Download - Future of the Internet – And how to stop it.

90
After the Stall
best be done through corporate models: creating smooth installation engines,
extensive help guides, and other handholding for what otherwise might be an
off-putting technical piece of PC software or Web service. 57
As the Internet and the PC merge into a grid, people can increasingly lend or
barter computing cycles or bandwidth for causes they care about by simply installing
a small piece of software. 58 This could be something like SETI@home,
through which astronomers can distribute voluminous data from radio telescopes
to individual PCs, 59 which then look for patterns that might indicate
the presence of intelligent life, or it could be a simple sharing of bandwidth
through mechanisms such as amateur-coded (and conceived, and designed)
BitTorrent, 60 by which large files are shared among individuals as they download
them, making it possible for users to achieve very rapid downloads by
accumulating bits of files from multiple sources, all while serving as sources
themselves. Generativity, then, is a parent of invention, and an open network
connecting generative devices makes the fruits of invention easy to share if the
inventor is so inclined.
GENERATIVITY’S INPUT: PARTICIPATION
A second good of generativity is its invitation to outside contribution on its
own terms. This invitation occurs at two levels: the individual act of contribution
itself, and the ways in which that contribution becomes part of a self-reinforcing
community. On the first level, there is a unique joy to be had in building
something, even if one is not the best craftsperson. This is a value best
appreciated by experiencing it; those who demand proof may not be easy to
persuade. Fortunately, there are many ways in which people have a chance to
build and contribute. Many jobs demand intellectual engagement, which can
be fun for its own sake. People take joy in rearing children: teaching, interacting,
guiding. They can also immerse themselves in artistic invention or software
coding.
Famed utilitarian John Stuart Mill may have believed in the greatest happiness
for the greatest number, but he was also a champion of the individual and
a hater of custom. He first linked idiosyncrasy to innovation when he argued
that society should “give the freest scope possible to uncustomary things, in order
that it may in time appear which of these are fit to be converted into customs.”
61 He then noted the innate value of being able to express oneself idiosyncratically: