Let’s talk about open-source software. I expect it’s a common topic in your circles.
No? OK, let’s talk about how we can make the world, or our community, or even our household a better place. Oddly, it’s the same conversation as that obscure software thing.
Sheep are not like ideas.
The cultural commons,
particularly software,
doesn’t get used up
when more people contribute to it.
In fact, it gets better.
– Seth Godin
Seth’s launching point was the tragedy of the commons, a phenomenon where it seems to make sense at the individual level to use more than our fair share of a common, unpriced resource. If lots of folks do it–or even if a few people do it excessively–the commons can be ruined. Then he contrasts the physical commons with the cultural commons.
Sheep are not like ideas.
