"If all ideas have to be bought, then you have an intellectually regressive system that will assure you have a highly knowledgeable elite and an ignorant mass"

This quote by John Perry Barlow speaks with the concept of knowledge and education being accessible to all. He is suggesting that if concepts have to be bought, then the system is regressive and will just serve to develop an elite class of individuals who are highly knowledgeable and an ignorant mass. This is an issue because it creates an unequal society where those with cash and resources have access to knowledge and education, while those without are left behind. This can result in an absence of opportunity and an absence of development for those who are unable to access the very same resources. Barlow is recommending that this is an unjust and unjustified system that needs to be altered in order to develop a more equitable society.