Mine aren't, either. Purely selfish. I want to keep writing code. I want the economy not to collapse, so I can continue working and living in a house and eating, feeding my family, send my kids to college. I want to have more choices about the movies I can watch and the music I can listen to, not fewer. I don't want to live in the fear that any random remark I make could be used to take away my freedom or my belongings.
And I want that for my friends, too. And their friends. And everybody else in the world. Not because I'm altruistic, but because I like sharing things that I like, and I like helping people. I like it when other people are happy, it makes me happy.
I'd be inclined to call that "enlightened self-interest" but when you get down to it, my reasons are all selfish. I want the world to be a certain way.
It's easy to question the motives of somebody you don't know, especially if he's rich, famous, or (worse yet) both. And yet... I bet he wants the same thing I want. He wants the world to be a certain way. I'm sure we all differ in the details but in the end, everybody does things for selfish reasons. Whether it's direct gain of desired resources or feeling good about the rightness of your actions, you do things because you anticipate that the results and consequences of your actions will satisfy a need in yourself.
So while it's easy to be all cynical about Peter Gabriel's motives, in the long run, he's no more selfish than anybody else. We all try to fulfill our needs and, if we have energy left over, our desires.
For myself, I'm not going to refuse his help just because he has more money than I have. I'm also not going to assume that any successful artist must necessarily have a selfish, greedy hidden agenda when it comes to this. Maybe Peter Gabriel just sees SOPA and PIPA as threats to his business model? Sounds good to me. Screw altruism, give me enlightened self-interest every time. Then you know where you stand.
I'm not going to darken my website or any of my blogs because... I'm in support of SOPA/PIPA?
Wrong. I'm not doing it because I HAVE ZERO READERS. It's not worth the effort. It would be a cry in the wilderness, a tempest in a teacup. Crickets will chirp. Somewhere a dog will bark.
It's OK. Once SOPA or PIPA passes, you can use it to shut down my website yourself. I'm sure there's a phrase or a line of code that you could use to get it done.
Users' protest. We users were asked what we wanted to do. Last I checked we'd voted "yes" by quite a margin. Favorite was to black out the US and put up a banner worldwide.
I'm looking through the list of common logical fallacies trying to find one this argument doesn't violate. I think I found one! It's the If-By-Whiskey fallacy.
And a registration requirement. Right now everything you write is automatically copyrighted. This message you're reading now is copyrighted. WHY? I don't consider it worth copyrighting, I don't want it copyrighted, it's STUPID. It shouldn't be copyrighted unless the author spends the $2 or whatever and sends in a copy and fills out the forms. It's cheap, it's simple, but it requires more effort than simply typing it.
And the copyright terms were limited to a few years. I forget exactly, 14? 20? Certainly not 70 years plus the heat death of the universe.
On the post: Musician Peter Gabriel Comes Out Against SOPA/PIPA; Website Will Go Dark
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Musician Peter Gabriel Comes Out Against SOPA/PIPA; Website Will Go Dark
Re: Re:
Mine aren't, either. Purely selfish. I want to keep writing code. I want the economy not to collapse, so I can continue working and living in a house and eating, feeding my family, send my kids to college. I want to have more choices about the movies I can watch and the music I can listen to, not fewer. I don't want to live in the fear that any random remark I make could be used to take away my freedom or my belongings.
And I want that for my friends, too. And their friends. And everybody else in the world. Not because I'm altruistic, but because I like sharing things that I like, and I like helping people. I like it when other people are happy, it makes me happy.
I'd be inclined to call that "enlightened self-interest" but when you get down to it, my reasons are all selfish. I want the world to be a certain way.
It's easy to question the motives of somebody you don't know, especially if he's rich, famous, or (worse yet) both. And yet... I bet he wants the same thing I want. He wants the world to be a certain way. I'm sure we all differ in the details but in the end, everybody does things for selfish reasons. Whether it's direct gain of desired resources or feeling good about the rightness of your actions, you do things because you anticipate that the results and consequences of your actions will satisfy a need in yourself.
So while it's easy to be all cynical about Peter Gabriel's motives, in the long run, he's no more selfish than anybody else. We all try to fulfill our needs and, if we have energy left over, our desires.
For myself, I'm not going to refuse his help just because he has more money than I have. I'm also not going to assume that any successful artist must necessarily have a selfish, greedy hidden agenda when it comes to this. Maybe Peter Gabriel just sees SOPA and PIPA as threats to his business model? Sounds good to me. Screw altruism, give me enlightened self-interest every time. Then you know where you stand.
On the post: Musician Peter Gabriel Comes Out Against SOPA/PIPA; Website Will Go Dark
Re: INB4
Wrong. I'm not doing it because I HAVE ZERO READERS. It's not worth the effort. It would be a cry in the wilderness, a tempest in a teacup. Crickets will chirp. Somewhere a dog will bark.
It's OK. Once SOPA or PIPA passes, you can use it to shut down my website yourself. I'm sure there's a phrase or a line of code that you could use to get it done.
On the post: Why Is NBCUniversal Threatening To Report Commenters They Disagree With To Their Employers?
Re: Re: Re:
If it makes you feel any better, this troll is irritating me too. I've stopped myself answering four or five times.
On the post: Why Is NBCUniversal Threatening To Report Commenters They Disagree With To Their Employers?
Re:
On the post: It's Official: Wikipedia To Go Dark On Wednesday
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Hrm
On the post: It's Official: Wikipedia To Go Dark On Wednesday
Re: Re: Re: Re: Hrm
On the post: It's Official: Wikipedia To Go Dark On Wednesday
Re: Re: Re:
On the post: It's Official: Wikipedia To Go Dark On Wednesday
Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: It's Official: Wikipedia To Go Dark On Wednesday
Re: Re:
On the post: SOPA/PIPA Supporters Pretend White House Statement Means We Can Rush Through SOPA/PIPA
On the post: Jimmy Wales In Favor Of Wikipedia Blackout: Community Must Decide
On the post: US Can Extradite UK Student For Copyright Infringement, Despite Site Being Legal In The UK
*According to big media calculations which, as we all know, are completely trustworthy.
On the post: Sega Gets It Right About SOPA: It's Time For A Hard Reset On Copyright Law & Congress
On the post: Las Vegas Review-Journal Publishes CEA OpEd Calling Out Senator Harry Reid Killing Innovation By Supporting PIPA
Re:
Most of the geeks I know would be thrilled to show off. Geeks like sharing things, particularly things they like.
On the post: Paul Vixie Explains, In Great Detail, Why You Don't Want 'Policy Analysts' Determining DNS Rules
Re: Tangent, But Important
Seriously, thanks for doing this.
On the post: Senator Leahy Hopes To Rush Through PIPA By Promising To Study DNS Blocking... Later?!?
Re: Re: Re:
And the copyright terms were limited to a few years. I forget exactly, 14? 20? Certainly not 70 years plus the heat death of the universe.
Here is some light reading on the subject of extended copyrights.
On the post: Boo-Freaking-Hoo: RIAA Complains That 'The Deck Is Stacked' Against Them On CES Panels
Tell how you really feel.
:)
On the post: Jon Stewart Promises To Study Up On SOPA
Re:
On the post: Desperation Of SOPA/PIPA Supporters On Display At CES
Re: Bimbo
They did.
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