Larry Lessig: How creativity is being strangled by the law
by Scott on Sunday, March 7th, 2010 | 25 Comments
www.ted.com Larry Lessig, the Nets most celebrated lawyer, cites John Philip Sousa, celestial copyrights and the “ASCAP cartel” in his argument for reviving our creative culture.tedtalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers are invited to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes — including speakers such as Jill Bolte Taylor, Sir Ken Robinson, Hans Rosling, Al Gore and Arthur Benjamin. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, and tedtalks cover these topics as well as science, business, politics and the arts. Watch the Top 10 tedtalks on TED.com, at http
sousa was right, most people today are tone-deaf
Oh, I have creative ability, I’m an engineer for a company making games you may have played recently.
My talents just don’t lie towards the musical or film realms. And that’s not going to change…So I’ll continue to pirate media I don’t regard as worth paying for.
People pirate our games relentlessly, so I’ve been on the other side. I still don’t reckon legislation is the answer.
What, everyone has to produce music or video in order to not be a gluttonous consumer in your world? Get real:)
You misunderstand the speak. Pirating such an abundance of media makes you one of the gluttonous consumers, not a producer. Meaning you have no creative ability and only drain society.
@andyzweb boring people get bored.
moron, it’s not literal
Passive people will always be passive.
Every single one of us is a pirate. Maybe it began mildly, recording some stuff off the radio here, copying a friends CD there, but at this point, we are all law breakers. From the laughs I hear on the rare occasion that I go to the cinema, seeing one of those downloading=stealing ads, we are far from alone. We will continue to break the law, the law is fucked. All you old fucks in government right now, our turn will come. Fuck the RIAA. Fuck the MPAA. Fuck you all for DMCA. Pirate till I die.
Dear All,
I have some questions about psychology:
(1) Why do we think that aerospace technology is a representation of creativity?
(2) What do you think about the following statement?
“Designing aeroplanes and space-crafts is a representation of self-actualization (human full-potential) because it involves many creativity and innovation”.
THANK YOU IN ADVANCE for your creative ideas and brainstorm!!!
I think Souza was also saying that he valued making music over passively listening music. The downside of technology is its capacity to induce passivity in observers.
if there comes a time where we lose our vocal chords from hearing people who make music for us, than wouldnt it be impossible for those people themselves to sing to make music?
If you are young then I am assuming your parents were teenagers some time between 1960 and 1990. I think that I may, perhaps, have heard something about marijuana in those 30 years. I am not certain tho, might have to check wikipedia.
Fairplay, the end point was truly insightful. I am a young person, who has lived my life on the opposing side to the law, on many levels, one, which is another complete divisionary subject, which parts many people, mostly, the generations, is the fact that I have smoked cannabis since being young… Are we living in the age of prohibition, and lack of freedom of choices: Yes. Are we the future of freedom, strengthening of societies, of marriages, of belief in the human race, rather than God: Yes
Clearly, you didn’t watch the whole thing. Please try to use your head before you speak, that’s what it’s for.
If we lose our vocal chords from listening to music, then who the hell is singing in those songs if ur saying they dont have vocal chords??????
very insightful and so true, its easy to forget jus how extreme both sides are becoming, as he said, we have the pirates, who, due to their activities being against the law will go even deeper into the depths of piracy, and the government, who really are taking every step they can to ensure its all about money, nothing can be copied because the original artist may lose out on some money and not be payed royalties
great talk, great ideals
@Hufflewaffle
As Death says, it isn’t about bringing people together in a physical sense, it’s more about bringing people together in both a societal and emotional bond. Instead of singing songs on the porch you’re talking to your friend saying, “Hey man you totally need to check this video out.” I agree with your point that social interaction/contact is being ignored, however it is impossible to ignore the impact upon our society that such content has created.
A revival of neghborhood bonding? Perhaps not. But a revival of communal, social bonding? Unquestionably so.
The making of many videos may be individual, but the watching of said videos is perhaps the greatest collaboration of our time. Being a sock account used to hide your identity as you speak things you would not say publically, you may have missed it, BUT:
These videos can be sent on YT, featured on one’s page, linked to, pop up in blogs, vlogs, etc, and talked about.
Sitting on the lawn singing the songs of the day in Sousa’s time was a communal, socially bonding ritual. The implication that present day yoof’s remixing mash-up culture is some kind of grand revival of this folk tradition is flawed. These clips are mostly made by an individual alone. The result is mostly watched by individuals. There is very little collaboration between people in the presence of each other. I think this is an important aspect that has been overlooked.
highly polished talk, great structure
I agree with DavidWitalec. Artists need to make their money in new ways.
No need to protect the artists and Labels. If they all go bust, and new are of music creation will begin.
Music is, and will be from this age onward, FREE.
Music will survive.
I can see your point of view. However artistic people rarely have any business sense, and need to draw upon different skills to succeed. A record company will have operating costs like any other business, so it’s not all profit for nothing. They promote, advertise, administer…these are large costs. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like the controlling and packaging of trends that goes on, but you can look at it both ways.
Well the idea of purchasing a CD to support an artist is itself a foolish one. Publishers pay musicians a set fee and then sell however many albums and profit from that. Instead, artists make most of their money from shows, concerts and whatever else. So sharing music freely might even support artists because then music is more widespread and so are artists. If you argue that the recording artist industry must survive then I have to ask. Why? I think they no longer serve a purpose.
And once that system is in place, then there will no longer be any concern because the artists will be compensated. I agree with that entirely. That is all I ask is that the person who put forth the time and effort retan control over his/her work and be compensated for it as he/she sees fit.
95% of what is deemed ‘piracy’ has nothing to do with that sort of hypothetical situation. Simply record labels , film studios, and others who ‘copyright’ material need to think of new ways to protect and profit from their media. Sharing stuff online is not going to end, the industry needs to change. It is really a blessing to have so many people advertising and promoting your art, there just needs to be a system to make it profitable for everyone,especially the artist.
…deprives me of the interaction I would otherwise have had with people interested in working with me to create more content. Now, that piracy has cost me opportunity to ply my trade and enjoy my life.