[ Thanks to steve
hill for this link. ]
“Taking it back from the man?
“I wrote an article some time time ago about applying the
principles of free software and the rules and spirit of the GPL to
DIY biology. At a time when big science is increasingly funded by
corporations and governments it was good to report that private
citizens were doing their own tool-shed science and doing it under
the protective umbrella of the GPL. Science that is not in thrall
to such bodies or their restrictive patents and claims to
intellectual property rights is a good thing both in principle and
practice.“Why? Because, as Douglas Rushkoff points out in Life Inc: How
the World Became a Corporation and How to take it Back modern
corporations originated in the Renaissance, invented by the
aristocracy to control and profit from the activities of the
merchant class. The rest, as they say, is history. In Rushkoff’s
own words, the corporations effectively outlawed the exchange of
value between individuals. There have been many movements to oppose
this centralised, globalised control (which, it must be said in
fairness, has brought benefits as well as disasters) but in a
digital age the free software movement has been one of the most
important. So, what exactly is RepRap?”