Life, Labour, Tech. - 2
Why Cloning is a faulty culture ?
Any one in Info Tech, Computing Science, and Electronics know well that copying is not theft. While the copying mentioned in such culture is about the content and has a wider rational assumption of people to remix, improve, edit and re-share it with same rights. However copying a source code and re-writing it to fit the same exploitative business models is what we can call as cloning. Since the source code does not carry improvements in data, design and algorithms that support and favour working class requirements, it is no way helpful, and only promotes the existing model. Thus only reinforces oppression through exploitation.
Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.
- Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed
If source codes contributed earlier for profit sense or opened up by monopolies, don't they have their agenda inscribed in it ? Is it possible to clean up or refactor the whole ? Will it be worth of such refactoring attempt or will they be advanced by the time it is refactored ? Or is it better to develop from scratch. If so, how the scratch development will be a alternative while it is digressing to seek profit and power alone ?
Alternatives exist in such dialogues. What is an alternative ? Who does contributes for it ? Who is it made for ? How is it going to be implemented ? .... every possible question needs accountability and democracy.
How to Sense the Difference ?
An alternative thinking to clone thinking is to think critical alternatives rather than re-engineering the source code/design with the same business models that existed earlier, to only perpetuate the same inequality, profit seeking venture. We very well know that with all the 4 software freedoms, and copy left licenses we still are in the environment were Tivoization and surveillance cannot be stopped. In economic terms we call it as Vendor lock-in, Defective by Design. Because thinking an alternative is a constantly evolving phenomenon and always requires huge working class contribution & financial support to create new alternatives expanding its scope from science, to transparency, to legal instruments, to productivity, to means of production, to labour rights, to human rights..... all with the goal of progressing against oppressive and exploitative forces.
There is a reason we keep on finding several versions of capitalism such as :
There are quite several silicon valley business based movements that support the disruption just from the consumption perspective. Any economy that runs business based only on consumption will become consumer economy without giving care and importance to production side of the economy. Thus in all ways consumption based economy will not uplift, care, implement policies that are progressive for labour force which produce the goods and services for consumption.
It clearly tells us that the economy is skewed to only demand and supply is dragged oppressively towards meeting consumption. But the loop closes itself, as people who consume goods and services from one industry are producers of goods and services of another industry. This can come into understanding only when individuals and groups can see far than the consumptive addiction, far than the own industrial sector, with empathy.
Empathy with Economy
When one thinks in terms of economics alone then the thinking gets more isolated and digress towards theory and becomes prescriptive and stays intellectual without any action. On the other hand when the thinking starts to understand the importance of social relationships using empathy, then it means critical thinking is happening and the thinking individual will start to see the latent embedded social relationships of economy.
If one completely cocoons within the boundaries of economics in strict sense, then the systems of oppressions can give balancing reasons for economic efficiency, without stating any reference and reasons behind the oppression and exploitation. Thus efficiency never takes care of the social justice, let alone economic democracy. Individuals in communities, collectives, cooperatives must observe and be sensitive to caste, gender, race, religion, class oppressions and exploitations.
What Duty does Alternative has then ?
Creating an alternative is not cloning. But Clones and cloning agents can disguise as critical alternatives. Thus it is necessary to device a metric to differentiate a solution as an alternative or a clone. The metric is more abstract and generalized here. However it shall be used as a guideline to reuse in finding measurable parameters in that particular culture, social structure and economy.