About

Why I am offering a free, full-text version online

While I, the author, strongly desire to receive money for doing what I love, I feel that the overriding priority is to disseminate these ideas as widely and as quickly as possible. As the planetary crisis mounts, as activists despair of their capacity to halt the life-devouring machine, this book is sorely needed as a map for the transformative process ahead of us, both individually and collectively.

Moreover, I have deep reservations about the validity of intellectual property. The ownership of ideas, I believe, is just the latest step in a centuries-old enclosure and privatization of the commons. What was once public and free to all, has progressively entered the realm of property. Can anyone really claim to have created a new idea? Ideas build on other ideas, and even the most original idea is the end result of a long social process. I do not believe I have a moral right to make the ideas in this book into my property. Both the online and the print version will carry a limited copyright. Anyone is free to use or copy this material for any non-commercial purpose. Just acknowledge the source, please.

On the other hand, The Ascent of Humanity is the result of ten years of labor. As each of us expresses our gifts to the universe, so the universe will gift us in return. I believe that this book will be profitable in spite of my giving it away for free. For the online version, I have implemented an optional payment tab for people who want to support me in my work. I am grateful to the scores of people who have already kindly offered such support, usually with $5 or $10 gifts. Of course, many people will want the beautiful bound version.