this reminds me of an interview with ... someone
on
What Is Real On YouTube?
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
I think it was Bruce Sterling, if anyone recognizes it, let me know.
They were talking about the concept of Temporary Autonomous Zones, like the ones in the carribean that pirates frequented - lawless places which somehow managed to govern themselves, and because the interview was in Wired around 1999 or so, the interviewer likened it to afterhours raves and waxed poetic about how awesome it'd be and how we'd be free of corporate etc etc. So the interviewee said "You want to see a TAZ in action, you go look at a toxic-waste dumping 'rave' - where a corporation hires some dubious character to take barrels of waste out into the TAZ that is the open ocean and just throw it over the side. That's the destiny of a TAZ, not some hippy vision of freedom and egalitarianism." Of course, I'm butchering the quote, but gimme a break, I read it like 7 years ago.
Anyhow, the point of this exasperatingly long-winded anecdote is that things like youtube, which promise freedom and creativity for all will always end up used for evil for the same reason as the TAZ - because freedom is nice and everything, but money trumps all. And the money will drive a wedge of mistrust between us all.
Yes, I know. Everyone knows. But no one will ever implement it for the same reason they'll never implement dogs at work or offices for everyone or free rhumba lessons on teusday: because it's not in line with business culture. Even in Spain, people have been abandoning the idea of siesta for some time now.
Dogs at work, everyone gets their own office... any other fundamental changes you'd like while you're at it? On-staff masseuses? Mid-afternoon productivity naps?
> I work a lot better with at least one dog present.
And I work a lot better with at most zero dogs present.
> It doesn't have to do anything except sleep at my feet or behind my chair.
If that's all it does, I got have no problems. But if any of my many experiences with dogs at work are any indicator, that never actually happens. You've got dogs roaming around from cube to cube, poking wet noses where they shouldn't be, eating things they shouldn't, and barking at the other dogs.
Not an Internet Petition!! I mean, sure, they're terribly evil people, but let's not get crazy and do things we'll regret down the line. I'm sure there's less extreme ways to get your point across.
> What's interesting about Gamer Theory is that it's going all the way back to source in order to get its project off on a solid footing.
So you're telling me that the interesting thing about this is that it's recasting 2000 year old ideas into a modern context? You'll forgive me if I'm not immediately bowled over.
I think you're giving video games a little too much credit, but it's not video games I have an issue with, it's the idea that anyone except your graduate advisor gives a shit about your Marxist critique of X or your masterful grasp of Derrida in your insightful paper on Y.
> "Video games now, more than ever, need to be not just reviewed, but critiqued, because of their negative image in the press, in politics, in the general public,
Yes. Subjecting Far Cry to deconstructionist critique is the sure way to gain widespread public acceptance.
Let's all talk about fracturing Katamari Damacy along it's natural fault lines and reading the subtext underneath it! It'll be so much fun!
The author has clearly either run out of reasonable things to think about, or is still in or has just gotten out of university, which is the only place anyone actually thinks these things have any relevance.
Also, one is a Leo and the other is a Capricorn, so you know there'll be some friction, but overall when the two signs get together, they are very powerful.
> But there is a simple solution for everyone who really thought about DRM.
Which is like 5% of the population. What do we do when we find our government decided "oh, hell, I'm tired of deciding things all day, let the market figure it out since no one really cares. Let's go out for lunch and hookers" and Apple ends up holding a monopoly on music players?
Sure, you could never listen to recorded music again. Or you could just have a government that looked after the overall best interests of it's citizens.
I'm not sure why some people are so eager to turn their country into a unrestrained free-market hell.
Sure, we should all fight against laws we don't like. Which is just what the governments in question are doing - making sure their citizens don't end up with no choice but to accept those contracts if they want the goods in question. You may say "well, I won't buy product X if it comes with an unacceptable license" but that's kind of a moot point when product X is for all intents and purposes only available under an unacceptable license. DRM, like GM foods, will drive out non-DRM products.
boycotts only go so far. Look into the difficulties with IP that is also a living thing, it's far more complex than simply "well, don't buy them then."
Sadly, the free market doesn't solve everything. The world would be a nice, clean, logical place if it did.
> I can see a reason. IT'S FOOD! Music just isn't the same.
Well, but it is, in the way I'm talking about. They're both intellectual property. Why should the IP laws that apply to one be different than another? Music and software are pretty different too, but we're still stuck with the same IP laws applying to both.
Slashdot Mirror
I think it was Bruce Sterling, if anyone recognizes it, let me know.
They were talking about the concept of Temporary Autonomous Zones, like the ones in the carribean that pirates frequented - lawless places which somehow managed to govern themselves, and because the interview was in Wired around 1999 or so, the interviewer likened it to afterhours raves and waxed poetic about how awesome it'd be and how we'd be free of corporate etc etc. So the interviewee said "You want to see a TAZ in action, you go look at a toxic-waste dumping 'rave' - where a corporation hires some dubious character to take barrels of waste out into the TAZ that is the open ocean and just throw it over the side. That's the destiny of a TAZ, not some hippy vision of freedom and egalitarianism." Of course, I'm butchering the quote, but gimme a break, I read it like 7 years ago.
Anyhow, the point of this exasperatingly long-winded anecdote is that things like youtube, which promise freedom and creativity for all will always end up used for evil for the same reason as the TAZ - because freedom is nice and everything, but money trumps all. And the money will drive a wedge of mistrust between us all.
> Naps at work: excellent idea
Yes, I know. Everyone knows. But no one will ever implement it for the same reason they'll never implement dogs at work or offices for everyone or free rhumba lessons on teusday: because it's not in line with business culture. Even in Spain, people have been abandoning the idea of siesta for some time now.
Dogs at work, everyone gets their own office ... any other fundamental changes you'd like while you're at it? On-staff masseuses? Mid-afternoon productivity naps?
> I work a lot better with at least one dog present.
And I work a lot better with at most zero dogs present.
> It doesn't have to do anything except sleep at my feet or behind my chair.
If that's all it does, I got have no problems. But if any of my many experiences with dogs at work are any indicator, that never actually happens. You've got dogs roaming around from cube to cube, poking wet noses where they shouldn't be, eating things they shouldn't, and barking at the other dogs.
> Have you ever tried it?
Yes.
> [data]
But the problem is that I don't like dogs.
Not an Internet Petition!! I mean, sure, they're terribly evil people, but let's not get crazy and do things we'll regret down the line. I'm sure there's less extreme ways to get your point across.
ugh. Dogs at work. I am just not in favor of it, unless the dog is uncommonly well-trained.
Oh lord, we're doomed!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omicron_Persei_VIII
In related news, I'm also upset that 'gay' means 'homosexual' and that 'wicked' means 'awesome'
Goddammit, where's our National Ministry of Language Purity?!? Slashdot demands it!
> What's interesting about Gamer Theory is that it's going all the way back to source in order to get its project off on a solid footing.
So you're telling me that the interesting thing about this is that it's recasting 2000 year old ideas into a modern context? You'll forgive me if I'm not immediately bowled over.
he said "pro-patent reform"
I think you're giving video games a little too much credit, but it's not video games I have an issue with, it's the idea that anyone except your graduate advisor gives a shit about your Marxist critique of X or your masterful grasp of Derrida in your insightful paper on Y.
> Game theory is still new
Glad to hear it's new, they won't mind changing their name to something that isn't taken already then: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theory
> That's pretty much genius right there.
That's pretty trite right there, actually. I think pretty much every stoned high school student has thought the same thing at one time or another.
For the same reason they made movies out of Street Fighter and Doom, duh.
> "Video games now, more than ever, need to be not just reviewed, but critiqued, because of their negative image in the press, in politics, in the general public,
Yes. Subjecting Far Cry to deconstructionist critique is the sure way to gain widespread public acceptance.
Let's all talk about fracturing Katamari Damacy along it's natural fault lines and reading the subtext underneath it! It'll be so much fun!
The author has clearly either run out of reasonable things to think about, or is still in or has just gotten out of university, which is the only place anyone actually thinks these things have any relevance.
Is that code for "I was just trolling?"
I think you're abusing the term 'socipath.' Sociopaths are extremly maladjusted, not just shy people who are uncomfortable in public.
Also, one is a Leo and the other is a Capricorn, so you know there'll be some friction, but overall when the two signs get together, they are very powerful.
The CSM is generally a high-quality paper, with well-known and unhidden biases, as pretty much everyone agrees.
> It is well known that one reason people grow facial hair is to build a personal "wall" between themselves and the world.
Another reason: to look fucking awesome! http://www.worldbeardchampionships.com/
> But there is a simple solution for everyone who really thought about DRM.
Which is like 5% of the population. What do we do when we find our government decided "oh, hell, I'm tired of deciding things all day, let the market figure it out since no one really cares. Let's go out for lunch and hookers" and Apple ends up holding a monopoly on music players?
Sure, you could never listen to recorded music again. Or you could just have a government that looked after the overall best interests of it's citizens.
I'm not sure why some people are so eager to turn their country into a unrestrained free-market hell.
Sure, we should all fight against laws we don't like. Which is just what the governments in question are doing - making sure their citizens don't end up with no choice but to accept those contracts if they want the goods in question. You may say "well, I won't buy product X if it comes with an unacceptable license" but that's kind of a moot point when product X is for all intents and purposes only available under an unacceptable license. DRM, like GM foods, will drive out non-DRM products.
boycotts only go so far. Look into the difficulties with IP that is also a living thing, it's far more complex than simply "well, don't buy them then."
Sadly, the free market doesn't solve everything. The world would be a nice, clean, logical place if it did.
> I can see a reason. IT'S FOOD! Music just isn't the same.
Well, but it is, in the way I'm talking about. They're both intellectual property. Why should the IP laws that apply to one be different than another? Music and software are pretty different too, but we're still stuck with the same IP laws applying to both.