Open source can multiply the benefits of technology...

As technology has advanced, there has been great improvements in the quality of life of some people. Other have not been so lucky, and haven't seen much of the benefits that technology has brought.

Some of the blame can be put on the fact that much technology is closed, and has the burden of patents or some types of closed licenses that make quite expensive for those places. In some cases, the technology can't be used as is at a particular location because it would need some modifications.

Yet, those modifications can only be made by technical personnel of the company that has the patents, or rights for the use, adding more cost.

This is why open sourcing, or having more permissive licenses, so the technology could be built and customized for the needs of the users would be most beneficial to bring new technology to those places.

By allowing those who need the technology, but can't afford it as is, to be able to study, build, and modify any technology they need without facing penalties for bringing much needed technology would allow the benefits to cover more people. Locking technology is not as beneficial as many think, specially on the long term.

To technology to be as beneficial as possible for as many people as possible, it needs to move faster and become economical sooner. If not, it doesn't do much to make an impact of the quality of life of the majority.

Not only that, the cost of any new technology this way would have the added benefit of spreading the cost around and that it would be improved upon a lot faster. Those improvements made by other, could be tested and validated to be incorporated into other versions of the products a lot faster if they benefit from them.

The power of open source, is that people can actually benefit more directly from advances in technology with a shorter wait through collaboration. It stops being a private project from a far away company, to become the project of everyone that it touches. In many ways, open source can be a humanizing force of technology by bringing it closer to people.