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Infosocialism was originally a fictional philosophy created by David Pulver, Jon F. Zeigler and Sean Punch for the Transhuman Space role-playing game. However, it has found some real-world adherents.
Infosocialism posits that information and ideas are the primary means of production. It holds that copyright laws are immoral and that all intellectual property rights should be owned by one entity, usually a government or a private organisation (such as the Free Software Foundation).
Ideological foundation
The core of the ideology is that information is very different from material goods in that it can be given away without the former holder losing anything. And since information can be used for the good of humanity no one should be able to claim the rights to an idea. Simply put - if someone figures out a cure for cancer, every cancer patient has the right to it.
In an ideal world, every idea would belong to humanity as a whole. Since this is impossible as it is an infosocialist would argue that ideas should be owned by the government or an overreaching entity that could make sure that anyone got the info they needed. This same entity would also pay the thinkers who come up with the ideas/write the songs/write the thesises.
See also
External links
- Thread on SJ Games (makers of Transhuman Space) discussion board - mentions this entry, but also includes comments from one of the makers of the concept.
- Fan-created logo.
- Thread at revolutionaryleft.com - poster asks if "anyone here takes the ideas of infosocialism seriously" - generally gets a positive response.
"Infosocialism"