Conceptually you could also apply this to work, once we 'owned' our livelihood - as farmers, millers, carpenters, ranchers - now most people 'access' work through huge corporations. This makes people vulnerable to the whims of invisible Boards who can force compliance to ideologies on others. Does the same concept apply or am I stretching?
Love this, John. It seems like this is the same line of thinking that drives much of the Crypto currency movement too (i.e., breaking away from the central dependency/middleman of the banking system). Just a little thought that came to my mind from some of the terminology you used in this article.
Aug 1, 2022Liked by Joseph O'Reilly, James O'Reilly, John Briggs
As someone who works in a library, this hits close to home. The access vs. ownership debate that John highlights is an existential threat to educational nonprofits. The average college library's greatest expense is now "renting" access to online content which the library can never truly own. Would recommend reading Brewster Kahle's article "I Set Out to Build The Next Library of Alexandria. Now I Wonder: Will There Be Libraries in 25 Years?" about the challenges facing libraries in an era of "online access." https://time.com/6108581/internet-archive-future-books/
Enslaved To Access
Conceptually you could also apply this to work, once we 'owned' our livelihood - as farmers, millers, carpenters, ranchers - now most people 'access' work through huge corporations. This makes people vulnerable to the whims of invisible Boards who can force compliance to ideologies on others. Does the same concept apply or am I stretching?
Love this, John. It seems like this is the same line of thinking that drives much of the Crypto currency movement too (i.e., breaking away from the central dependency/middleman of the banking system). Just a little thought that came to my mind from some of the terminology you used in this article.
Thanks, John. Good thoughts for young and old.
As someone who works in a library, this hits close to home. The access vs. ownership debate that John highlights is an existential threat to educational nonprofits. The average college library's greatest expense is now "renting" access to online content which the library can never truly own. Would recommend reading Brewster Kahle's article "I Set Out to Build The Next Library of Alexandria. Now I Wonder: Will There Be Libraries in 25 Years?" about the challenges facing libraries in an era of "online access." https://time.com/6108581/internet-archive-future-books/
Such a great point that we need to tread carefully with a lot of discernment and discipline.