Are People Copy Machines?

from the copy-this dept

Tue, Aug 23rd 2011 5:59am — Nina Paley

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: copy machines, copying

29 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Dark Helmet (profile), 23 Aug 2011 @ 5:43am

Heh....
Copy Animal? I'm an ape man, which according to years of crossword puzzles tells me is the same thing....
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Richard (profile), 23 Aug 2011 @ 6:06am

Re: Heh....
I'm an ape man,

No you're "Star Wars prop is fourth rate escape capsule followed by fifty in confused theme"
[ link to this | view in thread ]
AJ, 23 Aug 2011 @ 6:14am

I think i get it......
Because people are trained from birth to reproduce the behavior, mannerisms, lifestyle... etc etc of our parents/people that come before us, it feels natural for us to copy things.

Think about it, Simon says, tracing, puzzles, acting out our favorite characters (pretending)... all are part of growing up, and all are a form of copying of some sort. We are trained from birth that copying is a normal part of being human and growing up.

No wonder we have such a hard time understanding copyright! It goes against everything we've been taught as children...

I think this is where I'm supposed to let loose with a "SOMEONE PLEEEEAAASSSEEEEEE, THINK OF THE CHILDREN!"
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The eejit (profile), 23 Aug 2011 @ 6:22am

Re: Heh....
So Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a manual, not a warning?

Dayum.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
out_of_the_blue, 23 Aug 2011 @ 6:34am

We need aliens to arrive so we can copy their tech.
Because the copyist culture isn't going to produce anything new.

(P.S. There are no aliens coming. False hope.)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 23 Aug 2011 @ 6:37am

Re: Heh....
Zoinks! The Ape Man

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
JEDIDIAH, 23 Aug 2011 @ 6:39am

Hollywood's dirty little secret
Oh. The copycats are the creative ones. This is Hollywood's dirty little secret and the real problem with overly expansive copyright. The more "literate" you are, the more you recognize the blatant copying that goes on.

They copying that consumers do is just a red herring.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 23 Aug 2011 @ 6:40am

Re: We need aliens to arrive so we can copy their tech.
And the inability to see how copying serves to accelerate innovation will be the downfall of the copyright maximalists.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 23 Aug 2011 @ 7:05am

Re: Heh....
I am the walrus.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
shmengie (profile), 23 Aug 2011 @ 7:20am

Re: Heh....
http://grooveshark.com/s/Apeman/3WNO6B?src=5
[ link to this | view in thread ]
anonyMouse, 23 Aug 2011 @ 7:22am

Re: Re: Heh....
I am the walrus!
oops, I've infringed.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Zot-Sindi, 23 Aug 2011 @ 7:28am

Re: I think i get it......
i didn't spend much time in school (homeschooled, mainly) but for the very very short time i was there i recall very vividly being taught how to share

infact if you DIDN'T share it was considered selfish in a bad way aswell as sort of rude

neither of my parents where really aware of this copyright fiasco and told me you could pretty much use/copy/download/modify/share whatever, i still to this day have a hard time explaining the truth to them, they aren't the only ones, it seems that for most people it's completely unthinkable

it was crazy for the 8 year old me at the time to go from learning sharing/copying/modifying/downloading/whatever was perfectly OK and then seeing a COMPLETE 180 shift over to the exact opposite

oh yeah, i was supposed to just "know" that it is like that, i got into a lot of trouble in those early days for it too, nevermind it went against everything i was taught directly

didn't these people ever go to school????
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Zot-Sindi, 23 Aug 2011 @ 7:33am

Re: We need aliens to arrive so we can copy their tech.
funny you say that

i've ripped whole meshes and particles off maps for games and reimplemented them in a way that was hell of a lot more creative than the original use

new? the majority of it was all made my me from scratch, i decided to use these things because i didn't really know how to make my own plus they where exaclty what i was looking for why reinvent the wheel when it's laying RIGHT. THERE?

a few little assests do not make or break how "new" a new work of art is, even though some of the pieces are copied

what's more important is what you do with them
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 23 Aug 2011 @ 7:35am

Re: Re: Re: Heh....
Koo Koo Kachoo?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Zot-Sindi, 23 Aug 2011 @ 7:37am

Re: Re: We need aliens to arrive so we can copy their tech.
so basically...

copying is a balancing act, if you know how to use it in art properly it is extremely useful to produce new works because it saves you lots of time, which i can use to make MORE new things from scratch

copy the old and sprinkle it in, kind of like a spice or sauce, use it to enhance a dish that would otherwise be kind of flat without it

i COULD make my own spice but i COULD also stop using salt or pepper in my food and just make my own spice... out of... ...something... by the time that's been figured out i could've just used the damn salt & pepper, cooked it, ate it and went to the toilet already
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Dark Helmet (profile), 23 Aug 2011 @ 7:40am

Re: Re: Heh....
YES! Thank god SOMEBODY understood the reference ;)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Zot-Sindi, 23 Aug 2011 @ 7:41am

Re: Re: Re: We need aliens to arrive so we can copy their tech.
oh yeah & you can do alot of things in food with simple salt and pepper, same goes for just about anything copiable in art, art is kinda like a recipe, copyright is like not being able to put salt & pepper in my food without risking punishments
[ link to this | view in thread ]
egghead (profile), 23 Aug 2011 @ 7:56am

Re: Re: We need aliens to arrive so we can copy their tech.
HAHA, I broke your chain! MUAHAHAHA...HA!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
egghead (profile), 23 Aug 2011 @ 7:57am

Re: Re: Re: We need aliens to arrive so we can copy their tech.
Damn, it didn't work.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Nina Paley (profile), 23 Aug 2011 @ 8:02am

Re: Re: Heh....
Note: the following is wholesale copyright infringement. --NP
Ape Man by the Kinks
Songwriters: DAVIES, RAYMOND DOUGLAS

I think I'm so sophisticated
'cos I'm living my life as a
good homo sapiens.
But all around me
ev'rybody's multiplying

And they're walking
round like flies man.
So I'm no better than the animals
Sitting in the cages in the zoo man

'cos compared to the
flowers and the birds
And the trees
I am an APEMAN.
I think I'm so educated
and I'm so civilised

'cos I'm a strict vegetarian.
And with the over
population
And inflation and
starvation and the crazy politicans.

I don't feel safe in this world no more,
I don't want to die
in a nuclear war.
I want to sail away to
a distant shore
And make like an APEMAN.

I'm an APEMAN
I'm an APE
APE MAN
Oh
I'm an APE MAN.
I'm a king-kong man
I'm a voodoo man
Oh
I'm a APE MAN.

'cos compared to the sun
that sits in the sky
Compared to the clouds
as they roll by
Compared to the bugs and
the spiders and flies
I am an ape man.

In man's evolution he has created
The cities and the
motor traffic rumble

But give me half a chance
and I'd be taking of my clothes
and living in the jungle.
But the only time that
I feel at ease
Swinging up and down in
the coconut trees.
Oh
what alife of luxury to
be like an APE MAN.
I'm an APE MAN
I'm an APE
APE MAN
Oh
I'm an APE MAN.
I'm a king-kong man
I'm a voodoo man
Oh
I'm a Ape MAN.

I look out of the window
but I can't see the sky
The air polution is a
fucking up my eyes
I want to get out of
this city alive
And make like an APE MAN.

Come and love me
be my APE MAN girl
And we'll be so happy in
my APE MAN world.
I'm an APE MAN
I'm an APE
APE MAN
Oh
I'm an APE MAN.
I'm a king-kong man
I'm a voodoo man
Oh
I'm a APE MAN.

I'll be your Tarzan
you'll be my Jane
I'll keep you warm and
you'll keep me sane
We'll sit in the trees
and eat bananas
All day just like an APE MAN.

I don't feel safe in this world no more,
I don't want to die
in a nuclear war.
I want to sail away to
a distant shore
And make like an APEMAN.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The eejit (profile), 23 Aug 2011 @ 8:42am

Technically, we're all infringing on IP now that the human genome has been sequenced. After all, every single cell in the body copies that data. And it's even DRM'ed with telomeres (copying X times, then you die).
[ link to this | view in thread ]
MrWilson, 23 Aug 2011 @ 8:58am

Re:
So immortality is just a conditional statement away - one that avoids the loop counter.

Reminds me of Doctorow's 0wnz0red.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 23 Aug 2011 @ 9:14am

Re: Re: Re: Heh....
You filthy pirate/freetard/socialist/criminal!

Now that you've copied those lyrics, nobody will be able to hear the Kinks song anymore. How will the Kinks have incentive to make more music? Why do you hate artists so much Nina
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 23 Aug 2011 @ 9:18am

Re: Re:
sorry, that would be a breach of God's DRM and illegal.

But I do know of this guy called Lucifer, he says he has a crack for that but I will cost you
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Legolas2112 (profile), 23 Aug 2011 @ 9:38am

Opaque Projectors
Ban opaque projectors NOW!!! How many grade school kids are using them to pirate artwork for school projects? Too many! Ban them, and sue the kids who have used them! (LOL)!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
DCL, 23 Aug 2011 @ 1:07pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Heh....
how things just "played out" for me is kinda funny...

Scanning the comments I didn't get the reference Dark Helmet was referring to and skipped over the link from shmengie then saw Nina posted the lyrics and started reading them and saw they were credited to the Kinks... sooo....

...being a fan of other Kinks music I went back to the link I skipped before but had noticed was from grooveshark so was probably the music.... clicked the link and was pleasantly surprised by the grooveshark experience (had never used it)...

...as the music played I read along with the lyrics Nina had posted.... about halfway down came to the conclusion I really really liked the song and went to Amazon for the buy (finished my purchase before the song was done and it is waiting in my cloud storage to be moved to my Android device)...

... by the time I got done with the lyrics I read the comment I just replied to and laughed since my behavior from the experience of reading the lyrics posted was exactly opposite of what the AC stated (I am hoping I just missed the sarcasm tags).

Ok I am done.... thanks for reading!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
DCL, 23 Aug 2011 @ 1:09pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Heh....
And thanks to everybody involved in helping me find new music!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
VMax, 23 Aug 2011 @ 9:48pm

another good one
Nina's cartoons often make me smile.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 24 Aug 2011 @ 12:57pm

See...
I read the one you made after this before it, and complained about your... liberal attempt at making sense.

This one is honestly better then your next one.
[ link to this | view in thread ]