3 ms·

The key difference between the tyranny of "costless copies" and slavery is the arrow of time. The work is already done, but it was done with a hope that somethi

The key difference between the tyranny of "costless copies" and slavery is the arrow of time. The work is already done, but it was done with a hope that something might become of it. I guess (to follow in this long-held tradition of contriving emotional pleas in defense or against intellectual property) this isn't entirely unlike pulling out of a war. There's a deep repugnance to the notion that thousands of people have given their lives in vain, and that the hope which drove them was never fulfilled. Yet we would never mistake their sacrifice as slavery nor even tantamount to it, because of the chronology. The fact that for the 20th century, the economy of movies and the tastes of the consumer were so consistently aligned that tinseltown could churn dozens of hundred-million dollar artistic edifices on a regular basis is remarkable and profound. And indeed, it'd be tragic if the advent of the digital age meant that cinema were done for—and all we had in its place was a hundred million amateur Vines and YouTube videos.

ticviking 12y ago
That's just it, the arrow of time. It makes all the difference in the world. A slave is made to work with no promise of recompense, and is denied their autonomy. It is a state defined by dehumanization and coercion. Slaves have a very small decision tree, ("do as they are told" OR ("be beaten" AND ("Do as they are told" OR "Be killed for insubordination") OR "Try and escape and hope you're not killed for it") When they worked, someone took the RISK, that they could somehow make a profit selling copies of the work to the public. They paid the employees, either in cash, or as an agreed upon share of any profits. It is no different than a VC taking a risk, that I will like Vine enough to buy whatever their in-app purchase is. The fact that a "costless copy" exists does not introduce an element of coercion to the risk the producer is taking, all it does is increase the risk. Pretending that copying is the same as theft was already ridiculous, doing so with slavery borders on the offensive.

ticviking 12y ago

That's just it, the arrow of time. It makes all the difference in the world. A slave is made to work with no promise of recompense, and is denied their autonomy. It is a state defined by dehumanization and coercion. Slaves have a very small decision tree, ("do as they are told" OR ("be beaten" AND ("Do as they are told" OR "Be killed for insubordination") OR "Try and escape and hope you're not killed for it") When they worked, someone took the RISK, that they could somehow make a profit selling copies of the work to the public. They paid the employees, either in cash, or as an agreed upon share of any profits. It is no different than a VC taking a risk, that I will like Vine enough to buy whatever their in-app purchase is. The fact that a "costless copy" exists does not introduce an element of coercion to the risk the producer is taking, all it does is increase the risk. Pretending that copying is the same as theft was already ridiculous, doing so with slavery borders on the offensive.