Many people have been saying this for a while–we have the tools to create a whole different world at our fingertips and we are still tied up with all sorts of outdated institutions that are causing more problems than they are solving. The US elections are a good example of how much time, energy and resources are wasted by this type of nonsense–but we are not here to talk about that. I would like to point to another possibility. I am sure many of you have heard about net neutrality and how important that is for all of us, there are many reasons for that….

If ever there was a time to create a direct democracy the time is now and the open-source movement is doing just that. I won’t be surprised if blogging and social media become something that, in the future, we all have a personal obligation to do to a certain extent. We all need to put our two cents into the pot–perhaps it will even replace voting. One of the things I like about open-source is how feedback is encouraged and sought out. There is a dedication to working towards creating solutions to problems and an excitement around that. This is a huge contrast to the desire to bury and hide mistakes, problems or things that don’t fit into what is expected–as we have under our old institutions.