TED Talk about Law Hindering Creativity

Hands down, copyright law’s sole purpose is to protect the work of an author so that copies cannot be made and redistributed as the work of another author.  As I’ve seen in today’s world, it is not so much the coping of ideas and material to rename as one’s own, but to use bits and pieces of other author’s work to create something entirely new.  The shade of grey occurs when authors have not entirely make it their own, at least by the original author’s standards.  From my perspective, I hardly see that as criminal.  Perhaps a repetition of offenses of coping someone else’s work is criminal, but in my opinion a first offense shouldn’t be.  Its not like the offender is stealing, robbing, or killing, all crimes that are universally seen as wrong.  In “kids'” eyes, snagging different media from the internet and making something new out of it is hardly a crime compared to the three named above.

Carr vs Shirky convo

Shirky:  The mass media immediately available on the web promotes creativity and allows sharing for the betterment of society, right?

Carr:  Well, if mass amounts of media are all known to the human mind, each person would be all knowing, therefore would know what is better for them as well as for society as a whole.

Shirky: You bring up a valid point, but that is hypothetical, right? I mean, no person yet, is all knowing.

Carr: As we speak, the creators of Google spend countless hours on the difficult problem of artificial intelligence.  Not only are they trying to solve the problem of artificial intelligence for computers but they have the dream of one day connecting the human brain with, say, the internet. It is just around the corner.

Shirky:  Although you state artificial intelligence is right around the corner, the fact remains that we are not there yet, right? But switching topics now, the internet has introduced a workspace for people to engage collaborate, create, and help others all around the world.  Sharing of ideas and creativity within the masses allows endless possibilities, right? Even your artificial intelligence problem can be solved.

Carr:  Those are all great benefits of the internet, but what about our ability or read and comprehend what we are reading on the internet? It has been shown that many hours of reading on the computer screen has over time changed the way we think, read, and in general has changed the way our minds work.  Your benefits of sharing, creating and collaborating on the internet are all great but are they worth the price of changing the way we think and interact with others in the real world?

Shirky: I guess there is a negative side to this that was never brought to my attention before.  I believe you are right, we can do great things with the use of the mass amounts of information available on the internet, but the question remains, if it going to change us entirely, is it really worth it in the long run, right?