Opportunism: How to Change the World--One Idea at a Time Review

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(More customer reviews)I have always wondered what the next economic system will be. People living in the Stone Age could not have imagined the feudal system; those living in the feudal system could not have imagined industrialization or capitalism. What will be the next evolution of economic relationships? Shraga Biran I think begins to get at this but in the end falls short.
He envisions a world were ideas can be claimed as property in their incipient state, that is, before they are transformed into a tangible product or service. This, he argues, will rightly provide the economic benefit to those who came up with the idea, rather than to those who have the deep pockets to fund them. There is something very noble and right about this - why should only those who have money or access to it be the ones to profit from a new idea? On the other hand, how would this be carried out in any pragmatic fashion?
For example, many people come up with the same idea. I have witnessed this with a suggestion box program that I recently administered. Of the 15 people who suggested the same idea, which one should get the rights to it? Also, sometimes ideas are not identical but similar. Which one of these is the one that should "count"? Finally, as when the internet became popular, and there were major land grabs for URL's, why wouldn't one person or company simply generate ideas so that they can be registered and claimed, then let the deep pockets come to them to purchase them? Again, the notion is noble, but unworkable.
I did appreciate, however, the author's exposition of how the distribution of wealth continues to get more skewed, and how this continued disparity needs to be addressed in some way. I was also impressed by his point that there are opportunities to be lost or gained in privatizing assets owned by the state, something that was done with some success in Russia, but only with result that favored those who already had assets in the US, in the selling of the cellular air waves, for example. And finally, his point about asset poverty versus income poverty is also important, the former being more important in lifting future generations from the low economic rungs.


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