Saturday, March 26, 2005

Writing on mindspace.

I've become acutely aware of the limations of my mind over the years. Often my opinions are formed on the basis of as little as one sample. I think that's how the mind works; we experience, we generalise; we hear a story, we generalise; it's not possible to research everything exhaustively, we have to extrapolate.

This can result in us thinking that we know a lot more than we, in fact, know. A few times now my girlfriend has reliably informed me on points of Swedish law (she's a native Swede and I'm not) and later been contradicted by experience, literature or the relevant government authority. I frequently relate something I've read or heard via the media and am met with disbelief. Perhaps we require a greater degree of certainty than is usually possible in order to function, I don't know.

The upshot is, what information we do get becomes very important; we extrapolate it into a whole world. Friends, the media, governments, friends, books, school...

Russia wants Sweden to curtail media reports on Chechnya
(here), Californian college professors may have to start being very carefull what they say (here), we swim in a sea of advertising with but one aim, to sell, etc., etc.

So, what do you know?

Monday, March 21, 2005

Intellectual property.

A weird notion. That a person/entity can own an idea, and can leave it to their children. In America, Sonny, of Sonny and Cher fame, tried to have copyright extended eternally. Disney would always own Mickey Mouse. Presumably somebody would own The Three Musketeers, The Merchant of Venice and... the Bible! Cooool. Churches would have to pay if they wanted to do public performances. If they could prove lineage, which is, unfortunately, about as likely as a man on the Sun next year. Could happen...

Could be interesting. All of those mathematical equations could suddenly become property. Every machine and computer programme that uses them would suddenly be liable to ransom. The D.N.A. maps could remain patented forever, scientists poised to pounce on the next mutation. I might have to pay Socrates's heirs every time I don't know something. The possibilities are limitless!

Yes, yes, I know patents and copyrights are not the same (although the term "patent" is becoming broader all of the time. Once upon a time, to be a patent you had to be a substantial technical innovation. Amazon are patenting or have patented the ability to infer from purchases). I was just having fun. I doubt think eternal copyright is really on the cards. Patents only last seventeen years, and involve publishing the intimate details of your innovation.

Intellectual property is supposed to encourage and protect innovation and creativity, finitely. That's it's upside. Monopoly on an innovation or idea can hinder it's progress and diffusion. That's it's downside. It's a balancing act.

Sunday, March 20, 2005

Gestalt

I had my first experience of this phenomena when I first went to college (Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy). I studied philosophy. The gists of the courses were not new to me; I had already encountered just about every idea perpetuated in the field through my book-a-day science fiction habit. (True substance abuse). They had permeated through our culture, our politics.

It's an interesting phenomena. Not too many people have actually read the texts, even people who have studied them; (a lot of course revolve around second hand critique); how do they spread? Where is the mneumetic conversation taking place? It often precedes publication. Darwin published his treatise on evolution when he did because he knew some-one else was going to publish the same notions.

Be carefull what you say on the bus...