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I find your use of the loaf of bread analogy interesting. I am reminded of a man that fed a rather large audience by infinitely reproducing a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish. I'm not particularly religious, so I'll have to read that bit again, but it is an interesting parallel.
The fact with Nature is that offering a reward is a great motivator; rats press buttons to get food, dogs sit up for table scraps, etc. If you don't offer the reward, a few rats will still learn to press buttons and a few dogs will still learn to sit up, but on the whole very little progress will be made. We are wired this way by Nature too, except that its more than just food for us humans. We learned to think abstractly so we like to acquire wealth which can be converted to food, shelter, or luxuries.
Everything started with an idea. Man did not stumble upon a round bit of stone with an log in the center and a set of instructions on how to use the wheel. It started as a simple round log. The idea was refined by others and is still being refined today. No where in any holy book does it describe the gods as handing down the secrets of selective breeding to improve livestock or create super grains like emmer wheat. These ideas led to great rewards like the ability to move massive stones or the ability to feed a burgeoning population.
With improved communications, ideas could be spread more rapidly. Common languages allowed cavemen to physically spread an idea. Writing allowed the spread of idea through time and space. Printing allowed for consistency and even more widespread communications. Add the telephone, telegraph, and I can instantly tell a friend on the other side of the globe about my idea. Add radio, and TV, and you have nearly instant communications of ideas to groups of people. Now add the internet, and you have 2% of the world (and growing) able to instantly access your idea at any time: the permanency of writing, the consistency of print, and the instantaneousness of TV. All that’s left is the inclusion of one collective mind so everyone’s thoughts are instantly available to everyone else.
Am I doomed because Bell’s idea allows someone to instantly spread my idea to the world? Where did my reward go? What was my reward in the first place? Is wealth finite?
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