The Hive Vs. The Corporate Cathedral

It is obvious to many that we as a species are still in the "dark ages." Within this technological revolution we are just starting to realize the horrifying truth that we are not so far along this evolutionary path. Our current barbarisms extend to all corners of this planet. However, on the far edges of software development, an idea is emerging that has sprung into a neo-universe where the "hive" leverages dreams into eloquent resolutions.

The concept of brainstorming is not new: My earliest memory referencing the power of the "mastermind" came out of a book by Napoleon Hill that my dad asked me to read called "The Law of Success." Hill postulated that a group of like-minded individuals could massively improve their problem-solving capability to the point where it became obvious that they weren't just the sum of a collective but an exponential growth into something far more powerful, now known as the hive.

Today, from computer rooms all over this globe, open-source development is gaining momentum and at this point, it seems, winning the game. A problem domain may be abstracted by an individual with a need for a solution and thus a project emerges, progressing within the logic of the hive-mind toward some distant solution. A group of developers ever-conscious of emerging stalemates is able to fork and continue the brilliant hive's work. Community-driven solution development equates to many minds and many eyes working toward a clearly defined goal, where hidden agendas are unacceptable. In contrast, the corporate cathedral usually has financial gain and political consequence as the main driving forces behind its developmental focus, and only a handful of developers get to push toward an ultimate solution.

Imagine all systems of control relenting to an open-source style of advancement, where an open society is masterminded by the very people who benefit from it, with no bureaucracy sickening its progression. An open-source voting system (www.openvotingconsortium.org) leaves no question as to how your votes are processed. An open-source education (os4ed.com) has no hidden agenda. Curriculum could change daily based far more upon our global needs. Open-source energy research (www.tfot.info/content/view/124/71) has no patents and no way for the corporate cathedral to bury technology in pursuit of the almighty dollar.

Open-source solution development creates a future without anchors in our dark past and where an individual may freely cast possible solutions into an ever-expanding open well of problem domains, knowing that at some point there will be a brilliant solution. We are part of something greater than the sum of the human race.

Lee Hansen is owner of Dialectic Networks, Sarasota, Fla., which operates system builder Green Wise Systems and solution provider Emergency Computer Services. What's On Your Mind? Send letters to John Longwell, Executive Editor, at jlongwel@cmp.com.