Created Saturday 05 January 2013
With Christmas loot to blow, I took the plunge and purchased an ereader; the e-ink kind. (Very easy on the eyes, I love it.) Naturally, I shot on over to Project Gutenberg to pick up a few titles. Some Nietzsche, Cory Doctorow, Don Quixote, The Art of War, The Complete Works of Shakespeare, etc. Because, why not. Quick click, download, and done.
That's when I got it again, a chill down my spine, but the good kind. Familiar. May I never be desensitized.
It's a little reminder that we are living in the most exciting time in history.
A long time ago, I read a science fiction story whose main plot escapes me, but what I do remember is that it involved one man going on a very very long trip through space. It would would take hundreds, maybe thousands, of years. Technology had solved the longevity question, along with a more interesting one — the issue of how he would spend that time in transit. Not to worry, because onboard was a computer that was loaded with a copy of every book, every movie, every song, every cultural artifact known to earthlings at the time. He would be informed and entertained for years.
The story simultaneously excited and disappointed me. I was first exhilirated by the thought of such a library, and after, saddened — because I was certain that such a thing was impossible.
As they say, that was then, and this is now.
Not that she can read yet, but right now, today, I can literally put a library in my daughter's hands. A new book to read every night,if she wanted, for 15 years. In a $100 device (plus $10 for an 8 gb memory card) that roughly conforms to the weight and dimensions of a bathroom tile.
Fortunately, I'm also in a position to be able pay the licensing fees for that particular, unfortunately large, subset of books that are presently encumbered with copyright restrictions.
But what if I (or you) couldn't? What then?
Well, it's pretty well known now. Practically, it's possible (and often easier) to obtain these works for no cost at all — through channels such as Bittorrent, filelockers, and other p2p methods. Roughly all of the beautiful, amazing, intelligent, life-changing artifacts that mankind has produced are available, for free, right now, to anyone in possession of a device that accesses the Internet-at-large.
This, despite what many would say, is the GOOD part about the Internet.
Again, a genuine question. Would you allow "dead-tree" copyright laws to get in the way of your kid's (possibly limitless) potential for learning and growth?
What saddens me today is that most discussions of this — an irreversible condition that isn't merely a part of the internet, but instead, the very core of its function — tend to devolve into a nitpick-fest loaded with dated concepts like "piracy" and "incentives." — as if the thirst for knowledge and satisfaction and entertainment were the attentional equivalent of flu symptoms; human quirks to be managed (and perhaps exploited) via market-approved products.
No.
We are in the midst of mankind's greatest achievement to date. The connection of all minds, of all valuable human creation is not a thing that should be taken lightly. It is not a thing to always be "monetized," and it sure as hell should not be criminalized.
It is to be encouraged, grown, and celebrated, and frankly, it's why I do what I do.