Written history goes back about 5000 years, during most of this time it was perfectly acceptable to manually copy anothers words and disseminate the knowledge to whomever you so chose. There were of course various people and institutions throughout this history that did not want their words to be copied and distributed. One reason that kept popping up was the idea of a dangerously educated populace, and the fear of this populace recognizing the absurdity of their leader's actions, causing the populace to simply walk right over them.
But for the most part, copying books by hand was a labor intensive process throughout the history of the word, and access to the word was a constant problem. The best books were kept in the best places. Libraries, where books could be read and occasionally lent out to individuals and other libraries.
These libraries, while offering a central place for the word to be accessed, also allowed for the word's eradication by those who wished to diminish the power of the word, the burning and destruction of various large and influential libraries throughout history, the regression of human progress by an unknown amount of time and the loss of knowledge this destruction caused. These are defining reasons for the complete decentralization of all knowledge and the free dissemination of the word.
We are at the dawn of a new age, a technological society that is still afraid of the technology that it possesses. To fully embrace and make use of our new tools, we need to abandon the shackles that tie us to the conceptions of the past.
The word in an electronic format, no linger hindered by the weight of stone, the word can be written by anyone, and shared with everyone. Because it can be, so it will be.
The magnitude of this shift will be severe. Systems that hold onto the past will crumble under the pressure of billions of minds that wish for unfettered access to knowledge. New modes of being will arise spontaneously from this massive thought experiment, be discussed at length and abandoned just as quickly until one ideal is realized that will be the harbinger of the new day.
Copyright?
Yes, you have the right to copy, and now the means to do so, more effectively than ever before!
