From: Rüdiger Koch (rkoch@rkoch.org)
Date: Sat Mar 30 2002 - 16:16:36 MST
Predictability breaks down in a Singularity. Actually, some things can be
predicted. One of them is that scarcity economies like we know them will be
obsolete. I find it a bit paradoxical that many on this list seem to have
capitalism in their blood.
On Saturday 30 March 2002 20:52, you wrote:
> Rüdiger Koch wrote:
> Thought experiment: name some famous Russian classical
> composers. Just the biggies, ones that you can think of
> without looking at your CD collection:
>
> Rachmaninoff. Tchaikovsky. Shostakovich. Prokoviev.
> Nikolai Rimski-Korsakov. Stravinski. Maiskovski.
Let me counter with two German and one Austrian composers.
The first got paid for playing the organ during the service. At his time
composers did their work for the honor of God, not for the cash. Yet his work
was a quantum leap in music history that dwarves all the composers you named.
His "Das wohltemperierte Klavier" and "Die Kunst der Fuge" is the foundation
upon which western music and western music theory rests.
The second actually got paid for some of his music. He had a day job at the
palace in Vienna. But his music was actually composed against the
establishment. So he decided for his music, against the wealth. He never saw
a single Schilling for most of his works. Yet a lot of people consider him
the Master of the Masters. He died in absolute poverty with an age of
30something.
The third also lived in Vienna most of the time on the pocket money of 3
friends of his music. With him, the classic era ended and IMHO also peaked.
For me, his music is on a level that has never been reached again. Absolute
Musik!
These days a lot, really a lot more money is available for artists in
Germany. But what comes out? Name one German speaking musician of this
century who stands tall enough to reach the knees of those 3.
> I guess I am arguing that intellectual property is a good
> thing. If we wanna play, we gotta pay. spike
IP is taken way too serious. Man, what if Planck's heirs would charge
everybody who dares to use quantum mechanics? What if every engineer would
have to pay royalties to Cambridge because nothing they do would be possible
without his work? Every use of electricity should include a penny for
Maxwell? How dare we cash in on the expense of those upon who's shoulders we
stand? Our part in our intellectual 'property' is a tiny one, even if we're
geniusses.
I don't care if Britney cashes in big time, however - she is meaningless. But
software and science is like a building. It can't get higher if setting new
blocks on older ones is breaching IP. American ideas of IP threaten to bring
progress itself to a grinding halt and drown everything in law suits.
Sometimes I wonder if some in the US Senate even intends this. Stuff for
conspiration theories against the Singularity ;)
-- Rüdiger Koch http://rkoch.org Mobile: +49-179-1101561
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 09:13:09 MST