That's how the political-economic philosophies developed over the latter part of the 19th century and the 20th century as they grappled with praxis. But the original universal credo, which Marx only later popularized and which today is still the defining aspiration of anarchists, who otherwise can't agree on much of anything else (excepting anti-statism?), was "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs". That's a darned good abstract description of the FOSS community. Though, software duplication has de minimis (if not zero) marginal cost so I'm not sure what substantive implications there are in terms of organizing traditional industries or regarding the basic efficacy of currency-denominated price signaling in such industries.
Re:The strange economics of open-source software (2015)
by wahern on Friday January 22, 2021 @07:27PM
(#25878203)
> I don’t think that’s true. Socialism tends to focus on socializing control of the means of production, defined specifically as the physical instruments that enable but (though they experience wear) are not consumed in production.
I don’t think that’s true. Socialism tends to focus on socializing control of the means of production, defined specifically as the physical instruments that enable but (though they experience wear) are not consumed in production. Its true that Free Software ideology behind the (A)GPL can be seen as an analog to anarcho- (rather than state-) socialist ideology focussed not on the physical means of production (and whose advocates often have extremely high regard for physical property rights whether or not in means of production) but on software.
But “is analogous to a form of X different than what most people discussing X have in mind, with substantial changes in focal domain” is not the same thing as “is X in practice”.
> There’s a time and a place for everything” (You know, like that old song by “The Byrds”: “Turn!, Turn!, Turn!”)
Well, first recorded by the Limelighters, written (and also recorded early on) by Pete Seeger, and lyrics mostly attributed to King Solomon, but in any case a couple thousand years before the Byrds.
> Have innumerably benefitted and helped and advanced our Capitalist economy…
Even at the legal level, modern developed economies universally are variants of what has been called “the modern mixed economy”, which is a blend of capitalist and socialist elements (pure “capitalism” having fallen out of favor in the early-mid-20th Century.)
Its mostly still called “capitalism” because Soviet Communism became (and anchored “Socialism”, in many places, by extension as) a boogeyman lots of places not long before that, so identifying as “capitalist” against “socialists” and especially “communists” was common even among people who substantively opposed capitalism and advocated for reforms drawn directly out of socialist (and sometimes specifically Marxist Communist) ideology.