When I download Firefox, I know the piece of software I’m about to use can be customized. I don’t mean simple interface colors and the like. I mean the ability to tinker with its behavior and completely change (decimate?) its aesthetics. The US Constitution works in the same way. One generation receives it from the generation before inheriting the ability to change or amend it. Just like my ability to make Firefox’ file menu read ‘l33t m3nu’, with enough help you could change the label ‘executive branch’ to ‘cute, furry government branch of doom.’

So goes the first aspect of Society Open Source: The expressed freedom and ability to customize anything and everything for better performance and better pleasing aesthetics.

In SOStopia, customization reigns foremost. The state’s foundation and laws express the ability to inherently change them, as per the will of the people (the sostopians). But not all is happy in SOStopia. Our little sostopians have issues with their largest corporation, S inc. Being SOStopia, they immediately begin rewriting laws to take down S inc. S inc thwarts these efforts; alas, the corporation employs many specialists with the sole job of law revision. The sostopians enrage over this.

Now the sostopians wouldn’t be in this dilemma if they hadn’t purchased S inc’s goods and services. So what options exist for the poor sostopians?

It’s true, having everything and anything expressively free for customization creates problems. With the ability to change the fundamental structure of one’s government, anarchy could ensue. I believe this problem exists only in the short term. Our little sostopians may have a problem with S inc, and they may not be able to write laws, and enforce them quick enough to bring about any improvement. However, there are other ways. Could they not boycott S inc’s products? Engage in civil disobedience? Even if it came to it, could they not forcibly bring about change? The freedom to tinker and customize leads to heightened problem solving. When you customize things, many times they break. But when they break, that encourages you to figure out how to make it better, a formidable step 2. The little sostopians see this as an opportunity to learn.

Where are the positives to such a culture of customization? Trust plays a key role. Such a culture would garnish and create trust. For an example in the technical world, look at wikipedia. If I wanted to, I could erase hundreds of pages within an hour. Although there are built in ways to correct this, that still requires the work of the community. If half of the wikipedia audience were to systematically erase the entire encyclopedia of information, it would be devastating. So why hasn’t this happened? I say it must be trust.

So how can you relate this to your own lives and community? There are countless ways to do so. I recommend making as much noise as possible to get as much information as possible from your heads of state.

I’d like to hear all of your opinions on what could be done. “But Krijali how can I do that?” Well, I’m glad you asked. You could comment to this post, discuss this essay in the wiki, or even edit it in the wiki. SOS is all about the expression of the community. So, I hand off my pen.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 16th, 2008 at 4:35 pm and is filed under aspects, government.