Atdtda22: [42.2ii] The empty suburban lamplight, 614

[kelber at mindspring.com]

The current Writers Guild of America touches on this.  The sticking point for negotiations:  Studios and larger entities (the"powers that be") charge money for people to download live streams of movies and TV shows.  The WGA believes writers of these shows should get a larger cut than the pittance they're currently offered.  What's interesting to me is that both sides (the "evil ruling class" and the "level playing field democratic people," as you call them) have an adversarial relationship to the artists (musicians, writers, etc.)  The Evils want to profiteer off of them, the Levels want to take away all profits.  With piracy, file sharing, etc., it's a moot point in many ways: books, music and film/TV are widely available.  Books are probably the safest from this,[see the earlier "dangerous technology" posting today]because many enjoy the aesthetic and tactile appeal of a printed book. Going to a movie theater is also an experience that can be enjoyed apart from the content of the film.  But TV shows and music rely more on content (I think) than on the social or sensual experiences associated with them (excepting concerts, which account for small percentages of listeners). If the Levels have their way, art will truly be for art's sake.  Good or bad?  I don't know.

The (rambling)point is, if the digital technologies have become the battleground between autocrats and anarchists, who's on the side of the artists?

Laura

-----Original Message-----
>From: "grladams at teleport.com" <grladams at teleport.com>
>Sent: Nov 20, 2007 12:19 PM
>To: kelber at mindspring.com, pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: Re: Atdtda22: [42.2ii] The empty suburban lamplight, 614
>
>Can we reflect on this for a moment. I've been experiencing anxiety about
>"the system" of digital technologies. The digital content people who are
>evil want to see us pay-- alot-- for each time we hear a song, read an
>article, talk to one another, while the social level playing field
>democratic people want us to be able to find these things without obstacles
>too high for anyone to overcome cheaply. The evil ruling class of digital
>technologies makes us have to buy a lot of gadgets to hook together an
>experience that exists almost for free in the analogue or public form,
>a-and click on a cart and whip out our credit card to download it to a
>device we'll have to view with a viewer. Buy the cord, the set, the cable,
>the storage medium, the container.. No matter that it can be distributed
>far from it's shelf in the Patent office or Microfilm box.. I'm interested
>in the implication of making it unprofitable for the powers that be. I
>think this and the posts earlier on the loss of the disapearing free
>treasure trove of digital content on M&D make me want to say thank you to
>all the list for distributing free treasures. May it continue, 
>
>Jill
> 
>
>Original Message:
>-----------------
>From:  kelber at mindspring.com
>Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2007 22:58:39 -0500 (EST)
>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: Re: Atdtda22: [42.2ii] The empty suburban lamplight, 614
>It's not so much electrical light, as it is the controlling of light by
>"the system," that's evil.  Edison profiteering by being the servant of the
>ruling class, at the expense of renegades like Tesla.  And in GR, Byron the
>Bulb haplessly struggling to give electricity over to the people by making
>it unprofitable for the powers that be.
>
>Laura
>
>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>
>
>
>>Once again, I'll risk reductionism by suggesting:
>> 
>>Natural light is almost always a positive in AtD.
>>Electric light is almost always not. 
>
>
>
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