Reality Distortion Fields

Lawrence Lessig was amazing. That was one of the best presentations I’ve ever seen. He had the entire audience hanging on his every word. Needless to say, I’m convinced. He must have a really powerful RDF… he sort of reminded me of Steve Jobs, in the way he talks during Apple Keynotes.

I’m going to start participating in SCDC and the Free Culture Movement as an activist. They’re really doing some great things to make the internet a channel for the sharing of digital culture, and that’s a future I’ll be glad to help along.

One of Lessig’s big points was that we have to work from inside the system. This is something that recently addressed. The point is that we can use the power we have over an influential institution like to really get this movement off the ground.

I’m psyched. I know that over the summer we’re going to be producing some kits to help this movement get started at other schools. We also have some planned issues to tackle with the administration here.

I’m looking forward to this. :oD ::shines Creative Commons button::

Finally, to make happy, ::SQUEEEEEEEEEEE!!:: I’m not going to fanboy Lessig though, so :oP to you . Well… maybe just a little. He was pretty awesome… :o)

Liberian Girl” from Bad by Michael Jackson


Comments

10 responses to “Reality Distortion Fields”

  1. dude, it’s been so long since I had me some good squeeage. But I’m happy for you. nurd though you are. ;-)

  2. That’s an awesome picture. You just can’t handle how awesome it is, so you have to refuse the awesomeness, only to have the awesomeness confront you, and defeat you with the superior awesomeness of the awesomeness.

    Yeah.

    I win.

  3. Wow, Nick, high praise indeed — comparing Lessig to Jobs! ;)

    No, I agree, his presentation was *really* impressive and collected and fit perfectly with his speech, which was very enjoyable.

    I’m interested to read that you’re gonna get involved with scdc — I smsed Beth last night, telling her that Lessig had come. Interestingly enough, she just finished her Property final the other day, so she’d been reading Lessig’s book and the scdc and freeculture websites. We had a really interesting discussion about it — she was also impressed by Lessig’s credentials and sensibility and sympathetic to scdc’s goals. However, she did have a couple concerns about the goals of the movement in general and some rhetoric — it was a good discussion.

    Oh, and Nick? You’re totally fanboying Lessig. :-P

  4. the downhill battle guys are really weird.

    and i don’t like _their_ politics. scdc is okay, mostly. i do not like the influence downhill battle has though. i am not at all impressed by them.

    and joanna thinks the first guy was just freaky.

  5. He talked to me about my question afterwards… and said that I shouldn’t buy music ever, and that if I did I was just giving in to the Man’s guilt trip. Something like that anyway.

    He definitely wasn’t a good public speaker… I think it was the pauses in all of the weird places, and the fact that he didn’t blink very often.

    I’m hoping I can do some sane stuff to help out, because I don’t like insane activists.

  6. I don’t know if I’d go so far as to say I’m “sympathetic to SCDC’s” goals; I have problems with a lot of what they’re promoting. I think it’s more fair to say I’m sympathetic with the notion of “free information,” albeit with some reservations.

    -B.

  7. Any particular criticisms that survived the discussion? We love feedback :-) And I personally love arguing for the sake of arguing…

  8. Yeah, Downhill Battle’s politics are questionable. They’re too… anarchist? In a bad way? They’re all about destroying the current system without worrying about what they’re going to do after they succeed. I call myself a libertarian because I fight for freedom within the system as much as possible.

    It’s not just a choice between rebellion and bowing to the establishment though. The third way is building an alternative that doesn’t have the problems of the current system — not to acquiesce to the way things are, but at the same time avoiding engaging in destructive behavior. The SCDC and freeculture.org are about building a workable alternative to the current system, and to defeat the establishment by being awesomer :-D

    Downhill Battle does have a point that the vested interests will do their best to destroy any alternatives, and that some measure of negative action against the record companies may be necessary for self-defense. As a Quaker, however, that rhetoric doesn’t really appeal to me.

  9. Yeah, Holmes was the first guy, and he was a lousy public speaker and kind of creepy. He has a good heart though, and Downhill Battle are formidable organizers, they know their stuff. They’re full-time activists, they’re dedicated to what they believe in, and you have to admire that. Competency goes a long way to earning respect in my book, so as long as they don’t spend too much behind a podium until they’re better at speechifying, they’re good with me :-)

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