I am almost 48 years old and have managed to see a lot in my life. Being born in the USSR, as a child, I grew up in an atmosphere where society was oriented towards a simple person, and the main benefits (even if there were not many) were free. Of course, I accepted and shared this approach - but how could it be otherwise?
Then the USSR had gone, and Russia embarked on the path of developing capitalism. Everything was monetarized, it became necessary to pay for everything, even relations between people often began to be built on a mutually beneficial basis “what can you give me in return?” Finding something for nothing has become almost impossible, and “free” has become synonymous with the words “poor quality”. Ok, as a young change-oriented person, I accepted that too.
And now I’m a mature man. And I’m tired of the fact that everywhere and for everything you have to pay. I really want to give something to other people, do something for them, be useful to them - and it’s absolutely free. And so projects like Wikipedia or Google Local Guides find warm approval in my soul. I am happy that I take an active part in a huge project, filling it with necessary and useful information. And I am pleased to think that a minute after I added a photo or fact to Google Maps, a completely unfamiliar person can see and use them - and absolutely free of charge.
I think this is one of those things that make our pragmatic and cynical world a little better …