An investigation into realities of Freedom within the Culture of Ignorance: Are humans being turned into machines so others can exploit them without them questioning their own slavery? Why do we consider somebody "computer literate" when they can only operate the controls of a commercial computer system?

"Surfers or Serfs" also seeks to interrogate the methodologies of "free, open-source, and open-standards" from a broad philosophical perspective, in particular, the celebrated shift from the image of the computer as a complex rule based simulation system to a simple communication device that has enabled the computer to be commercially and politically exploited as a (postmodern) propaganda machine.