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These and other obvious mistakes show the author does not understand the fundamentals of the information age. While old media produces sequel after unoriginal s

These and other obvious mistakes show the author does not understand the fundamentals of the information age. While old media produces sequel after unoriginal sequel of movies, and clone musicians to push on us, the information age has spawned a new age of creativity. The incumbents can no longer keep down the truly creative because distribution costs have gone down so much. The internet has saved culture from monotone salvages of the old media, and sparked creativity in the new.

theblackbox 17y ago
Very well put. I recently got hold of a very interesting book[1] that was all about how the "free press" effectively seek to raise the cost of production/distribution so as to stifle the voice of independent publishers and how this has lead to the conglomeration of media outlets under very specific political banners (and even shaped politics itself). Unfortunately, mine was an old copy, but it has since been heavily updated for the internet era. I doubt it shares your optimism, though I would certainly like to. I try to keep my eyes open for inde/underground publications[2] now, as I have a much better appreciation of their work. [1: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Power-without-Responsibility-Broadcasting-Britain/dp/0415243904/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263304774&sr=8-7 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Power-without-Responsibility-Broadca...] [2: one I've become aware of recently - Dodgem Logic (http://www.dodgemlogic.com/ http://www.dodgemlogic.com/) that are very deliberately subversive. I think one of the guys out of The League Of Gentlemen is involved.]
rdtsc 17y ago
> The internet has saved culture from monotone salvages of the old media That's why whenever I hear about "piracy is killing the big production companies" and am thinking "and that would be bad because...?" They have been shoving junk down people's throats (or should I say "eyes" and "ears") for so many years, they make artists sign draconian contracts, etc, etc. If they disappear, I'll be alright with it.
tokenadult 17y ago
The internet has saved culture from monotone salvages of the old media, and sparked creativity in the new. What are some of your favorite examples of creativity in new media, which in your view were not possible before the information age?
- natmaster 17y ago
  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ http://www.techcrunch.com/ http://www.techcrunch.com/ http://redvsblue.com/home.php http://redvsblue.com/home.php http://www.purepwnage.com/ http://www.purepwnage.com/ And for music...well maybe this is niche for me, but I like http://www.jonathancoulton.com/ http://www.jonathancoulton.com/ And things like this are really only possible now: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5482774 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5482774
- natmaster 17y ago
  Not to mention hacker news.... ;)
cschwarm 17y ago
"While old media produces sequel after unoriginal sequel of movies, and clone musicians to push on us, the information age has spawned a new age of creativity." A common rationalization, but I believe, it's a straw men argument. For who's really interested in "creativity"? Maybe you and a few more others, but hardly the majority. For example: Let's assume, there's been a law ten years ago that allowded anybody to redistribute a published movie. Is it conceivable to think anybody would have invested money to make a movie since then? Only a small minority, maybe. The majority of movies, however, would have never been produced. We wouldn't have seen neither the Spiderman series, nor Lord of the rings, nor most other movies that were popular on the file sharing networks. In reality, these movies were made and millions of people worldwide spend money to see them. That looks like proof, millions of people wanted to see them! The majority of people don't care whether a work is "creative". It's not the job of the media industries to foster "truely creative" works. The industry's job is financing, filtering, and informing about creative works. Therefore, the "creative" argument is a straw men argument.

theblackbox 17y ago

Very well put. I recently got hold of a very interesting book[1] that was all about how the "free press" effectively seek to raise the cost of production/distribution so as to stifle the voice of independent publishers and how this has lead to the conglomeration of media outlets under very specific political banners (and even shaped politics itself). Unfortunately, mine was an old copy, but it has since been heavily updated for the internet era. I doubt it shares your optimism, though I would certainly like to. I try to keep my eyes open for inde/underground publications[2] now, as I have a much better appreciation of their work. [1: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Power-without-Responsibility-Broadcasting-Britain/dp/0415243904/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263304774&sr=8-7 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Power-without-Responsibility-Broadca...] [2: one I've become aware of recently - Dodgem Logic (http://www.dodgemlogic.com/ http://www.dodgemlogic.com/) that are very deliberately subversive. I think one of the guys out of The League Of Gentlemen is involved.]

rdtsc 17y ago

> The internet has saved culture from monotone salvages of the old media That's why whenever I hear about "piracy is killing the big production companies" and am thinking "and that would be bad because...?" They have been shoving junk down people's throats (or should I say "eyes" and "ears") for so many years, they make artists sign draconian contracts, etc, etc. If they disappear, I'll be alright with it.

tokenadult 17y ago

The internet has saved culture from monotone salvages of the old media, and sparked creativity in the new. What are some of your favorite examples of creativity in new media, which in your view were not possible before the information age?

natmaster 17y ago
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ http://www.techcrunch.com/ http://www.techcrunch.com/ http://redvsblue.com/home.php http://redvsblue.com/home.php http://www.purepwnage.com/ http://www.purepwnage.com/ And for music...well maybe this is niche for me, but I like http://www.jonathancoulton.com/ http://www.jonathancoulton.com/ And things like this are really only possible now: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5482774 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5482774
natmaster 17y ago
Not to mention hacker news.... ;)

cschwarm 17y ago

"While old media produces sequel after unoriginal sequel of movies, and clone musicians to push on us, the information age has spawned a new age of creativity." A common rationalization, but I believe, it's a straw men argument. For who's really interested in "creativity"? Maybe you and a few more others, but hardly the majority. For example: Let's assume, there's been a law ten years ago that allowded anybody to redistribute a published movie. Is it conceivable to think anybody would have invested money to make a movie since then? Only a small minority, maybe. The majority of movies, however, would have never been produced. We wouldn't have seen neither the Spiderman series, nor Lord of the rings, nor most other movies that were popular on the file sharing networks. In reality, these movies were made and millions of people worldwide spend money to see them. That looks like proof, millions of people wanted to see them! The majority of people don't care whether a work is "creative". It's not the job of the media industries to foster "truely creative" works. The industry's job is financing, filtering, and informing about creative works. Therefore, the "creative" argument is a straw men argument.