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I thought I'd take some time to explain the irony of the opening quotation of this blog and its purpose.
If your platform or browser can't format it, then know that I've deliberately noted that “an absolutely new idea is one of the rarest things known to man.” - Thomas More
I quote More because I acknowledge that none of the information posted here is "my" property. (Even More probably "stole" that quotation from someone else). Everything I've stated (and most of what I will argue next) has probably already been said before in some form or another in writing or otherwise. As such, I fully acknowledge that these are not my ideas nor should they be credited to me. I am, after all, a creature of experientialism. To even suggest that I own these ideas is an arrogance and an egotism of a high order.
I personally loathe the way information is currently handled, and I'm not alone in this regard, as SoaD's album demonstrated. Like them, I want to contribute to conscientization, not impede it, or worse: restrict it to some, marginalizing others.
Two years ago, when I was in the process of formulating the method by which I could do the most good in this life, in a fit of incendiary fury, I posted to Facebook "[politically correct] it, M Ed. then march on high school; the greatest tragedy of modern civilization is that we put a price tag on edification." As of now, I'm still living those words to the best of my ability. I firmly believe that the marketization of education and of edification contributes to the repression of information and impedes the development of critical consciousnesses.
But, the professional intellectuals that stumble across this blog will undoubtedly argue that education costs resources to produce. And I absolutely agree; there's an economics behind the institutionalized creation and proliferation of information. But those economics should not inhibit the welfare of the planet and/or of its denizens, which it tends to do currently through restricting or constraining consciousnesses. People can be uninformed because information isn't readily, equally, and equitably accessible. Even the internet is restricted to the privileged with the resources, infrastructures, and capacities to acquire, maintain, understand, and interpret a computer.
As such, let this blog serve as evidence that I will never charge people to see, share, or "steal" "my" ideas. But please don't sell them, because that will just exacerbate already institutionalized intellectual and social inequalities. Please share information the same way that you'd want it shared with you.
If I built, say, a chair, you wouldn't think of just taking it from me. If I write a book...suddenly everybody says that it's okay to make a PDF of it and spread it around without paying me. Incredible. If you want to give your stuff away, be my guest. But the idea that information should be free whether its creators like it or not is a) nuts and b) totalitarian.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who subscribes to experientialism, I'd argue that we don't create information; information creates us.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm not demanding that everyone must freely share any and all information; I'm very sensitive to intellectual property, especially if the person who "created" such property still believes it to be such.
The nature of the global economy necessitates the current commodification of intellectual property; Classical Liberal principles still dominate. But you have to start somewhere; a voluntary economy depends on a voluntary consciousness, and I'd gladly help that consciousness along voluntarily, as I do every day.
Just because the world sucks doesn't mean we have to suck.