2044

I stand before you, gentlemen and ladies, to examine the events that led to our present day. The world has changed more in the last fifty years than it has in all its Promethean origins. There are no wars, famine, or civil strife. Our illusion of perfection, punctuated by spotless, equitable cityscapes and monolithic, inoffensive skylines, seems complete, seamlessly integrated into our new worldview. We must remember that this is just an illusion, as well as the price we pay for such “perfection.”

There was a time, before many of you were born, when new products were conceived by groups of individuals. The economy thrived on these ideas, embracing the archaic ideals of “originality” and “individuality.” In essence, the creator owned his or her creation, distributing it as he or she wished. The ultimate irony of this system lies in the conception of the internet, which lead to the death of this school of thought. With the web came commonality. Suddenly, we could network the greatest minds of a time period, bringing them from their disparate locations to work on a single problem. Among the first to embrace this phenomenon were Wikipedia and Linux, forerunners to the Halls of Knowledge and Control. Open source soon became ubiquitous, easily outstripping the private sector with cheaper and better products. We started mimicking this practice in politics, industry, and entertainment. The philosophy of many minds over one became ingrained in our culture.

Finally, we took this idea to its extreme: if several minds are better than one, then all minds are better than several. This was the essence of Open Source, Open Mind, a technology that itself was peer edited. The program took opinions directly from the minds of its users, broadcasting them to a central database which would then compile the best possible amalgamate of a project from this data. Political and social strife ended as Open Mind created millions of fair and equitable plans and technologies, ensuring that the greatest benefit was presented to the collective. In this day and age, ownership has become obsolete. All people contribute to the Open Mind, and all its creations belong to the cooperative. We willingly give total control to this system, lauding the benefits while remaining blind to the dire consequences.

Although Open Mind originally created a flurry of innovations, the flood of ideas waned to a trickle as humanity began to express less and less sentiments for change. Soon, any new proposed project merely whittled down as people expressed so many conflicting viewpoints that Open Mind had no choice but to create one inoffensive to all. Thus, our present society is not one of enlightenment and virtue, but of stagnation and political correctness. The notion of artistic vision has been murdered, destroyed by the diversity of human spirit that, ironically, made open source popular. As I walk through the streets of our fair Utopia, I see none of the fierce hatred or sadness that permeated olden times, but neither do I see passionate exuberance or creativity. We, as a race, are content with our present situation, but as individuals, as man, we falter in it. You see, while freedom from strife is a luxury which Open Mind affords us, what it denies us is something far more fundamental and necessary: invention.