A [great article by David Wong](http://www.cracked.com/article_18817_5-reasons-future-will-be-ruled-by-b.s._p1.html), thinking through some of the implications of digital distribution and copyright. Published in that champion of futurism and deep thinking: Cracked.com
> If you want to know what the future looks like, there it is. The future is going to hang on whether or not businesses will be able to convince you to pay money for things you can otherwise get for free.
>
> Some of you think I’m about to talk about file sharing and DRM and the evil record labels. But that’s just a teaser of what’s coming. The world has changed. All the rules we were trained to believe about society from birth until now are about to go out the window.
on the desperate need to prop up the current economic models:
> That’s what ACTA is about. This massive worldwide treaty would bring the hammer down on anyone violating intellectual property laws. Everyone on the Internet hates it because we know it 1) would have to be incredibly invasive, to the point of basically peering into everyone’s hard drive at any moment for signs of contraband, and 2) is futile. It’s a leaking ship trying to stay afloat by threatening the ocean with its cannons.
and
> And so, to save society, we’re going to have to rely on our old friend, the invisible force that has saved humanity again and again. It’s a little thing I like to call bullshit.
>
> Bullshit is the next growth industry. People who deal in it are going to be more valuable than surgeons — yes, the same people who convinced us that bottled water comes from an enchanted mountain spring and made uneducated mothers believe that contaminated baby formula was a life-giving health potion. Only they can save us.
Just [go read it](http://www.cracked.com/article_18817_5-reasons-future-will-be-ruled-by-b.s._p1.html). Now.