Just out of curiosity, do you work in the tech industry? I notice that 90% of your posts have to do with copyright, usually from a perspective that is very corporation-sympathetic.

Anyhow, to address your point: I would argue that the computer software field is light years ahead of any other enterprise in human history, in terms of free, open, and shared contributions toward the betterment of mankind. That's not to say that we're without flaws or total fuckups, but a lot of us have been practicing what we've been preaching for decades. Would you disagree? Given that the music and movie industries still operate like it's 1930, what's to say they would follow suit if we "went first"? Because I would argue that we already did, 30 years ago.