Everything is a Remix Part 4 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.
The final part of Kirby Ferguson’s video series, Everything is a Remix. In this last part he explores the intellectual property, patents, and patent trolls. Simply must see.
Tagged with Copyright …
If You’re Still Confused about SOPA and PIPA
Here is some required reading to get a clearer picture.
Why SOPA and PIPA must Die – Andy Baio
SOPA and PIPA – Khan Academy (That’s the video that’s embedded above.)
No Copyright Intended
No Copyright Intended – Waxy.org
Maybe “I downloaded but didn’t share” will be the new “I smoked, but didn’t inhale.”
Andy Baio’s interesting observation on how young people, mostly underage, think copyright works and what this could mean for the future. He uses the latest example which has been making the rounds: [Video above] Pulp Fiction rearranged in chronological order, which surprisingly has been up for about six weeks. Like many users who post remixes and mashups, they don’t think their making a copyright infringement because their just sharing with no commercial intent. God bless them for that.
The Value of Your Tweets
Most people would agree that most of the content people produce and share on Twitter are ephemeral brain farts. But Merlin Mann has a good point and something that has a lot of room for debate. There’s a mini book called Tweet Nothings and it’s a collection of many twitterers tweets, and Merlin Mann was one of the lucky ones that was spotlighted. That as you can see has ruffled some of his feathers.
Any ethical adult who thinks something is valuable enough to sell necessarily understands that it’s also valuable enough to buy. So, in my own case, all those “free” online writings, videos, and podcasts I’ve “given away” have apparently been valuable enough to someone to form the basis for a comfortable livelihood. I’m insanely grateful for that. Still. That doesn’t mean a bowl of Jolly Ranchers I leave by the door can be scooped into a trash bag and sold at the flea market—simply because someone has a spare trash bag and the bonehead desire to make a fast buck.
Food For Thought Links
Why Are People So Stupid: A Deep Philosophical Inquiry
We think that intelligence is what has made us survive and evolve in this world, but stupidity has a lot more to do with it. Our advantage and “top of the food chain” status has been made possible not because of our “logical brain” that plans and formulates theories, but because of the “dumb brain” that reacts to instincts and emotions. Like the essay mentions, “stupid people breed”. Here’s a snip:
Stupidity does not hamper reproduction! Stupid people breed. Stupidity may in fact help our ability to reproduce quite a bit. Anyone who has ever gotten married, had children and later wondered – why did I do that anyway? Oh yeah, that’s right, I was really stupid – can attest to the helpful effects of stupidity on the mating, dating, and attraction process. Not thinking clearly is very helpful in making the whole mystery of chemical attraction seem worth pursuing.
This essay is long and divided in three parts, so bookmarking is highly suggested. Simply hilarious and genius.
Positively Misguided: The Myths and Mistakes of the Positive Thinking Movement
“Think positive. Look on the brightside. Don’t doubt yourself. Believe in yourself”… if all this stuff is starting to sound like blind optimism, well, it mostly is. The Skeptic Magazine article examines the positive mental attitude(PMA) movement and demonstrates why it has done more harm than good. Here’s one of the reasons why they think so:
The notion that the riddle of success is more easily solved by attitude than aptitude may be one of the more subtly destructive forces in American society. Not only is it a reproach to rational thought, but in a society already veering ominously towards narcissism, this “hyping of hope” also erodes reverence for hard work, patience, scholarship, self-discipline, self-sacrifice, due diligence and the other time-honored components of success.
*Note. The link doesn’t take you exactly to the article. Click the featured article link, or scroll down some.
Big Entertainment Wants to Party Like It’s 1996
Cory Doctorow on how the Government and entertainment industry are secretly making internet regulation laws to combat piracy and copyright infringement.
The entertainment industry wants to retreat to the comfort of 1996. It was a good year for them. CDs were selling briskly, but no one had figured out how to rip them and turn them into MP3s yet. Music fans were still spending money to buy CD versions of music they owned on LP. DVDs had just been released, and movie fans were spending money to buy DVDs for movies they already owned on VHS.
