Posts by Sacha

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  • Hard News: Friday Media Bag,

    a private track and the entrance is disguised

    Had a Famous Five flash there for a second. Off to find ginger beer.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Up Front: The Missionary Position,

    a bunch of mostly altruistic behaviors, that are the glue that hold us, a social animal, together

    As someone said upthread, I think you're talking about community.

    Spirituality to me is a connection with something bigger, including the natural world and the wonder that others have talked about. That can mean different things to each of us, and I don't think there's any problem saying that - unlike relativism in other areas.

    Spirituality is not religion and it is not a substitute for community, although it is often invoked as part of social enforcement mechanisms as Rob says.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Casino,

    Ben, I fear the imposition in e-books of music industry DRM and similar nuttiness, which will not enhance the interests of either creators or consumers. It would also hurt the business, the same as it has with music.

    New ways of connecting people with content are evolving to replace traditional marketing and distribution. That includes negotiating quality in ways that harness peer evaluation where Amazon have been leaders. I don't know much about the Kindle, but I imagine it taking advatnage of that leadership.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Casino,

    Actually, saddlemakers *didnt* adapt - furniture-makers were already there, and the kind of upholstry they did, was way outside of just leather

    Fair point. What did all the saddlemakers do instead? Curious.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Casino,

    The other danger is that there is a proliferation of red tape

    Not with our Rodney on the job..

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Casino,

    Ben, I worry that if the big conversation about this is not steered intelligently in the interests of creators and consumers, then e-books will not be fine.

    I agree e-books are inevitable. The concerns of authors like Islander are sensible, and it seems wise to protect their position until arrangements shake out. People do get hurt during big changes.

    However, when the audience increasingly overlaps the authors then we have many interests in common. To find a way through, we need to understand the terrain and we need to act together.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Casino,

    What Stephen said. When you take a longer view it is about transport, or about storytelling. The arrangements change.

    Being digital is fundamentally different (as Shirky explains so well and as Negroponte illuminated over a decade ago). DMCA and similar statutes had to add preventing circumvention to previous IP arrangements.

    We have not worked out ways to make things fair for creators and most of the noise is being made by middlemen who see their cut disappearing.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Casino,

    Please do elaborate on why you don't rate the analogy.

    I doubt many would argue that blacksmiths are as prevalent now as before the invention of the car, or that their income streams are protected by the same confluence of culture and technology and economics.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Casino,

    Helfpul? I imagine saddle makers thought similarly about horseless carriages.

    I'm sure they came to realise there was still a need for upholstery - just not organised in the same way as it had been, one rider at a time. The change caused disruption and loss of traditional work.

    Ultimately, it was not really their choice any more than the move away from horseshoes was at the behest of blacksmiths or the printing press was the preference of scribes.

    Someone still needs to tell the stories, but the way of sharing them and of funding their creators and couriers changes throughout human history.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Hard News: Friday Media Bag,

    I got that.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

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