Part of the answer is economics. Free markets support the free movement of capital, land, and labor. But reality is much messier than theory. So, free opportunity provides a way to jump the hoops with a twist. First, free labor. Despite the hype, most people prefer to live in a place where their families and friends live, and where they are familiar with the culture (and where’s the supermarket). Hence, free labor means loose labor policies, but where health care and pension benefits are regulated, not administered, by the government. It also means free travel visas, limited by time, but without other restrictions. Second, free capital. And I don’t refer only to capital liquidity, but also a free flow of ideas – after all businesses are the source for economic growth. Third, free land. It applies to protection of property, land or intellectual.

Another part of the answer is politics. Democracy is an abused concept, but the gist of accountability matters most. Accountable systems allow people to influence decisions and create ways to deal with sensitive issues such as culture and religion.

Hence, free the opportunity stands for ripping restrictions and upping accountability in organizations.

2) MUSIC: All music recording and playback will be free. People will pay to see a music performance, live. Recorded music will be free.

Law. Not just in terms of access to laws, but access to writing them. Why can’t we all write the laws we live by, via a wiki? I know, it’s a radical proposal, but I expect it would lead to simplified, common-sense laws, and a lot less of the weird-arse “you can’t sell cabbage on a tuesday while wearing brown shoes” nonsense that gets pushed through by special-interest groups or lingers for decades/centuries after cultural expectations have changed.

Species. Attempts to patent varieties of hybrid (i.e. infertile) or GM food crops so that farmers have to buy new seeds each year from huge corporations (rather than using the seed from last years’ crops) is the agricultural equivalent of software patents (DNA sequences are the software that creates organisms, after all). Hopefully as more of the public becomes aware of the Open-Source movement, they will start to stand up to copyrights/patents in other contexts as well.

Power. When we have fusion, electricity should be so cheap as to be (virtually) free. That will have flow-on effects (e.g. free electricity to desalinate seawater = free drinking water for third-world countries).

Stuff. With the advent of 3D printers, it becomes possible to produce almost any item from its digital blueprint – and these digital blueprints can be available under a GPL or equivalent. This process has already begun. So people could someday freely download, build, redesign and modify everything from vacuum cleaner parts to computers or DVD players, for only the price of (cheaply mass-produced) raw materials.

Maybe these are long-term or pie-in-the-sky goals, and I don’t want to waste space making anything more than simplistic outline statements. But I can see ways these things could happen. If we’re lucky, and smart.

See http://www.theyworkforyou.com/ for an example of openly analysing government debate and performance (UK Parliament).

Art will be free. Art will be created on a massive, distributed scale. What does this mean and how will it happen? I’m not sure, but it feel inevitable. Think of 100 years spent constructing a cathedral, now apply that to the tech world. What could be done here?

People will be free. In other words, governments will go open source and open boundary. Not in my lifetime, but it will happen if Earth goes on spinning. Think a working U.N.