Module 3 – Evolutionary Technologies
According to Thornburg (2014), six forces drive emerging technologies. Those six forces are evolutionary technology, rhyme of history, science fiction, disruptive technology, increasing returns, and Red Queens. Within this group, rhyme of history represents a piece of technology that is a new take on a previous historical piece of technology. An example of technology that represents rhyme of history would be Open Source Software. The benefit of utilizing Open Source Software is the provision and ability for the user to modify and alter the source code.
Arising at the hands of an individual and not government, the roots of the free software revolution is Boston. According to Bonk (), “although free software had existed for some time, the person responsible for organizing it into a movement with an active nonprofit organization was Richard Stallman, a hacker at the MIT AI Lab in the early 70’s” (pp. 143-144). Conveyed in other research by Levy,
“Stallman was devoted to a vision of sharing. The goal was to work with each other to improve EMACS and other software tools built by the Free Software Foundation (FSF). A portion of an e-mail from Stallman in September 1983 read as follows:
Free Unix!
Starting this Thanksgiving I am going to write a complete Unix-compatible software system called GNU (for GNU’S NOT UNIX), and give it away free to everyone who can use it. Contributions of time, money, programs and equipment are greatly needed…
Why I Must Write GNU
I consider that the golden rule requires that if I like a program I must share it with other people who like it. I cannot in good conscience sign a nondisclosure agreement or a software license agreement. So that I can continue to use computers without violating my principles, I have decided to put together a sufficient body of free software so that I will be able to get along without any software that is not free…
If I get donations of money, I may be able to hire a few people full or part time. The salary won’t be high, but I’m looking for people for whom knowing they are helping humanity is as important as money. I view this as a way of enabling dedicated people to devote their full energies to working on GNU by sparing them the need to make a living in another way” ( as cited by Bonk, 2009).
The Free Software Movement and the Open Source Software Movement created a culture of sharing that is still evolving today and both evolved from an earlier culture of the hacker. The fact that the Open Source Movement has been so successful, I believe that it will continue to evolve and produce resources for the benefit of the social community. With a generation of users that have grown up knowing that free resources are available an expectation for that resources is very relevant to today’s users.
Open Source Software evolved from commercial software and created a platform in which software could constantly evolve based upon the needs of the user. Constructs were put in place that the only cost of using the software was that its core remain free to the public. Open Source Software rekindles and retrieves features of commercial software and creates an environment for continued recurring theme of history.
References
Bonk, C. J. (2009). The world is open: How Web technology is revolutionizing education. San Francisco, Calif: Jossey-Bass.
Laureate Education (Producer). (2014j). David Thornburg: Six forces that drive emerging technologies[Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
YouTube URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrcdhzr2qnk
YouTube URL: https://youtu.be/2UZO1S216jk
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