Comment by _DeadFred_
3 months ago
Ah yes, give away the protection that also protects me, the small person, should I write a song, write a book, come up with a compelling software concept, come up with a way to improve food growth, should go away because it's 'rent seeking' in order to be replaced with.... rent seeking trillion dollar valuation tech companies?
Prior to the current tech bros economy one of the number one ways average people moved up to being rich in the USA was all enabled purely by the copyright/patents laws protections you want to do away with.
I said nothing about patents (though I definitely have feelings about software patents you probably wouldn't like), I simply stated that it is farcical and dishonest to build an economic system predicated upon the restriction of first-amendment rights of consumers, such as the DMCA which prevents me from making copies of my files and sharing them with other people, which, outside of national security threats, is an ethically bankrupt proposition.
The reality is that these small people of which you speak are still beholden to a rent-seeking industry that exploits artists en masse. Most creatives historically got next to nothing. Most artists don't get anything close to rich off of their work.
Yet today, we are able to directly support creatives, and many creatives do quite well by managing the long tail and curating a small, but dedicated patronage. Many of these creatives make more money with such a model, while still allowing their work to be shared with proper attribution.
We have just been brainwashed by a century of corporate interests sticking their hand into every facet of the creative industry, convincing us that the systems they've built over decades are the only way for things to be, even if it infringes upon the rights of others.
Also, while I develop software as a trade, I have also been an artist my entire life, working across many mediums, and so my opinions about the intersection of creativity and technology are not just those of some "tech bro", and I don't think that kind of framing is productive or fair. Especially considering I grew up poor and homeless as a teenager, and have had to reckon with the economic prospects of which you speak much more closely than most.