"Not just on internet grounds, but everywhere." Exactly! A combination of critical masses of technological, financial, and social forces are stirring up something of a whirlwind of change. Add to this the not inconsiderable psychological impact of all those zeros on the calendar and it seems obvious that we are at an inflection point as a society, and as a species.
Because what comes out of this whirlwind is beyond the means of anyone to predict. Who knows what will be the result of any 'butterfly flapping its wings'. Or any '800 pound gorilla' flexing its muscles, for that matter.
It's Freedom vs FUD - locked in epic struggle, and we're all putting our weight on one side or the other. The consequences of a victory by the forces of FUD is the potential for a techno-fascism that could make the Nazis look like boy scouts. For this reason, the forces of Freedom - read: us - do not have the luxury of waiting around to see what will happen - each in our individual way, we have to make it happen. This means taking what we've learned about creativity, cooperation, and viral distribution and re-inventing & re-engineering civilization from the ground up.
It seems obvious judging from the recent spate of "cyber-terror, kiddy porn, blah blah" hysteria in the (old) media that there is an organized effort afoot to ensure that the general population doesn't freak out too much as they outlaw freedom on the internet, and everywhere else...
Which basically reinforces my point: the patent system is being used as a club to beat open source over the head with. But surely the very act of publishing a piece of software creates an example of "unpatented prior art" which should invalidate any patent. And conversely, if an idea is already patented it renders the GPL irrelevent. (you can gpl it, but no-one can use it for 20 years.) Please correct me if I'm wrong. In any case the situation is serious and demands concerted action.
On the northwest coast of North America, before the european invasion, the bounties of nature were such that the basic necessities of life were available to all with a minimum of effort. The economy, the "social game" that developed under these circumstances was based on the potlatch; whoever could give away the most "goods" held the highest status in the society. Participating on the receiving end of a potlatch, however, involved the tacit acceptance of an obligation to return the gift, ie. throw a potlatch of your own, at some unspecified future time. In this way the social hierarchy was established,"surplus production" was disturbuted, and general partying all around.
This is just a particularly well-developed form of a constellation of customs that are/were ubiquitous throughout the tribal and ancient worlds, in fact many of our own customs (eg Christmas) are derived from this basic framework of gift exchange that has always been used to tie communities together. Even the idea of a periodic redistribution is part of european (judeo-christian) heritage (see Leviticus 25:10 etc.)
The open source movement has this in common with the "free music" revolt - it is at root a gift culture, which is entirely appropriate under a material/technical regime of abundance (and what could be more abundant than the infinitely copyable?) Ideas of private property overlay and are dependant upon larger and more ancient notions of common ownership (or more accurately non-ownership) just as our legal code is based on the more ancient Common Law.
The point is that what we are witnessing is a re-assertion of a principle that is fundamental to human psychology and society. Much of the discussion surrounding Napster fails to state the obvious - that every file on the system is offered as a gift to all the other users: people like to share music. The collision of the very ancient custom of gift exchange with the very modern technology of the net is creating a force that is going to be very hard to stop. And as the price of copying and distributing gets ever lower, the price of policing is going to get ever higher.
All we (as artists and creators) need is a way for people to return the gift, easily and, if necessary, anonymously: open-source wampum anyone?
The old world is not going to go down without a struggle, nor should they be expected to. And so it's war, and they are coming after the internet, and all of its "free" this, and "open" that, with everything they've got. What this amounts to is an attempt to "fence in the frontier", and it is a direct and strategic attack on open source - you can't GPL it if someone's already patented it - and more broadly an attempt to kill off the ecosystem that has allowed it to flourish.
Someone needs to start the Gnu "prior art database" to catalog all of the unpatented implementations and algorithms. And sooner or later, the geek tribe needs to become a political force and kick some butt in Washington.
"Fig.1 - a device for knocking patent officer's heads together..."
I suppose you also believe that there is no "open source revolution"? We just want to "steal" other people's ideas? get a friggen life, man!
Thanks to hotline, i've been able to listen to a lot of obscure, independent/small label stuff, some of which I have subsequently gone out and bought - I don't know how I would have been exposed to it otherwise, as the radio/tv promo channels are pretty much clogged with major label dreck.
Speak for youself, what do you mean "we", white boy? I don't want to "steal" music, but why should I have to spend $15-$20 (not "a couple bucks") for something when the creator of the product will only get pennies if anything? Of course I do this, I love music, but I would much rather pay the artist directly, not a bunch of totally useless middlemen. Sorry my friend, but it is you who are missing the point...
I'll say! Just try to form them one at a time, and take a few deep breaths. Open source is about freedom. no need to drag in a bunch of overburdened concepts that don't really translate. Just say no to slavery...
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Because what comes out of this whirlwind is beyond the means of anyone to predict. Who knows what will be the result of any 'butterfly flapping its wings'. Or any '800 pound gorilla' flexing its muscles, for that matter.
It's Freedom vs FUD - locked in epic struggle, and we're all putting our weight on one side or the other. The consequences of a victory by the forces of FUD is the potential for a techno-fascism that could make the Nazis look like boy scouts. For this reason, the forces of Freedom - read: us - do not have the luxury of waiting around to see what will happen - each in our individual way, we have to make it happen. This means taking what we've learned about creativity, cooperation, and viral distribution and re-inventing & re-engineering civilization from the ground up.
It seems obvious judging from the recent spate of "cyber-terror, kiddy porn, blah blah" hysteria in the (old) media that there is an organized effort afoot to ensure that the general population doesn't freak out too much as they outlaw freedom on the internet, and everywhere else...
Which basically reinforces my point: the patent system is being used as a club to beat open source over the head with. But surely the very act of publishing a piece of software creates an example of "unpatented prior art" which should invalidate any patent. And conversely, if an idea is already patented it renders the GPL irrelevent. (you can gpl it, but no-one can use it for 20 years.) Please correct me if I'm wrong. In any case the situation is serious and demands concerted action.
This is just a particularly well-developed form of a constellation of customs that are/were ubiquitous throughout the tribal and ancient worlds, in fact many of our own customs (eg Christmas) are derived from this basic framework of gift exchange that has always been used to tie communities together. Even the idea of a periodic redistribution is part of european (judeo-christian) heritage (see Leviticus 25:10 etc.)
The open source movement has this in common with the "free music" revolt - it is at root a gift culture, which is entirely appropriate under a material/technical regime of abundance (and what could be more abundant than the infinitely copyable?) Ideas of private property overlay and are dependant upon larger and more ancient notions of common ownership (or more accurately non-ownership) just as our legal code is based on the more ancient Common Law.
The point is that what we are witnessing is a re-assertion of a principle that is fundamental to human psychology and society. Much of the discussion surrounding Napster fails to state the obvious - that every file on the system is offered as a gift to all the other users: people like to share music. The collision of the very ancient custom of gift exchange with the very modern technology of the net is creating a force that is going to be very hard to stop. And as the price of copying and distributing gets ever lower, the price of policing is going to get ever higher.
All we (as artists and creators) need is a way for people to return the gift, easily and, if necessary, anonymously: open-source wampum anyone?
PS - right on jon - keep it comin!
The old world is not going to go down without a struggle, nor should they be expected to. And so it's war, and they are coming after the internet, and all of its "free" this, and "open" that, with everything they've got. What this amounts to is an attempt to "fence in the frontier", and it is a direct and strategic attack on open source - you can't GPL it if someone's already patented it - and more broadly an attempt to kill off the ecosystem that has allowed it to flourish.
Someone needs to start the Gnu "prior art database" to catalog all of the unpatented implementations and algorithms. And sooner or later, the geek tribe needs to become a political force and kick some butt in Washington.
"Fig.1 - a device for knocking patent officer's heads together..."
Thanks to hotline, i've been able to listen to a lot of obscure, independent/small label stuff, some of which I have subsequently gone out and bought - I don't know how I would have been exposed to it otherwise, as the radio/tv promo channels are pretty much clogged with major label dreck.
Speak for youself, what do you mean "we", white boy? I don't want to "steal" music, but why should I have to spend $15-$20 (not "a couple bucks") for something when the creator of the product will only get pennies if anything? Of course I do this, I love music, but I would much rather pay the artist directly, not a bunch of totally useless middlemen. Sorry my friend, but it is you who are missing the point...
And you moderators are slippin!
Just some random thoughts here...
I'll say! Just try to form them one at a time, and take a few deep breaths. Open source is about freedom. no need to drag in a bunch of overburdened concepts that don't really translate. Just say no to slavery...
just for the record: DOA released a 4-song ep "Disco Sucks" in 1977, when uber-drummer Chuck Biscuits was just 15. Early 80s indeed...