Paul Graham has lost the plot
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Paul Graham has lost the plot
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Re: Paul Graham has lost the plot
#2So, some sort of modified Labor Theory of Value?
Re: Paul Graham has lost the plot
#3I agree with Paul in some respects. But I did feel that his analogy was a bit strange, although kind of creative.
Re: Paul Graham has lost the plot
#4So, some sort of modified Labor Theory of Value?
Not really, because no-one would argue that a creative work has more value just because it took longer/more work to produce. If that were true, people would value the hell out of Chinese Democracy.
Re: Paul Graham has lost the plot
#5So, some sort of modified Labor Theory of Value?
Not really, because no-one would argue that a creative work has more value just because it took longer/more work to produce. If that were true, people would value the hell out of Chinese Democracy.
My point is his whole argument consisted of an emotional appeal about a. the intention of the 'creator' and b. the cost of creating XYZ piece of 'IP' as defenses of copyright.
Re: Paul Graham has lost the plot
#6Good argument. I thought PG had some good points, but I also think that the problem is not only the RIAA and MPAA (among others), but it is our government, which is incapable of handling the complexity of copyright and trademark infringement issues without screwing up something. It is a terrible thing that the creators or copyrighted material are suffering.
But the biggest issue is that we have a means to transfer almost any audio or video data almost anywhere and copy it almost indefinitely. No matter what laws were created and will be created, they can't beat that force. Data is and/or will tend to be free, like it or not, and that has changed everything.
To solve this we all pay subscription fees for some music service and some video streaming service and hope that it all works out in the end. Why? Subscriptions don't inflict as much pain as paying for a song or video every time you want one. So they are the best way for the creators to get compensated.
Re: Paul Graham has lost the plot
#7Doesn't it cost money to produce the smell? As pg mentioned, if on the moon, they charged for smells because they had a delivery mechanism to ration the smell to you, wouldn't that be accounted for in their value offering?
The reason that point is important is because regardless of the value derived by the end user, it is the ability to extract value that counts for the producer. And when smell cannot be rationed, or music supply cannot be controlled, you change your model.
Re: Paul Graham has lost the plot
#8I haven't heard anyone articulate the problem better than PG. The analogy isn't perfect but it's sufficient. The point, Paul Graham says, is that in our history we've limited what we sell to what makes sense to sell.
Land used to make no sense to sell. Shit changes it now makes sense. Copies of music doesn't really make sense anymore either.
Re: Paul Graham has lost the plot
#9"The distribution might be virtually free, but the production certainly isn’t."
Well, all of the music available on iTunes, Amazon, and the Pirate Bay has already been produced, it just needs to be distributed.
If I want to pay for music to be produced, I use Kickstarter. (Or go to concerts, since playing a song live could be considered a new production)
It's a historical accident that we use charging for distribution of music to pay off debts incurred while producing the music.
Of course, paying 99cents to have my phone download a song in the background so I can play it in the next five minutes is worth it to me - cheaper than a cup of coffee, and I don't have to do any work. So the old system of charging for distribution isn't totally dead.
Re: Paul Graham has lost the plot
#10I viewed Paul's essay as more pragmatic than philosophical.
Whether or not there is some truth in the philosophical view that "illegal copying is theft", the reality is that the characteristics that make it easy to copy digital works makes it really difficulty to maintain a business model that relies on everyone paying for the bits they copy... as difficult as charging for smells.