November 07, 2007
In the comments to the previous post on the writers strike, Pete Zactiev makes an analogy to computer engineers work on software like LINUX. Pointing out ( I think) that the writers are generally not the creators of these shows and are analogous to someone tweaking a computer OS the writers case by writing episodes.
I don't think this exactly follows. The writers are doing the actual creation of the shows, without them there is no marketable product. A software engineer is an engineer. He/she gets the program which is essentially a customizable machine or toolkit. The kit IS the finished product. The IT person then uses the kit/program to fit to the needs of their employer.
However, his is an interesting analogy. It certainly follows certain recent trends and that bothers me.
Nations that don't have strong intellectual property protections CAN of course produce scads of stuff.
But they have, internally, serious disincentives to actually create anything beyond refinements of existing products. Despite some cursory enforcement China is piracy central and this is in no way limited to digital media.
This is potentially a huge issue. I firmly believe that one of the reasons the "West" leapfrogged everybody else was that those nations tended to have strong IP laws. Those nonwestern nations that adopted such ideas succeeded and those that didn't fell behind
Invention and progress depend upon intellectual property law. The reason this nation prospered was because it was friendly to creators. The founding fathers, included several writers, Jefferson and others were inventors, Washington was a civil engineer and Franklin was all of the above. They were renaissance men. They made sure that the nation rewarded its creative individuals with royalties or somesuch. In fact the founders 14yr + 14yr copyright which is used to argue for not extending copyright must be taken in context with the 33 year average lifespan of the day. The founders were sure enough that this was important and both Federalist and Republican governments built this up over the ensuing 20 years or so.
This concept is largely responsible for the historic aberration that is the modern world. Given the nature of digital media such concepts may be untenable, but we should tread lightly for we abandon them at our peril.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
05:32 PM
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I agree with you on this point. I still think that anyone who assists on a project like Lynix should get a slice of the pie as well, but kevetching because you chose not to ask for it and someone else did is just sour grapes.
Martyrdom only goes so far.
Posted by: Marina at Sat Nov 10 18:52:54 2007 (z3dTy)
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