There is a place, a space where “code” leads to freedom and brotherhood. Tap into it and your life will not be the same again. A place so unknown to the rest of us, it’s not even funny.

Years ago, I watched the birth and expansion of “Open Source”, a software source code distribution model. It moved me, intrigued me and made me intensely curious, however it remained mysterious like a distant melody. Then one day, due to necessity, I started talking to some of those incredible “Geeks” online, asking questions, delving into codes and the magic grabbed me.

Representing a culture of its own, the “Open Source” model shows us a whole new way of creation and distribution. It’s an ecosystem that gets richer, better and more sustainable as more people collaborate and participate at their own pace with their own available resources. It’s a true symbiotic relationship between the “part” and the “whole”. Remember that beautiful story of “Stone Soup”?

This one is no fairy tale though. It is happening as we speak and it has been happening for more than a decade around anything that could be created and distributed digitally. Our fantastic “Geeks” are years and years ahead of us working hard at tearing down the walls. In so doing, they hope to bring the magic to the rest of us. I will be talking about this much more extensively.

Open Source is a magnificent model for bottom-up, grassroots participation and collaboration. It allows for gradual, minimal as well as massive participation all at the same time with equitable returns for all participants. It works well where scarcity of resources are more pronounced and in local communities where distribution of non-digital goods are accomplished with more ease. It is simply magic!

Regardless of how Utopian or far fetched this may sound, it is merely a matter of time that a paradigm shift as significant as this will occur in our local communities.

Remember Leonard Cohen? ” There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”