4 ms·

German magazine says intellectuals rejecting Pirate Party

10 points by codesuela 14y ago

cabalamat 14y ago
So are technologists and computer scientists not intellectuals these days?
- onli 14y ago
  No, not at all, not here. Well, of course some are, and maybe the german connotation is different. But an intellectual may very well be anti-technological, but a computer scientist don't have to be intellectual. For example, the cliche(!) computer scientist doesn't read the high literature or makes philosophical statements about the state of society (i know that some do, but that's not necessarily the image the majority of society has).
  - emmelaich 14y ago
    'intellectual' has the whiff of the pejorative in most places these days. And has for quite a while.
kevingadd 14y ago
It sounds like in this case 'intellectuals' is another word for 'media creators who don't understand the internet'.
- moe 14y ago
  That about sums it up. Many older, non-technical people (where "older" can start as low as 35) have trouble reasoning about this subject even though they're perfectly capable of complex thinking otherwise. They simply don't believe that you can't technically ban file-sharing, not even reduce it, short of shutting down the internet (which nobody wants). Case in point: All of the largest bodies in media have been putting all their weight behind stopping "piracy" for the past decade. But they're not even making a dent[1]. I've had some moderate success explaining this to non-technical non-pirates in very long and repetitive discussions, with lots of graphic examples such as "grabbing water" or "how would you ban certain words to be said on the telephone?". This mind-gap is extremely widespread and more than once I've wished I could have pointed them to a blog-post (a "manifesto", if you will) that does nothing but explain in the clearest terms (with pictures!) today's reality of P2P filesharing and why the genie is not going back into the bottle. [1] http://asset3.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2011/07/08/1996_610x648.jpg http://asset3.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2011/07/08/1996_6...
fleitz 14y ago
Well if intellectuals say something then it must be true. I don't think an intellectual has ever been wrong before and especially not en masse. This article should be retitled: "People who think they benefit from copyright are against the party that wants to abolish it"
wheels 14y ago
The original article(s) were better (and Spiegel translated them to English and put them up on its International section): http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,827877,00.html http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,827877,00... http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,828588,00.html http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,828588,... Also note that Spiegel isn't just a German magazine, it's probably the most influential news magazine in Germany (circulation of over a million, compared to e.g. 1.5 million for The Economist or Newsweek).
paulhauggis 14y ago
"also created Flattr, a startup that makes it easier for people to financially support websites they like." Let's not forget that he's fine with taking away revenue from people actually creating content. flattr charges 10%, which is absurd.
paulhauggis 14y ago
"We derive our demands from the technical realities of the Net" I would like to see them create photoshop (not copy it, make it). How about windows? Anybody? If you can't do this, there is still demand.

10 points by codesuela 14y ago

cabalamat 14y ago

So are technologists and computer scientists not intellectuals these days?

onli 14y ago
No, not at all, not here. Well, of course some are, and maybe the german connotation is different. But an intellectual may very well be anti-technological, but a computer scientist don't have to be intellectual. For example, the cliche(!) computer scientist doesn't read the high literature or makes philosophical statements about the state of society (i know that some do, but that's not necessarily the image the majority of society has).
- emmelaich 14y ago
  'intellectual' has the whiff of the pejorative in most places these days. And has for quite a while.

kevingadd 14y ago

It sounds like in this case 'intellectuals' is another word for 'media creators who don't understand the internet'.

moe 14y ago
That about sums it up. Many older, non-technical people (where "older" can start as low as 35) have trouble reasoning about this subject even though they're perfectly capable of complex thinking otherwise. They simply don't believe that you can't technically ban file-sharing, not even reduce it, short of shutting down the internet (which nobody wants). Case in point: All of the largest bodies in media have been putting all their weight behind stopping "piracy" for the past decade. But they're not even making a dent[1]. I've had some moderate success explaining this to non-technical non-pirates in very long and repetitive discussions, with lots of graphic examples such as "grabbing water" or "how would you ban certain words to be said on the telephone?". This mind-gap is extremely widespread and more than once I've wished I could have pointed them to a blog-post (a "manifesto", if you will) that does nothing but explain in the clearest terms (with pictures!) today's reality of P2P filesharing and why the genie is not going back into the bottle. [1] http://asset3.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2011/07/08/1996_610x648.jpg http://asset3.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2011/07/08/1996_6...

fleitz 14y ago

Well if intellectuals say something then it must be true. I don't think an intellectual has ever been wrong before and especially not en masse. This article should be retitled: "People who think they benefit from copyright are against the party that wants to abolish it"

wheels 14y ago

The original article(s) were better (and Spiegel translated them to English and put them up on its International section): http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,827877,00.html http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,827877,00... http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,828588,00.html http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,828588,... Also note that Spiegel isn't just a German magazine, it's probably the most influential news magazine in Germany (circulation of over a million, compared to e.g. 1.5 million for The Economist or Newsweek).

paulhauggis 14y ago

"also created Flattr, a startup that makes it easier for people to financially support websites they like." Let's not forget that he's fine with taking away revenue from people actually creating content. flattr charges 10%, which is absurd.

paulhauggis 14y ago

"We derive our demands from the technical realities of the Net" I would like to see them create photoshop (not copy it, make it). How about windows? Anybody? If you can't do this, there is still demand.