Slashdot Mirror
William Gibson on The Age of The Remix
wordisms writes "William Gibson of Neuromancer fame gives his thoughts on remix and innovation in the digital age, in a short essay at Wired Magazine entitled God's Little Toys. From the article: 'Our culture no longer bothers to use words like appropriation or borrowing to describe those very activities. Today's audience isn't listening at all - it's participating. Indeed, audience is as antique a term as record, the one archaically passive, the other archaically physical. The record, not the remix, is the anomaly today. The remix is the very nature of the digital.'"
First, reading the article, paragraph, how many people know what the heck coruscating means? (definition here)
Anyway I don't know where the line is, but somewhere it is there albeit not a bright line. I loved the re-mix (don't remember who, don't remember the name of the song) where Steppenwolf's Magic Carpet Ride was the core of the piece but I would be disappointed if credit isn't extended and a cut of the profit isn't provided to Steppenwolf for providing the original inspiration and music. Certainly if someone were to digitally re-master any song in its purest and most original form and release that as their own work they would be guilty of out and out ripoff. But, a song with hints of the motif or melody of some other work is more subtle and probably more difficult to clearly state theft of said original work.
In classical music it was quite common for composers to "rip off" a theme or motif of another composer and incorporate it into another original work. In many cases it was considered the ultimate homage to the original creator.
I guess for me it boils down to how much is added by the "new" artist's work. Some of the re-mixes I've heard come pretty darned close to ripoffs.
Yeah, grand pronouncements like this just make me throw up in my mouth. Then I swallow it, and the grand pronouncement has come and gone and not too too much has changed. Which is another way of saying that we have a lot of very cool technology, which has opened up all sorts of access to means of producing, we still aren't very clear on what creativity is -- and it ain't (can't be) entirely something new and it's not entirely something old but always in between.
Gibson's last few novels have not done very well, so I guess he's opting to become a pundit. It's what a lot of folks do -- whether they were once successful in their chosen field or not. (Or, in the case of business book writers: their business if the business of punditry.)
I call every physical representation of an event a "record". I think people who visualize black plastic disks when I say "record" are old fashioned. Because I mean the arrangement of physical signs, like grooves, optical pits, magnetic intensities, electrons, collected for reproduction of the event. Whether it's vinyl, CD, tape, Flash, fossils, tapestries, or even human memories. The Internet has made the physical instance of the media a detail only important to geeks. The record transcends all of those.
I'm not surprised Gibson thinks of vinyl when he thinks of "record". He's a geezer like me. And he even claimed, through the early 1990s, that he didn't write with a computer, but rather a typewriter. Not only is the already-arrived future not evenly distributed, but the departed past is still sticking around in some places.
--
make install -not war
Since we're on the subject of remixes, I think it's important to point out that many remixes are not legal. The folks at http://www.downhillbattle.org/ are working to let mixers into the ballgame, so to speak.
Also from the folks at downhillbattle.org comes http://bannedmusic.org/ which distributes some music that has been banned for copyright reasons (mixes and sampling). Included are the Double Black Album (Metallica's black album mixed with Jay-Z's black album) and the Grey Album (Beatle's white album mixed with Jay-Z's black album). There is much more stuff there, too, so check it out if you're into music advocacy.
The global economy is a great thing until you feel it locally.
Excuse me while I gag...
Having invented several of them, Gibson is arguably a master of buzzwords. His literary work is known for stylish writing, and his adoration for the inclusion of buzzwords is especially prevalent in Pattern Recognition.
Do you like German cars?
This should be the role of governments. Rules after the fact allow inovation to advance at its own pace. This has lead to people who are alive today that predate automobiles.
The upcoming problem for society as a whole appears to be governments passing laws to attempt to control inovation prior to its development.
All the concerns over software patent law, genode patents, stem cell research limit the advance (whether good or bad) of inovation. More importantly they distort the natural cycle of inovation by artificually limiting some research and advancement based on todays societies values.
There was the recent SlashDot on Newton being faced with these same issues in his life. Galileo and so may others faced the same issues.
However in the end governments come and go, science, research and innovation is what endures.
Once everyone is doing it, then the core pieces used to create the remix will gradually dissappear.
But then someone will take a bit from here, a bit from there, and inspire himself to write something completely new.
If you think human creativity will disappear with remixes, you're quite mistaken. Take for example 'Into the Corridor of Shadows' by Nigel Simmons ( http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01212/ ). And you'll see how much creativity can be put in a "remix".
Agreed. Go all the way back to Neuromancer, and you can find a veritable host of buzzwords and the seeds of remixed sci-fi used today. Heck, Gibson is credited with coining the term "cyberspace", as well as fleshing out the concept of a "matrix" of computers creating a world of virtual reality.
P.S. The overuse of the cliche "throw up in my mouth" is getting ridiculously irritating - why people think this is catchy bewilders me to no end.
Not only didn't he complain, he likes to look for copies of it every couple years to see how it has subtly mutated and changed.
So, I've got this idea that a catchy name is important in the success or failure of concepts and hypotheses. Now, if only I could think of a catchy name for this idea, I could get credit for it!
For those of you who don't know, Gibson is largely accepted as the creator of the term we are familiar with nowadays - Cyberspace and a completely new sub-genre in Science Fiction.
It is funny how in his book Neuromancer (Hugo Award, Nebula Award, Philip K. Dick Award) he presented the idea of a global information network and called it "the Matrix" in 1984.
I think we can trust his predictions. So far they have been quite accurate.
Too bad for the record industry if what he says comes true in the near future: "Who owns the music and the rest of our culture? We do. All of us.
Though not all of us know it - yet."
For the curious - Gibson is regarded as one of the experts in the field of technology and its effects on human life. Most of his books are quite dark and I think he has quite a pessimistic opinion on the future of men and technology.
In an interview, to the question of what is cyberspace, Gibson replied: "Cyberspace is a metaphor that allows us to grasp this place where since about the time of the Second World War we've increasingly done so many things that we think of as civilization. Cyberspace is where we do our banking, it's actually where the bank keeps your money these days because it's all direct electronic transfer. It's where the stock market actually takes place, it doesn't occur so much any more on the floor of the exchange but in the electronic communication between the worlds stock-exchanges.
So I think that since so much of what we do is happening digitally and electrically, it's useful to have an expression that allows that all to be part of the territory. I think it makes it easier to visualize what we're doing with this stuff.
Gibson was also asked the question:
"Some Americans claim that the Europeans are more afraid of the kind of society that you describe in your books..."
To which he answered:
"I think that the sort of societies I am describing would be more disturbing to someone who lived in a cohesive, functioning social democracy than it would be to someone who lives in the United States"
Interviewed for "Raport", Sweden's largest TV-news program. Interview done by Dan Josefsson, November 23, 1994.
A hungry bear does not dance!
That's a great idea! Instead of creating "mix tapes" we can literally cut and paste novels to make them flow with the smooth beat of the techno drum! Imaging the beginning of Snow Crash with the middle of Altered Carbon then ending of Neuromancer sprinkled with bits of The Golden Age
Now that would rock.
And also about him saying the 'remix' this the thing...not the recording? How 'bass-akwards' can you get? If you don't have quality original idea, say records....where the hell are the so called 'talented artists' that rely on them for materials to remix going to get their fodder?
I guess I'm just getting too old to get it. Sure, music does come from parts 'lifted' from older songs and tunes...in the past, this meant a riff...maybe a few lyrics...etc. But, these artists knew how to play instruments, and compose new music BUILDING on what they took from the past....and take music to new places. The Stones and Zeppelin 'lifted' heavily from the old delta blues pioneers. Hell, I think Willie Dixon even got a few $$'s suing Zeppelin. However, this is MUCH different than the talentless 'samplers' I see today. Lifting actual recorded tracks to reuse, with 2-3 new words chanted over and over, and a synthetic drum beat? Sorry...I hardly call that music. Anything the common man, IMHO, could do with time and equipment (especially if "I" could do it)...just isn't talent.
Fortunately, I'm finally starting to see some of the youth today, starting to discover again the necessity, and need to learn to play a guitar...actually be able to sing and move on a stage while really playing and not lip synch'ing. To master showmanship to get an audience into the act with them.
I am amazed at how many young kids are big fans of the old groups...fans of Zeppelin, Hendrix, AC/DC....but, with the dearth of new, original and exciting rock over the past couple decades...who can blame them?
I'm hoping the recent DVD's of Zeppelin's and Queen's LAW will inspire the new groups of today and tomorrow, to know what a rock and roll show is supposed to be. Great songs.....and great performances. Do those two....the money will come...as will the joy to them and the audience.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
As in a record of an event
The event of people
Playing music in a room
Now everything is cross-marketing
It's about sunglasses and shoes
Or guns or drugs
You choose
Ani DiFranco -- Fuel
Hmm interesting that people get caught on the "REMIX" issue.
I just finished reading Pattern Recognition yesterday and probably now I see that article in a different light.
On the book: waaay different from anything before, it is more like a today's nover instead of close or distant future.
Much slower but I just could not put it down. The only book I could not read from him was The Difference Engine (just could not catch on the subject and gave it up on the 100th page)
Everything else I loved, including that very Gibson-ish bit on wired...
His site: a book site links to books that you can buy. You do not have to.
His blog: there is some quite interesting stuff if you take a closer look
If you think about it, we've been surreptitiously (I surreptitiously copied the word "surreptitiously" from Wired to impress you all) "remixing" technology thought recorded history. I'd hardly call it the nature of digital. Digital techniques have made it easier but the mother of invention still exists in digital media. We also shouldn't confuse inspiration with imitation; there is still a lot of innovation to enjoy. Actually, the only place lack of originality falls apart for me is in automotive distribution and mass production. I'm getting frustrated seeing the concept cars roll on to high-end auto shows only to end up with me sitting in a four-wheeled, archaic, internal combustion propelled vehicle. I want to drive the GM-Hywire. I completely understand that production costs and consumer demand dictate what manufacturers produce. But it still irritates me. kirk out.
- nightcrawler "Reality is an illusion, albeit a ver persistent one..." -A.Einstein
How is any component of that sentence a buzzword?
He uses "remix" literally, so that's out.
"The digital" is the domain that encompasses digitally-stored data.
Art and sociology theorists consider true "digital" storage to be random-access, which is a caveat that purely technical people disagree with, but it's as pointless now as the hacker/"cracker" debate, because it's been entrenched for many years.
What he's saying is that as soon as you have random-access, perfectly-reproducible, easily-accessible storage, people are going to use it to make collages (of which "remixes" are the most popular subset today).
Furthermore, those collages represent a kind of "collective consciousness" because all of us in Western society grew up exposed to some or all of the components of that collage, and since our memories are based on associations, collage is a powerful tool for an artist to use.
This is basic modern art theory that was covered in a first-year course required for all students at the university I went to. Of course, >= 95% of the class ignored it or didn't care to remember, but whatever.
Gibson is a really, really smart guy. He's seen a lot of large-scale things in his life, and he has a good grasp on human nature and culture. It's easy to dismiss him as flakey because he writes and talks like an artist instead of a scientist, but that would be a mistake.
"...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman
If you downloaded Gibson E=Books from Nullus you'd know he premises them with a personal note to downloaders.
He does support illegal download to a pretty large extent.
This is pissing me off THERE ARE LOTS OF ARTISTS WHO DO UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPT OF FREE INFORMATION!
So many people making terrible generalizations, yea all artists are hypocrites.
Also as far as Gibson is concerned it doesn't matter whether he types on a computer or a typewriter, Slashdot's perverse love of technology is an aberration not the norm, and not adhering to such a silly ideal probably offers him more perspective not less.
We have the means! I want this to happen
Hell, the distribution doesn't even need to involve copyright violation -- remixers could share their edit lists (FCP, whatever) and the recipients could apply them to their *ahem* personal DVD copies of the source material... (moral rights of the copyright holder put aside for the moment).
Is there a movie remix underground I've simply failed to break in on?