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All Hail The Idiots!

All hail the idiots, for it is the idiots who run the world.

Confused? Let me explain...

People are idiotic. They yammer and yell, and yet do nothing, but run the world. The ones who do the actual work are often silent spectators, fed up of the idiots that rule them.

Calling my readers "idiots" does not make for healthy relationships, so I'll refrain from doing so. But I'm fed up of the idiots that dictate how I live my life.

The idiots pay $ 20 for a movie they cannot copy on their computer, because the DVD is encrypted. The idiots are willing to pay $ 1000 for a software that does the same work they could do for free. The idiots keep the big corporations alive, which then dictate how we live our lives.

Yet, it is by the action of the idiots that our world, as we know it, can continue. Think of it... how different would life be, where everyone could make their own movies and share them with the world. If anyone wanted to do anything, (s)he could do it him/herself. No calling the plumber, or the carpenter, or the bricklayer. Everyone would be fully capable of doing such work themselves.

It is not clear when the concept of division of labour was first conceived. Apparently, that was the biggest mistake of mankind. The moment we decided to be wilfully idiotic about some aspects, that was when we allowed anyone to fleece us. Think of it, your sink leaks, so fix it; instead of calling the plumber for $ 100. If the plumber would not get enough jobs, he would just lower his rates.

Of course, you'll say that it is not practical for us to learn plumbing along with the various other tasks that we'd have to master if this model is to succeed. Of course, my argument is oversimplified. But I like oversimplifications. They present an easy way for me to present my point. Of course, what I'm really talking about is the whole way we have created walls that prevent creativity, that stifle innovation, and that are pulling our society back to the past. Idiots!

Just think. When did we idiots, in the course of our evolution suddenly decide that only some people would be the creative ones, and that the others would be idiotic mules just following orders of the ones designated to create? When did we decide to pay through the nose to big corporations who just chmod 700 on all their material?

Yet, it is a fact that we can pay $ 40 for a set of 16 Photoshop Actions, and then spend another $ 999 on Adobe Photoshop. We are willing to pay $ 500 on a copy of MS Office, but we don't bother when legislation is passed which allows patents on fundamental data structures like linked lists, which makes it impossible for any ordinary programmer to write awesome software without going on the wrong side of the law. Why have we made our lives so complicated that we cannot do anything without the help of a lawyer?

Yes, it is the idiots who run the world. The idiots are willing to pay whatever amount I ask, for a piece of software I write, for which I shall never give the source code, which I shall never allow them to modify (If I ever write code, it will be GPLed, don't worry, this is just hypothetical). The idiots are willing to pay up to $ 40 for 16x40 lines of code. The idiots are amazing. They make me rich.

Seriously, how would a world be where we were all smart, and could do our own stuff? We'd all have lesser money, but we'd also have to pay less. Perhaps it would lead to more unemployment, and consequently, would be unable to support the entire population. Maybe that's why we need the idiots.

All hail the idiots, for it is the idiots who run the world.

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