Visit some of the more remote tribes in places like the African plains or the rainforests of the Amazon and you’ll discover an entirely different concept of ownership. Unspoiled and uncorrupted by the slings and arrows of the modern world, the people in these societies aren’t necessarily driven by material possession. This isn’t my home. That’s not his goat. They all belong to everyone in the village, for mutual benefit and for the common good.
But not here. Not here in North America. Not in an industry driven by copyright, trademark and lawsuits.
And perhaps that’s why someone like Elon Musk is so notable. Make no mistake. He can be just as motivated by profit and fortune as the rest of us, but this “real life Tony Stark” is also wholly different from all the other industrialists and executives of the world. It seems like he really is driven by innovation. It seems like he really is pushing for the common good.
There are two very specific examples of this. You might remember when Elon Musk decided to open up Tesla’s patents to other technology companies who wanted to use them “in good faith.” While the patents still belong to Tesla, the company “will not initiate patent lawsuits” against those who leverage the technology. He recognizes that while one company can do some good, the global village of companies can do a lot more.
It may not be quite as open a concept of ownership as we find in those remote tribal villages, but it’s a huge start.
More recently, SpaceX decided to start up a Flickr account and populate it with a bevy of incredible images. The photos were protected by a Creative Commons license that forbade commercial use. Then, someone sent a tweet to Elon Musk, asking why such a restriction was in place. Musk listened and now those pictures have been entered into the public domain. In fact, that’s one of them at the top of this post. Awe-inspiring, no?
This move is perhaps not quite as bold. After all, SpaceX certainly isn’t in the business of selling photographs. At the same time, it means that bloggers like me can rally together and encourage further space exploration and further development of space-bound technologies. And that’s for the greater good. That’s for the benefit of everyone in our increasingly interconnected global village.
I don’t expect all the world’s corporations to roast marshmallows over a campfire together and sing “Kumbaya.” That’s just not realistic. It would be awfully nice, though, if more companies spent less time in litigation and more time actually making lives better. For everyone. It’s an idea that could really “take off.”
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