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Created page with 'Category:Memes Nanosocialism is a political philosophy, first stated (under the name “information socialism”) by the Australian academic Kyle Porters in 2034. Porters…'

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[[Category:Memes]]
Nanosocialism is a political philosophy, first stated
(under the name “information socialism”) by the [[Australia]]n
academic Kyle Porters in 2034. Porters observed that
although modern civilization was utterly dependent on information
technologies, the central notion of intellectual property
often gave rise to significant injustice. Although he was by
no means the first person to point out this contradiction, he
was the first philosopher to construct a coherent political ideology
in response.

Porters pointed out that the individual holders of intellectual
property were usually unable to enforce their rights
against piracy. Software and genetic designs were being stolen
wholesale around the world, bringing profit to pirates at the
expense of the original designers. Despite this, the artificial
scarcity imposed on information by the concept of intellectual
property kept the benefits of new technology out of the hands
of most of the world’s billions, who lived in rank poverty as a
result. Porters suggested that the state should go beyond the
simple enforcement of copyrights and patents, and actually
seize ownership of them. He believed that only the state could
properly reward technological innovation, while still distributing
the benefits of such innovation fairly to all.

At first, “infosocialism” was not taken seriously in the
developed nations, but in some parts of the world it combined
with the [[Majority Cultures]] movement to produce a viable
new ideology. By the late 2060s, several nations in South
America and Southeast Asia were governed by local infosocialist
parties. Piracy of advanced technology had long been
a going concern in these nations, primarily benefitting a corrupt
entrepreneurial class. Bolstered by Porters’ theories,
governments found it attractive to seize the benefits of such
piracy for themselves, striking a blow against Western-style
capitalism and local corruption at the same time.

The infosocialist nations repudiated all international
treaties protecting intellectual property. Patents and copyrights
held elsewhere were ruthlessly pirated, although the
infosocialist regimes usually offered “royalty” payments if
the owners of intellectual property were willing to sign over
their rights. Scientists and engineers within the infosocialist
nations were often richly rewarded by the state for their
work, at the cost of losing all control over their inventions.
Some of the infosocialist nations even extended the principle
to works of creative art, seizing the right to publish such
works and pay royalties to their creators.

Naturally, the repudiation of international agreements
had severe consequences, as most nations imposed economic
sanctions on the infosocialist regimes. In response, the
most committed nations in the infosocialist bloc formed the
[[:Category:Transpacific Socialist Alliance|Transpacific Socialist Alliance]]. At about this time, the outside
media began calling the new ideology “nanosocialism,”
due to the Alliance’s emphasis on state control of emergent
nanotechnologies.

The TSA has struggled along ever since, surviving economic
sanctions and the [[Pacific War]], gathering
more support around the world each year. Most outside
observers believe that nanosocialism is doomed to fail, for
many of the same reasons that Soviet-style Communism
failed a century ago. Still, in many parts of the world the ideology
is strongly attractive, and the TSA shows no signs of
immediate collapse.

Nanosocialism - Revision history

Ecb: Created page with 'Category:Memes Nanosocialism is a political philosophy, first stated (under the name “information socialism”) by the Australian academic Kyle Porters in 2034. Porters…'