Kolme systeemiä: ota, vaihda, jaa

Three Systems of Action: A Proposed Application for Effective Administration of Molecular Nanotechnology - Phoenix ja Treder kirjoittavat siitä, mitä sitten tehdään, kun tavaroita voidaan kopioida yhtä helposti kuin tietokoneohjelmia. Tarvitaan kolmen systeemin yhteistyötä.


1. Guardian Principles: Provide Security
Taking is the original system of action. It is the primary way that life survives, by taking what it needs. Carnivores, herbivores, fish, birds, insects, and even plants use this system of action. For most of our existence as humans, we also relied on taking, better known as hunting and gathering.

Think of a fortress guarding a frontier. The soldiers must always be prepared to fight, but most of the time they are training or relaxing. Strict discipline is necessary to make them a unified fighting force. One traitor, or paid spy, can get them all killed. Visiting merchants are a distraction and a security problem; too much money floating around can weaken their dedication to the task.

2. Commercial Principles: Optimize Trade
But with the development of agriculture, which led eventually to large-scale civilization, a new system of action emerged: trading. This was a whole different way of doing things. Instead of taking what you wanted, you could trade what you already had for something else.

Think of a small neighborhood shop. The employees should be ready to do business with anyone who walks in, and must maintain a reputation of honesty with both suppliers and customers. The store must continually improve, or the other stores will lure away its customers. A small business owner does not have a lot of free time and must work efficiently.

3. Information Principles: Promote Abundance
In a world transformed by molecular manufacturing, both systems of action still will play an important role. But another system -- sharing -- also could make a significant contribution. This relatively new system of action became possible in the information age, when data could be copied and distributed at low or no cost. Because there is no built-in limit to this sharing, CRN calls it the unlimited-sum situation.

Think of a programmer working at 2:00 AM to add a feature to an Open Source program he didn't write. The programmer is not paid for this work; he does it because he wants the program to be more usable and more popular; he has been working for six hours without a break. At 2:30 AM he adds his name to the list of contributors, uploads the improved program to a website for free distribution, then spends the next hour reading free articles on-line.

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In summary, Commercial and Information groups cannot be trusted to take appropriate precautions in every case, so a Guardian approach is sometimes necessary. Likewise, because Guardian and Information ethics do not create money, Commercial organizations must be involved to pay for large parts of the development and deployment of the technology. Finally, although Guardian principles include “dispense largesse”, neither Guardian nor Commercial organizations can be expected to create and distribute the almost limitless benefits that will become possible from vastly improved materials and manufacturing, so Information groups also must have a role to play.