Information Wants to Be Free

"Information Wants to Be Free" is a phrase that encapsulates a core tenet of the early internet and hacker culture. It suggests that information has a natural tendency to flow and be shared, and that any barriers to this flow are artificial and should be dismantled.

The phrase is often attributed to Stewart Brand, who at a 1984 hacker conference said:

"On the one hand information wants to be expensive, because it's so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting against each other."

This duality is at the heart of many of the conflicts in the digital age. While the ease of copying and distributing information pushes the price of content towards zero, the value of that information remains high, creating a tension between the desire for free access and the need for creators to be compensated for their work.

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