With Gnomedex going full-pelt in Seattle in the USA I am baffled as to the seeming total lack of interest in, even knowledge of, the Web 2.0 phenomenon in the UK. All this antiquated “stiff upper lip” crap and resistance to change, coupled with general lethargy and a lack of motivation, is a hindrance to progress.

From what I’ve heard the general perception is that the UK is ahead of the USA technologically to a certain extent; in which case why oh why can I get no public wireless signal anywhere along the line on the train travelling from Warminster in Wiltshire to London? Why is it that, when I go to a place called Wilton which used to be the capital of Wessex, I have to stand at a particular point on a particular road to get a GSM 900 signal and GSM 1800 signals are virtually non-existent.

Why the heck do we have 2 different frequencies here? (In USA they all use GSM 1900.) As for Wifi; (In Wilton, as well as in most places outside the city centres – Even in London itself, apart from the City Centre.) unless I am within close proximity of any one of a small number of dwellings, and the owners of those individual properties happen to have their BT Home Hub routers switched on at the time, there is no Wifi signal. As for anywhere rural; forget it: Usually no Wifi at all, and perhaps a fluctuating poor-quality GSM900 3G signal that’s as good as useless for anything other than making an interrupted phone-call on the Vodafone network. Even if I owned a house any distance out of town I’d probably not even be able to use anything other than dial-up or satellite to connect to the internet: That’s not technologically advanced; that’s third-world!

The sad fact is that the UK is or seems to be a third-world country as far as the internet is concerned; and the future of the UK will be affected by that inasmuch as it could well become a third-world country bearing in mind that the future world-economy will depend upon internet communication and usage. Despite boastings from government officials and companies such as Virgin Mobile that they have expanded the internet service and are continually developing it, the truth is that only populated areas close to a telephone exchange, and some other sub-urban areas as far as cable-internet is concerned, are able to get anything on a wired service greater than 5.6K dial-up.

This situation is slowly improving; but at a rate which is far too slow. Honestly in most rural areas I’ve been to I am unable to get any Wifi or mobile telephone signal whatsoever.

As a geek I’m quite ashamed in a way to be British – But the Wifi and 3G signals, or lack thereof, aren’t half of the problem: The attitude, bad attitude, or complacency/lethargy of a lot of the British public, but moreso the “ruling classes”, is a major factor.

Gnomedex in its original format could never happen in the UK. Why? There is nothing even remotely like Gnomedex in the UK outside of private corporate functions that are for internal company personnel only currently, and attitudes are so different here. There seems to be very few in the way of dedicated internet entrepreneurs in the UK. Why? Because the Government does its utmost to make it impossible to be such. Also there appears to be an overall work-ethic-dependency-culture amongst the population. I blame Government yet again: The bullshit that the UK Govt., in association with what the UK media spew forth, is unbelievable and it soaks everybody in crap: The negative deprecating content of it encourages a controlled tiered society; with the masters – the bosses – controlling their highly-paid understudies, who in turn regulate the multi-tiered workforce consisting of managers, Sub-Managers, Assistant Managers, Supervisors, and General Dogsbodies: Like ‘The Victorian age meets Communism’ under a negatively-oriented right-wing political system.

The UK Government provides you with the incentive to stay within this aged, stuffy, culture, by taxing anyone who decides to go it alone extremely heavily: As a “drone” or “worker” subservient to the work-ethic-based culture they tax a person at between 10 and 15%, I think it is, of their gross income. Attempt to break free from the dominant suppression, however, and that person can be taxed anywhere up to 50%. (Yes; half of their gross income!)

For the Owner/Director of a large successful company whose gross (personal) income can be anything up to £1 million pounds a year, it presents no problem whatsoever. For anyone trying to break free from the work-ethic culture, however, it means that essentially they have no option but to stay working at least at a part-time job until their income from self-employment matches up to double their gross earnings from their j-o-b in order for them to be able to maintain the lifestyle that they are used to. – Is it any wonder that people in the UK lack the motivation to go outside of the job-dependency-culture as it would mean leaving their comfort-zone: Something which the average British worker can’t even imagine doing for that very reason: It’s a vicious circle.

So there seemingly can never be true freedom within the political control-society of the UK; and this is one aspect where the USA is truly “The Land of the Free”. There is the other side of the coin though - Health: The British NHS is funded by involuntary contributions from this dominated-work-ethic-culture, and without it there’d be no National Health Service, no free medicine, no healthcare for all. People’s health would be dependant on their ability to pay for healthcare and for medical insurance. There’d also be no state-funded retirement income for the elderly, (SERPS – the State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme.) and those too old or too ill to work would have to rely on a private pension scheme or a welfare-handout system such as that currently running in the USA.

It all boils down to the old adage “There is no such thing as a free lunch” : What you gain on the swings you lose on the roundabouts. The British system has its faults; many of them – But so does the US system. The difference is that the US system is founded upon the concept of personal freedom; whereas the British system is founded upon subservience to State and to the class-system. Both work in their own way; but the US system works best as far as the concept of Web 2.0, co-working, and internet-dependency is concerned.

So what is the solution if there is one? The best I can come up with at present under the UK system is, as I mentioned previously, to stay in a job of some kind under the work-ethic-based system whilst at the same time building up an online enterprise. That solution is more difficult than it might at first sound. It requires twice the work for half the profit initially: One has to hold down a j-o-b and at the same time build an internet business. The j-o-b will pay peanuts (Enough to save you from bankruptcy – exactly as all such employment does.); around the same amount of peanuts as far as consistency is concerned; but nevertheless peanuts. The internet business will slowly take off and eventually equal the income from the j-o-b. (2 x peanuts.) When it does so perhaps it’s time to do the j-o-b part-time so that you can concentrate more on the internet business. Your income may stay static while the workload increases perhaps; but stick at it, as when the income from the internet business doubles you’re making as much as you were previously in your j-o-b. – Go for the gamble at this point: Say goodbye to the job.

You’ve made it: You’re working for yourself and your income no longer depends upon working 9 to 5, 5 days a week – Rather it depends upon your own efforts and actions: You’re now your own boss and your destiny is in your hands. Remember, though, you’re paying up to 50% of your income to the UK Government still.

You now have a choice: Stay in the UK and benefit from “free” healthcare + receive the pittance the state will pay you from SERPS when you reach retirement age AND continue earning from your internet business while paying up to 50% of that to the UK Govt. OR Move to America and become a US Citizen, and continue to control your own destiny.

Freedom at Last!?

What would I do? I’m working on it. When I’ve researched this properly I’ll come up with a proper, stage-by-stage, formula for making a success of Web 2.0 starting in the UK (Maybe even completely in the UK.): It’s a tough one, so I won’t have all the answers tomorrow, next week, maybe not even this year. When I do I’ll publish the final article as a paid-for work:  First as a prospective untested how-to; then, when I’ve done it myself, as a “How I Did It” article, again for a price. Watch this space – or somewhere near it – for more, at some point.

I want to be doing what they’re doing at Gnomedex. I want to make money online; and use some of that wealth to change the world for the better in whatever way I can in tandem with the people from the USA at Gnomedex. I’m going to do it too; but starting from the UK as I will inevitably have to do, I first have to work out a strategy as I stated in the last paragraph; and I’m going to do that too. Then I’m going to share it as I said.

If you have any ideas, insights, opinions, expertise, comments, whatever; then post them below. If you wish to dialogue or have any spontaneous input then I welcome it.