Internet on the House (Being That It's Free)

Let’s sit down and have a little chat about human history for a moment. What, in your opinion, sticks out most to you from the ancient times – and by that, I mean the time before civilization even existed? Maybe it was how we usually grouped together in smaller tribes, rather than “groups” of modern city proportions as we know today. Maybe the daily harshness of the elements that our ancestors were exposed to was what really jumped out at you. Maybe yes, maybe no. Well, if you think about it, it’s funny that you think that. How so, you may ask? Well, you see, back then, there really wasn’t a prison existent as there is now – that prison being our economic system. We didn’t have to, for example, pay for meat. We just hunted it down. Though it took a lot more work in getting these things back then, it does not change the fact that these resources were freely accessible – that anyone could have the chance to get them if they desired so. So, in that sense, life was better back then. Perhaps that sense began to deteriorate later in our development as a sentient species...

It seems that at the first time when man figured “hey, I can just give someone this meat in exchange for those oooh so precious jewels that that other guy has”, our way of getting resources changed permanently. Though this indirectly helped establish a flourishing economy as we know it today, it induced drawbacks that are still haunting us to this day. This “paranormal activity” that I’m referring to is the financially inapt being unable to make due in acquiring many of even the most basic resources. In a sense, they are restricted in their lives by something imaginary – something we’ve devised ourselves, that doesn’t really exist financially – finance.

Though what I’ve mentioned earlier may seem to you a bit exaggerated, it is not intended to be so. You see, in the sense that poor cannot afford even the most basic of resources is pretty, such incident are pretty rare. However, there is one utility that has been commercialized throughout the ages which has had a prominent, negative effect on society. And what am I talking about? I am talking about the Internet. You see, this network could theoretically connect everyone and everywhere willing to one system. But unfortunately, accessing the Internet on-demand literally has a cost, so quite the contrary is present throughout the world, most of it being present in the poorer countries – where no one can afford to have the Internet. So, what can we do about this? Well, let’s just modernize some of the things that past people.

We could take Benjamin Franklin as an example. Did you know that he indirectly had a hand in developing the public library as we know it today? How’s that to add to a figure who’s already known as the jack of all trades? Anyways, as I was saying, the public library, being that it was essentially free for the public to use, pretty much revolutionized the accessibility of information for the public. No longer did you have to be rich to afford expensive text – you could just borrow them. The result? People could learn more, become less ignorant, and from that become more effective, positive contributors to society. For example, one could learn how to build a solar cooker just by checking out a book from the library. So, in a nutshell, the availability of free information is pretty much an all-around plus to civilization. So, who’s to say that we cannot further the cause of the public library, thus giving an even greater resource to the public for societal advancement? The only problem is what thing would help spread the ideals of a public library?

The answer is quite simple: we just merge the cost-free attributes of the public library to the global effectiveness of the Internet. Being able to access the Internet at no cost would mean that everyone, anywhere ,would be connected, and they would no longer be constrained to some building known as a conventional public library. It would be so much cheaper, too, as we wouldn’t have to keep printing out books upon books upon books as much or building buildings to house these books, either, and could be cheaper still if everyone got connected predominantly by cellular connection. The essence of a library would essentially be right at your fingertips, but the essence would be far greater than before. And by essence, I’m not just talking about saving a few bucks, either. I am also talking about changing the world.

If accessing the Internet was free for all, there would no longer be as many restrictions, even to the citizens of poorer countries. And with that, it would also theoretically be possible to better the entire world, even economically, because the availability of the Internet would allow for many new opportunities that are no longer restricted to the few who could, say, afford the bandwidth bill. Plausibly, new perspectives from people of more diverse locations could arise, which, in turn, could contribute to the solving of other problems. It’s a win-win situation, in other words. Having access to the Internet for free kind of goes along with the phrase “two heads are better than one”, in other words. So, what else could be done if the Internet was free?