Plato And The RIAA Have Some Views In Common: Gov't Should Stop Remixes

from the the-platonic-ideal dept

Wed, Jul 15th 2009 3:48pm — Mike Masnick

Apparently Plato wasn't a huge fan of innovation in music. James Boyle, who is working on the latest edition of the Tales From The Public Domain comic book has shared a nice little graphic that shows a quote from Plato, suggesting that he wouldn't be a big fan of remixed music...

"This is the point to which, above all, the attention of our rulers should be directed -- that music and gymnastics be preserved in their original form, and no innovation made. They must do their utmost to maintain them intact...."

Click through to see the whole quote and the comic that goes along with it...

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Filed Under: innovation, music, plato
Companies: riaa

10 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 15 Jul 2009 @ 4:36pm

He's actually saying that changes of mode are dangerous for the stability of incumbents, and I agree. The RIAA should be afraid.
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BullJustin (profile), 15 Jul 2009 @ 4:45pm

modal changes
So can we blame the current bloat of our government on rock and roll, rap, and swing music?
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Jul 2009 @ 4:46pm

Re:
He's also implying that 'paradigm shifts' in music (such as music with vocals... or the advent of recorded sound) tend to herald in greater governmental, societal and cultural changes. And any change will be seen as an 'upheaval' and as dangerous by some.

Funny comic, pretty apt as well.
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Hoby (profile), 15 Jul 2009 @ 5:08pm

Well I guess that's the deal, you can't get all your advice from any one person - because everyone has at least one wacked out idea about how things should be.

Could be he was forced or paid to say that, too. Or even that he was misquoted/mistranslated.

All I can say is, it's a good thing people didn't listen to him on that little tidbit until the RIAA, otherwise we'd have no rich and varied world of music that the RIAA is working tirelessly to destroy.
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ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 15 Jul 2009 @ 6:22pm

OTOH
I'm not copying songs, I'm copying the shadows of songs on the cave wall. The ideal song is still there, undisturbed.
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Jul 2009 @ 6:49pm

Gymnastics
So, Plato thought that gymnastics should also be protected from remixes. I wonder if some of those in the field of gymnastics ever thought of trying to secure copyright protection for "their" moves. Don't laugh, people would have thought software patents were too ridiculous to ever be considered at one time too.

I can see it now, little kids in playgrounds being sued for copyright infringement because they didn't pay a performance license fee for some move they did. (Don't forget about the lawyer who actually got a patent on swinging sideways on a swing).
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Jul 2009 @ 6:53pm

I think gymnastics means "education" in ancient Greece (as the school is a "gymnasium"). What he's actually saying is that *governments would like* music and education not to be changed, as this changes promote political changes.
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Jul 2009 @ 7:55pm

Re:
I think gymnastics means "education" in ancient Greece

And all this time I thought they spoke Greek in ancient Greece. I really didn't think that "gymnastics" was even a word for them and just assumed that the Plato quote was actually a translation into modern English. So, the ancient Greeks actually spoke English, huh? It's amazing what you can learn here on Techdirt.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Jul 2009 @ 4:12am

Ok, γυμνάσιον if you want to be snob... but then no one would understand.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Jul 2009 @ 7:09pm

Re:
Ok, γυμνάσιον if you want to be snob... but then no one would understand.

Oh really? I just checked with a translator and learned that the Greek word for "education" is "εκπαίδευση". And the greek word for "gymnastics" is "γυμναστική". Not the same.

However, "γυμνάσιον" translates to "high school". Perhaps your education level?
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