New at Reason
From our May issue, Katherine Mangu-Ward reviews The Pirate’s Dilemma: How Youth Culture Is Reinventing Capitalism and explores the corporatization of pirate culture.
Comments to "New at Reason":
matt | April 9, 2008, 12:14pm | #
I read this book in an evening. Don't waste your time. It presupposes increasing prosperity over the next few years and rehashes a bunch of things you already know about pop culture.The Long Tail covers the same basic ground and is superior.
Geotpf | April 9, 2008, 1:07pm | #
Software copying (and by software, I mean anything that can be digitized, so that included video games, music, movies, TV shows, even books) proves that, with the right technology, communism can work.Hear me out.
What is open-source software except "common ownership of the means of production"? It's free and is made by people basically for free. Pirated movies and music is similar, in a way. It's really hard to charge for something that is available for free. In terms of digital content, a large amount of it is now basically free, because the cost to make more is nil, and the data can be freely copied. So, if the cost to make more content is nothing, the basic inefficiencies in a communistic system are irrelavent.
Now, this doesn't happen to non-digital real world things (cars, sofas, Pepsi)-yet. But the moment somebody invents a Star Trek-like replicator, Ford is going to have to starting suing people who replicate Mustangs. After a replicator is invented (assuming such is possible), the capitalistic economy as we know it will soon collapse. Of course, that's not going to happen any time soon.
GILMORE AKA RED BEARD THE DRUNKEN | April 9, 2008, 1:07pm | #
Aye, good arrrrrticle, thatGILMORE AKA RED BEARD THE DRUNKEN | April 9, 2008, 1:09pm | #
Now, this doesn't happen to non-digital real world things (cars, sofas, Pepsi)-yet.Arrrrrr, why does me ale tastes like... ones and zeros!?
ed | April 9, 2008, 1:12pm | #
How Youth Culture Is Reinventing CapitalismLame subtitle. Must have been added by a committee. Capitalism by its very nature is "reinvented" every second by all who participate in it, young and old.
Jamie Kelly | April 9, 2008, 1:41pm | #
Who gives a fuck about anything when Grand Theft Auto IV is fucking only fucking 20 fucking days a-fucking-way from fucking being fucking released?robc | April 9, 2008, 1:43pm | #
What is open-source software except "common ownership of the means of production"?Well, first thing it is is NOT THAT. Open-source software (at least the copyright) is owned by the creators of the software. The license allows you to use it in more ways ways than a closed source license, but if you violate the license, you lose your right to use it and/or can be sued. It is no different than closed source except for allowing the user to do more with it.
GILMORE AKA RED BEARD THE DRUNKEN | April 9, 2008, 1:44pm | #
ArrrrSay, matey, does they make a Grand Theft Booty??
Sargasso Sea Edition?
robc | April 9, 2008, 1:45pm | #
Before it comes up, Im going to rant, sort of a prerant.COPYRIGHT VIOLATION IS NOT THEFT
That is all.
ed | April 9, 2008, 1:45pm | #
Grand Theft Auto IV:Why Youth Culture Sucks So Much
In bookstores everywhere April 19.
Jamie Kelly | April 9, 2008, 1:47pm | #
No shit about that, ed.Can't wait for the howls coming from both the left and the right.
Meanwhile, I'll be fucking a hooker, blasting her head off and taking her money while looking for cops to make into burger when I mow over their fat asses.
Ooh, it's gonna be sweetness.
BakedPenguin | April 9, 2008, 1:48pm | #
After a replicator is invented (assuming such is possible), the capitalistic economy as we know it will soon collapse.No it won't. We all know there were credits in Star Trek. Credits! Oh, and Quatloos too.
I'm going to take this book, make a few personal modifications, and then print off the whole thing and sell it for a substantially lower cost.
mk | April 9, 2008, 1:58pm | #
My daughter, who just turned 12, enjoys ripping her favorite dvds to the computer and then chopping them up, editing them and adding her favorite mp3s to make her own videos. She then uploads them to YouTube to share with other kids.There are thousands of kids doing this. They aren't making any money off it, of course, but they are abusing the hell out of some copyrights. Where is the harm?
Episiarch | April 9, 2008, 1:59pm | #
No it won't. We all know there were credits in Star Trek. Credits! Oh, and Quatloos too.Only on DS9, I believe, and don't forget your "gold-pressed Latinum". God, I hate that show.
LarryA | April 9, 2008, 2:01pm | #
with the right technology, communism can work.Well, no.
If you define “communism” to mean “we don’t have to pay for stuff," then maybe. But if you use the communist definition of “no private property, the people own everything” then this isn’t communism. Everyone will have his or her own copy of Pirates, and use it as they want. The copies will simply be much less expensive. Under capitalism, this is not a new phenomenon. For instance, everyone used to have a basket or shopping bag they gathered groceries in. Then paper, and later plastic bags became so cheap to mass produce stores could provide them cheaply enough (the consumer cost included in overhead) that they became disposable.
So, if the cost to make more content is nothing, the basic inefficiencies in a communistic system are irrelevant.
Oh, those communists. The basic inefficiency in the real-world “communistic” systems had nothing to do with cost of production. It was always the cost of central government control.
After a replicator is invented (assuming such is possible), the capitalistic economy as we know it will soon collapse.
Perhaps. There is an SF short story written back when (can’t remember title or author right now) where the cunning aliens (long before Star Trek) give Earth a replicator, hoping to destroy the economy and make it easy to take over. The capitalist hero does a quick WTF, and decides they’ll simply have to stop mass-producing items. In the future, economic rewards will flow to those who provide unique products, not those who go basic.
In a way, this is already happening. The typical product cycle is, 1. invent new technology, say a cell phone, for wealthy people. 2. Mass produce it cheaply enough to encourage everyone to adopt one. 3. Get them cheap enough to provide “free” with a service contract. 4. Then specialize. Once the market is saturated in basic cell phones, make one that will text, or take photos, or is purple. Then one that will do all three. 5. Then start building them into other products. (OnStar) And so forth.
Absent government interference, capitalism always finds a way.
Brandybuck | April 9, 2008, 2:07pm | #
Digital information is different from material goods. It can be reproduced exactly for infinitesimal cost. This means that Free Software is not like a village commons, as it is impossible to overgraze Free Software. This isn't communism in the least, because those of us who release their software for free do so voluntarily. It's no more communist than a potluck.For a libertarian leaning view on Free Software and copyrights, see: "Philosophies of Free Software and Intellectual Property".
Taktix® | April 9, 2008, 3:18pm | #
ArrrrSay, matey, does they make a Grand Theft Booty??
Sargasso Sea Edition?
There's Sid Meyers Pirates! but you might find it a little tame by comparison...
On Jamie Kelly | April 9, 2008, 5:27pm | #
That fuckin' fucker is fuckin' fucked!Hey This book looks pretty great. Does anyone have a torrent for it?
Sargasso Bill | April 10, 2008, 8:03am | #
BoingBoing linked to a talk given by the author of this the other day at some conference or other. I'm far too lazy to go get a link for you fucks.(And yes, quatloos were in the original series. Remember Kirk & Spock fighting with those stick-things?)