More Research: Competition Makes Groups More Creative

from the in-case-you-didn't-realize-it dept

Wed, Aug 18th 2010 9:33pm — Mike Masnick

One of the key elements of things like copyright and patent laws, are that they are really attempts to eliminate certain forms of competition. That's always struck me as an odd idea, since it's competition that leads to greater innovation -- as has been shown over and over again in the economic research. So this following study shouldn't surprise anyone, but Glyn Moody points us to a new study that shows that groups who are put in greater and greater competitive situations, come up with more creative solutions to challenges they're given.

This should be common sense, of course. However, what strikes me is why people think it actually makes sense to limit competition in the creative industries, where you would think that greater competition, leading to greater creativity, would be a good thing? Already, we're seeing that smart creative types have realized that they need to "compete with free" and they do so in increasingly creative ways. Shouldn't we be encouraging that kind of creativity from the creative community?

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Filed Under: competition, creativity

9 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 18 Aug 2010 @ 10:32pm

"Shouldn't we be encouraging that kind of creativity from the creative community?"

No, no, no, no, politicians need their campaign contributions. They need to be encouraging the advancement of the corporate plutocracy.
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- Anonymous Coward, 19 Aug 2010 @ 4:28am
  
  Re:
  I think the politicians should be the ones getting creative. Hasn't anyone heard about the budget problems in California and nationwide?
  
  Intellectual property tax. It's progressive and it's a tax, so liberals won't mind. It strikes out at the liberal media so the conservatives can talk about coming home to roost.
  
  Meanwhile, the citizens actually get an incentive for stuff to head to the public domain. And you can believe that if a copyright violation is worth thousands, well the tax on that copyright is worth thousands.
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Call me Al, 19 Aug 2010 @ 1:14am

It isn't necessarily in their interests to have quick innovation. If they create a product they want to saturate the market as much as possible and to extract ever penny of profit. Only once that particular product has served its purpose would they want to create a new one. If they can lock out the competition then they can make money with less effort... or at least I think thats the way they see it.
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Group guy, 19 Aug 2010 @ 5:51am

Blog post by Keith Sawyer
That blog post is by Keith Sawyer, not Glyn Moody
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- Mike Masnick (profile), 19 Aug 2010 @ 9:34am
  
  Re: Blog post by Keith Sawyer
  That blog post is by Keith Sawyer, not Glyn Moody
  
  I know. But it was Glyn Moody who pointed us to the blog post...
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Aug 2010 @ 8:02am

Yea more research!! What we really need is an agency like the RIAA and MPAA to protect the consumers rights and needs. Then the research will have a central place to gather and it will mean something to someone that can use it to represent the public in these matters.
Where are the Consumer Rights Organizations in all of this? Are there any Consumer Rights Organization(s) at all?
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- Anonymous Coward, 19 Aug 2010 @ 8:46pm
  
  Re:
  Consumer rights groups? You mean like eff?
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Aug 2010 @ 12:03pm

I saw a documentary about Apple and a former employee was explaining how Steve Jobs would have multiple teams competing against each other to complete a project. Seems to have worked for Apple, but the employee also complained about the competitive environment. It isnt for everyone and it can make things very stressful for the ones involved, but the rewards can be huge.
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Polo Outlet, 6 Aug 2011 @ 1:35am

Polo Outlet
Your article swept me away with its vast information and great writing. Thank you for sharing your views with such passion. I like your views.
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