On being a pirate

I am up later than I should be, considering when I have work in the morning, because I was doing research for one of the courses I'm taking this semester. The course is titled "Art and Technology," and in it we are required to make a piece of art that in some why utilizes or comments on how technology pervades human culture. This is harder for artists since many of them are amazingly traditionalist in their philosophies as to what can and cannot be "Art." I myself have gotten into arguments with fellow art majors on the usefulness (or in their opinion uselessness) of creating art exclusively for online consumption. But I digress.

The way technology affects human culture is something that's been a fairly long-time fascination of mine. I'm by no means the saavy-est of computer users, but seeing how things like facebook, twitter, youtube and wikipedia affect human thought is something that I find extremely interesting. As such, I decided that I wanted to do a project that in some way displays and is a commentary of this phenomena. In my search for inspiration I re-stumbled upon Larry Lessig's "In Defense of Piracy" and found the following extract particularly interesting:

"This war must end. It is time we recognize that we can't kill this creativity. We can only criminalize it. We can't stop our kids from using these tools to create, or make them passive. We can only drive it underground, or make them "pirates." And the question we as a society must focus on is whether this is any good. Our kids live in an age of prohibition, where more and more of what seems to them to be ordinary behavior is against the law. They recognize it as against the law. They see themselves as "criminals." They begin to get used to the idea.

That recognition is corrosive. It is corrupting of the very idea of the rule of law. And when we reckon the cost of this corruption, any losses of the content industry pale in comparison."

This isn't something that I had thought about before, and it so struck me that I find myself, now 15 minutes later than I should be up (I'm strict about bed time, ok??) talking about this on my tiny blog, which very few people even know about because... well I don't know. Because I think it's important and I think it's of interest. How often do people of my generation stop and think of themselves as criminals? It's not a common thought, but it's something that nearly everyone lives with. Does it effect our actions in a hundred tiny ways? Does it increase the likelihood that our generation might bend or break other laws? Are we facing a similar issue to the prescription drug crisis - the over prescription of laws neutralizing their effectiveness? I don't know. But it's a heavy thought, to think of yourself as a criminal.

The internet for me is a real location. It's a real place where I spend my time, and it is not time I consider wasted. The connectedness I feel with my friends, those who I have and have not met, is something dear to me. This is certainly a strange (and young) world we've created for ourselves. I wonder what it will lead to.