Pro-Gumbo: Culture As Anarchy

from the culture-is-the-process dept

Last month we posted an article discussing how peer-to-peer file sharing was demonstrating the battle of tyranny vs. anarchy. I didn't agree with the entire piece that was written, but thought it was an interesting way of forcing people to look at the debate from a different perspective. Now, that same author has come up with a second piece, talking about culture as anarchy. It's a bit long and academic, but makes some good points, such that I have a better understanding of what he was getting at in the first article. The point he's making is that culture is the process of the art, and not the end result. It's how everyone interacts with a piece of art, or how they try to create their own art - and not just the few pieces of art that some critics declare the best. Thus, in the file sharing world, we're making it easier for more people to have a say in spreading a global culture, rather than a top-down "approved" culture. While the common response to this is that this just produces more bad content, peer-to-peer also offers mechanisms for the good stuff to rise to the top - and for groups to follow certain niches, as well.