“Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime.” ~ Potter Stewart
It is about to become a felony to engage in what a big company thinks should be considered copyright infringement. The people who support SOPA insist that the law is not intended to go after small time offenders but there’s nothing in the text of the law to support that. This is the same reasoning that says child porn laws are only about going after the worst criminals. So why do teenagers get busted for sending half-dressed photos of themselves to their boyfriends and girlfriends?
If the middle men at movie and music studios want to bully those outside of US borders, then let them use the billions they’ve made inflating the copyright laws of the US to do it. They don’t need a law that allows them to cry wolf at any search engine or website that links to something they don’t like.
These are people who have been on the wrong side of history for decades. They fought the invention of television and radio. They fought digital goods until they had no choice. These are not the innovators protecting discovery and innovation. These are the old, rich, no-talent middle men who want to drag technology out as long as possible so they can milk the system of every drop because they have no skill except buying talent cheap and selling it at a huge mark up to consumers.
If we give it to them, we’re going to get exactly what we deserve. Their world. Bought and packaged. For them.
I have a friend who has long made the case that Twilight is an abstinence-supporting conspiracy to turn young girls into brooding, swooning extras from 80s horror movies that trip over tree branches while running from the serial killer as punishment for having dared to have sex.
I don’t know about that. But I do know the chick in the movies isn’t my model of a fantasy heroine. By a long shot.
“The idea of copyright did not exist in ancient times, when authors frequently copied other authors at length in works of non-fiction. This practice was useful, and is the only way many authors’ works have survived even in part.” ~ Richard Stallman
Price is what you pay. Value is what you get. ~ Warren Buffett
Yesterday I followed a tweet concerning what Philip Rosedale is up to these days and it led me to watch the following:
My first thought was “now I understand why Second Life has, from its very start, had such a terrible position on privacy. If this is the meat of Philip’s mind, it would never have occurred to him to include privacy in his model for virtual utopia.
My second thought was not a thought, but a feeling of what can only be described as revulsion.
I want to be able to step back and slip into a mindset I used to call up regarding business matters — the mindset where I can casually break people down into currency and value and speak about them like the blue and pink pegs that fit into your car in The Game of LIFE. I don’t know if it’s something about getting older, or getting more empowered toward my introverted nature, but I can’t break down humanity like that anymore. Logically I understand that if I want there to be more products and services that cater to introverts, that there is certainly a place for those who cater to extroverts. I do not begrudge Philip that, nor do I think there’s anything inherently wrong in his concept of having people demonstrate value for their share of facilities. It feels icky to me – but that’s an emotional response that has a lot to do with my personal values. In the neutral territory of my objectivity, I understand there’s nothing wrong with this. Although I do see such a potential for abuse that it makes me edgy.
There is certainly an appeal here for the network-hungry young coder who doesn’t mind having their personal information harvested, displayed, and distributed in exchange for a power outlet in a goldfish bowl workspace. But there’s no room in this idea for the introverted code monkey. They have no value in this model. And that feels like a misstep.
I know a lot of coders and the vast majority of them are introverts due to simple survival (granted, I tend to be drawn to other introverts and so my experience may be tainted). Coding is about defining a problem, wresting with complex tiers of information to solve it, breaking that solution into fluid patterns, optimizing those patterns into the most elegant configuration possible, and then following the exact syntax to render it into code. Then you go back and fix all your mistakes and generally rewrite the whole thing (because by the time you get to the end you’ve thought of twenty different ways to do it all better).
Few people have the talent to do this casually. I’ve known some and the ones I’ve known honed this talent largely by learning to shut out the things that would distract them from their tasks. JTL was probably one of the most gifted coders of his generation. He could do the kinds of things instinctively that other coders take weeks to figure out. And he could write code on the fly that was flawless. The exchange for this was the need to be able to focus — which is why working in offices in general was frustrating for him. The simple act of someone coming in to ask a question or share the joke was an interruption of the flow.
Most extroverts simply don’t realize the imposition they put on introverts by forcing themselves upon us. It feels so natural to them — as well it should, for they blossom when engaged.
Coffee & Power plays to me like a perverted wuffie experiment combined with a casino model where the house vig decides who matters and who doesn’t. Like a casino, as long as it’s all above board and stated openly from the start there’s nothing wrong with it. But it horrifies me that the cafe model of the future is nothing more than a boiler room with laptops.
I don’t wish Philip to fail, but I do hope his idea is more a successful novelty than a trend.
Imagine plugging into wifi at your local Starbucks and seeing your name and profile flash up on the big screen. It shows the people you’ve worked with, the companies you’ve worked for. It shows your dating status and how many days it’s been since you changed from “in a relationship” to “single.” It shows what kind of coffee you ordered last time you were there and the fact that you got that brownie and cheated on the diet you’ve been blogging about. It shows that you’re a social liberal and/or where you went to high school. It tracks what you’ve spent at the last few places you’ve been and can figure you’re only going to spend $10 during your stay, so you’re only entitled to 2 hours of power.
Sure, for the moment, Coffee & Power is asking you to volunteer your info in exchange for a place to work for a few hours. Will other places ask, or just pull from your public profile and social networking information?
“I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space travel, sideshows or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the room.” ~ Ray Bradbury
I resent that there are people making filk I like. I feel dirty.
