I've been reading Jaron Lanier's "I Am Not A Gadget." It's partly a deeply felt critique, partly heartfelt yell of rage at a lot of what the interweb is become. I recommend reading it, if only because it's the only place where I've seen philosophical questions asked about where we are all going with technology, how we can control it and what choices we are able to make about what happens. A much more interesting and human perspective than the along-for-the-ride techno-utopianism of the high priests (wired, techcrunch, clayshirky). The second best book I've read recently (this is the best: Observer review: 1599 by James Shapiro | Books | The Observer).
Some of what Lanier says is interesting because it takes issue with the accepted wisdom in a lot of particulars. He contends that free models don't work in the long run because the creators of content don't make any money, to be creative requires money, and no good internet-based model has emerged to pay such people. Lanier is particularly concerned about musicians, but the argument applies more generally. So we start to ask questions about whether "free" and cloud sourced is inevitable and positive as the priests would have it, or contestable and of questionable benefit in Lanier's thinking. Well, there's more nuance in taking the second part..
It is of course more than a little arrogant of Shirky to claim that Rupert Murdoch doesn't "get it" when he attempts to erect pay walls around his media empire. You don't have to like Murdoch to realise he's a shrewd and brilliant operator willing to take big risks. But arrogance is the stock-in-trade of any priesthood. Well, if that's what he wants to think, he may have a rude awakening as the major publishers and Apple co-operate to build content that people are willing to pay for.
No comments:
Post a Comment