In 1450 if you were one of the few who knew how to read and wanted something to read, you had to rely on the skills of scribes to produce a manuscript, a task that might take years. Manuscripts were valuable and carefully guarded. The transfer of knowledge was limited.

In 1455 Johannes Gutenberg produced 180 copies of a manuscript, known as the Gutenberg Bible, and the world was changed forever. The technology spread quickly and became a key ingredient in the development of the Renaissance.

How would that play out today? Scribes would form a consortium, fund a political action committee, hire lawyers and lobbyists and convince the government to make such things illegal. The wealthy who owned manuscripts would assist them so as to protect their investments in both manuscripts and knowledge. Lots of lawsuits would follow and Gutenberg and his technology would be driven out of existence.

Think about that for a few seconds and see how many examples of special interests today use their influence in legislatures and courts to protect themselves to the disadvantage of everyone else. If this kind of protectionist mentality had ruled the 15th century, we would still be in the Dark Ages.

Monopolistic protection for the benefit of a few is both broad and deep. In the US, consider the RIAA and American drug companies behavior. To get closer to the Gutenberg model consider the Google Book Search project and those who would impede it.[1]