Monday, February 04, 2008

Kevin Kelly -- The Technium

Long ago, I remember reading a science fiction story where aliens nearly destroy the world by dumping devices that would copy anything - a book, a flashlight, a hamburger - given an original and a pile of sand (or any other raw matter). This doesn't actually wreck the world economy... in the story...but of course it's fiction. However, given how much of the expensive parts of the world is information, the premise is no longer that far-out.

Kevin Kelly gives an excellent analysis of why free information (or even free goods) doesn't mean the end of the world.

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