Shareware - the future

I am rereading Funky Business as I just bought the Romanian version and I am taken aback by the possibilities of a future where people learn to accept some of the basic tenets of that book and of Internet.

The main idea of FB is that power lies in the brain (talent movies capital and not the other way round), not in owning hardware but actually in the ability to create, and that differentiation comes from ideas not from massive accrual of assets and great distribution (because naturally with Internet distribution is not really an issue anymore, you can find anything at anytime).

Now another thing that I find interesting about combining this with the openness and democratization of intelligence that the www allows you is the fact that, truly, hoarding knowledge and information is no longer an option. The FB authors mention that a while back their school was the only option for people looking to do business courses in Sweden. Now the options are limitless as any student can pretty much apply to any business school. They also envisage a world where all students can get the same information instantly via the www.

This is knowledge shareware and it exists right now. Of course it comes from the most advanced knowledge centre in the world, MIT which has a free courseware application online enabling anyone to download their courses free of charge and study them.

This is the future, people, when all assets are at everyone's discretion and anyone can use them. And then the real power comes directly from how you choose to use them, from your brain. Do you censor them and try to hold on to the old way? Or do you get with the program and learn that you are the only true asset that exists in a world where everything is horizontal except brainpower?
MIT info via