I just spent some time meeting with the nice folks at Change Congress yesterday and they’ve been good enough to let me pitch in a few days a week – starting next week. Very excited to be joining the effort.
Lessig: A Recap
For the technologists in the crowd the name Lessig invokes angel song and heavenly bells. Along with halos, cherubs and other god-related finery. Lessig spent ten very productive years dealing with copyright, intellectual property, the internet, and other leading edge tech issues. I may have already impressed on you the strength of his reputation in this area but any good point is worth making again – and again – and even again and then maybe once or twice more[1. I picked this up from the George Bush Presidential School of Rhetoric - semesters 1&2 in 2000 & 2004. The guy stays on msg - maybe because it's all he's got. But it fucking worked; with frightening effectiveness.].
Laboring at the epistemological grindstone and honing a sharp edge
His early paper – Regulation of Social Meaning – is worth earthing up and digging into, I see it as a foundation for what follows. Remember DOJ v. M$? The Hon. Penfield Jackson picked Lessig to pull together a report on Microsoft for the government’s antitrust case. He has been the preeminent technology thinker of the last 10 years, evidenced by his prolific writings and the creation of Creative Commons. The big picture: he’s created compelling arguments that (1) we’re all better off when we embrace the commons and (2) that current policy favors concentrated interests over the general welfare…
Amongst those who aren’t paid to think otherwise – his ideas have won[2. In the field of human thought there have yet to be any absolute victories. Sure, we've had some solid wins - mere existences seems tough to defeat. Basic logic? Pretty solid. Gravity? I wouldn't bet against it - unless I got the right odds. It is worth noting a few things: the openness and malleability of human cognition, the range of beliefs that can be held, the ability to sustain a high degree of internal hypocrisy, the almost absolute lack of absolute consensus and that everlasting foothold for doubt. Philosophy has been a brutal battlefield - you'll have those who attempt to build something up and then someone like Hume runs by and knocks it all down... So it goes.]
But a funny thing happened on the path to victory. He lost.
He took his copyright argument to the Supreme Court – and lost. He gained as much traction as one possibly can in the intellectual arena short of entering a Ghandi-level orbital… and, in a limited but important sense, he lost again.
So… WTF happened?
Our economy of influence is driven by those who have their hands on the wheel. And right now we’re running a pay to steer program and we’re headed straight for a ditch.
SALE! Steer US anywhere you want for $5.00!!!!!!
What happened? That’s what happened.
Here’s a more eloquent version from Lessig.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_obGaWfkDgs]
I’m scared Mommy.
Uh, me too. Corruption has evolved relative to our defenses against it. Fortunately we have the opportunity to create a new set of tools to offset some of that corruption and to aim the mechanisms of public decision making back in favor of net social welfare.
That’s Impossible!
Impossible? If I read correctly, we had a revolution. and won. We distributed rights more equitably. We freed a lot of people[3. Marvin Gaye - cheesy youtube vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_OqdHMoTxE&feature=related.]. Oh yeah, we also went to the moon. Invented the transitor, the internet and some other stuff – like flubber[4. We may not have actually invented this yet. But when we do I'm looking forward to watching Robin Williams in the NBA.]. Our “reason and spirit have often solved the seemingly unsolvable–and we believe they can do it again[5. JFK. Knocking out one of my favorite speeches of all time. I can't recommend it highly enough - definitely worth 27 minutes of listening.].”
We’re the people. Let’s change this shit.
Learn more at Change-Congress.org. Or do your own thing, but let’s get moving.
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