tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15644559.post6096025304603992767..comments2024-03-21T03:55:51.565-07:00Comments on Omniorthogonal: Word and concept of the day: agalmicsmtravenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02356162954308418556noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15644559.post-22526461799041294502009-04-29T22:22:00.000-07:002009-04-29T22:22:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15644559.post-4396688028069932592009-04-07T19:39:00.000-07:002009-04-07T19:39:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15644559.post-15971255094721955272009-04-07T19:38:00.000-07:002009-04-07T19:38:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15644559.post-32311340799136972012007-06-28T15:42:00.000-07:002007-06-28T15:42:00.000-07:00It's a problem that has plagued creative endeavors...It's a problem that has plagued creative endeavors since the dawn of the industrial age. It's gotten really bad since the postwar era.<BR/><BR/>The music business has been like that for a long time. The arts business too.<BR/><BR/>Humans want to express themselves creatively. We're willing, even eager, to do so without pay. It's the essence of humanity. The question becomes: how do we eat then? There are lots of clever solutions, usually involving selling the tools of creation (i.e. PC's, musical instruments, art supplies), or making something creative which can be used for the production of something else (i.e. writing custom software to automate business processes, or licensing jingles or commercials or movie soundtracks), that is then in turn used to make money.<BR/><BR/>But I think it is the wrong question. The question that I prefer to ask is: why is it a zero-sum game in the first place? Why is the exploitation of scarcity (as in the case of environmental destruction) or its artificial creation (as in patents/copyrights or the monetization of all social exchange) required for survival? I understand why competition is good, but why has it become necessary for everything?<BR/><BR/>And that is a problem as old as money.<BR/><BR/>The only answer I've found is: because banks have a monopoly on money, and make it artificially scarce. The solution that seems to have most promise so far, is to create Open Source money. Basically, take Stallman's ideas, and extend them to the field of money.<BR/><BR/>I've been recommending Bernard Lietaer's book "The Future of Money" for years. It is a real eye-opener.<BR/><BR/>By the way, the people who farm potatoes are in the same bind as the people who write software. How many family farms are there in 21st-Century America? Can one make a living farming potatoes any more easily than by writing free software?<BR/><BR/>Sure, potatoes will never reproduce themselves, but there must be other ways for people who want to farm potatoes, or write software, to make a decent living doign what they love.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com