Pixelated Semantics

A schizotypical inventory

The quiet revolution in cultural production

It's rare that Marxism would be still on anyone's agenda these days, but...

"Many people will produce creative content even outside what we can think of as the capitalist underpinnings of I.P. It's a small step to go from this to a Marxist revolution: The open source movement promises to put the means of creative production back in the hands of the people, not in the hands of those with capital."

Furthermore, the author describes a world where "the means of production are increasingly controlled by intellectual property", acknowledging that "dynamics exist for significant conflict" to arise - and the article's subject, Larry Lessig, has achieved possibily the first extension to Marx's definition of the significance of "means of production" since Baudrillard added the mass-media and production of information to the mix.

Mind you, the production of creative content without concern for capitalist IP constraints is exactly what a lot of us have been doing for many years, without fuss and philosophising to justify it: "copyleft" expresses only what is already underway. The point is, across our society, there are a lot of creative types doing a lot of valuable work without expectation of adequate recompense. Next time you stop by a writer's blog, for instance, consider the amount of unpaid effort they are making to sustain that site. This is a revolution, lack of funding or recognition is in no way hindering the spread of ideas: compare "Copyleft" with "Copyright" where the mainstream recognition and rewards will certainly mean an almost complete lack of ideation these days.

Item posted by AutoEditor at 9:37 am ::