipeline’s fourth phase on February 11, with the bill scheduled to land on president Barack Obama’s desk for a likely veto sometime after the “President’s Day” recess. Near-unanimous support for Keystone from self-proclaimed “conservatives” and “libertarians” is disappointing but unsurprising. This government land grab is just the latest example of alleged “small government” advocates abusing their power at the expense of ordinary Americans. Despite their ceaseless rhetoric about free markets and limited government on the campaign trail, most Republican legislators — and the GOP’s 2016 presidential front-runners — openly embrace such robbery once in office.

Completing Keystone requires the state to forcibly take large tracts of land from American farmers and homeowners through a process known as eminent domain.TransCanada Corporation — the company behind Keystone — has sent Texans andNebraskans threatening letters demanding they enter “negotiations” (read: Sell, at prices acceptable to TransCanada) or face legal condemnation and loss of their land. The company, with government assistance, has already stolen more than 100 tracts of land from Texans. Homeowners along the line connecting Oklahoma to Alberta are next. TransCanada also plans to use eminent domain against Oklahoma’s Sac and Fox Indian Nation, undermining tribal sovereignty and adding a new chapter to the US government’s long history of land theft from Native Americans.

In a free society, people and companies seeking to build on others’ lands must reach voluntary agreement with rightful owners. This stands in complete contrast to the approach of Transcanada and its GOP allies. Such theft gives unfair competitive advantages to its beneficiaries, greatly distorting the economy. It is no coincidence that the firms benefiting from eminent domain lobby heavily for its use. In a real free market they’d have to negotiate and compete without government favors of this kind.

The Keystone land grab illustrates how supposedly conservative and libertarian politicians violate the freedoms and property rights of others. They have become part of a corrupt, coercive system that freely uses force against ordinary people when doing so suits its purposes. Ultimately, the state corrupts even the most principled advocates of liberty who join its ranks. Replacing the current system with a society based on voluntary interaction should be our ultimate goal. Until this happens, Americans need to recognize that allowing government to give stolen land to business interests is incompatible with freedom and must be opposed.

James C. Wilson | More articles by James C. Wilson

Originally published at C4SS on 20 February 2015
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