Platforms

By Busari Hammed

     The internet dominates our lives today not only because it has a lot to offer us but also because we can offer a lot through it. When Berners Lee created the internet he had no idea he was creating Google nor would he have ever dreamt of YouTube. As wonderful has the internet may be it would never have had such ‘touching all area’ effect, if it had been patented by someone. Imagine Google having to buy a place on the web let’s say a monthly subscription to keep it going, then you pay for hosting etc. It makes you wonder if internet giants like Google, Facebook would have ever risen.

     Plants need good soil to grow; the soil must not only be rich and fertile but must be free and available too (not taken by buildings etc). Ideas and Inventions too need free and easily available, rich and fertile platforms to grow big and green. Organizations and Individuals aiming to grow ideas and inventions must create free, well watered and open platforms for their ideas and inventions. If they must be “unopen” at all, they must not be so from the people that can develop and improve it. Scared organizations and individuals must open their ideas but with caution on a fertile open and cautiously secured platform.

     Many great ideas and invention exists today but benefits little because of this “PATENTOPHILIA”. What is the essence of an idea in the first place if it benefits no one? Sure! Profit must be made but must profit be made at the expense of human development and growth as a whole. Ideas must be allowed to circulate if not free at least almost free or at worse not extremely “unfree”. If we should harbor any hope of world-wide global development.  If the Developed Nations cares about the.            Underdeveloped world they must create a fertile growing and free platform for them – the underdeveloped to access benefiting ideas and inventions (which may be material or not) not grants and aids.

    People in many Nations of the world waits for their Government to solve all their problems and history has proven that such people waits forever. Government must create growing, well-fed but open-to-all platforms that allow people to easily solve their own problem, the problem of others as well as the problem of the Nation. In short, anything that wants to grow can easily do so, on a platform made fertile and open.