[-empyre-] pirates and clapping

[magnus at ditch.org.uk]

Hi Davin,

> Thinking on this point of being "products of the Google" and their
> famously banal motto, "Don't be evil," I wonder if some of what we are
> experiencing a flattening out of ethics.  "Don't be evil" sounds like
> a fine corporate motto, but I think it really speaks to an absence of
> what it is that we should strive for: "The Good."
>
> Nobody wants to bother defining it, and in the process we are left to
> the default system of value offered by capitalism.  The only thing
> that matters is what end you are willing to serve in exchange for
> access to greater means (by which you can barter someone else into
> serving your ends).  Piracy is attractive to me because it lays this
> bare.  Like true Teenagers from Mars, "We want, we need it, we take
> it."  There's a raw honesty to this sort of existence that exposes the
> shame of capitalism.

This speaks to me of scarcity and abundance, not only economic. That's a
theme that must be close to the experience of any (historical) pirate.

> But this is precisely the concern of politics: to hammer out a notion
> of "the good" and to negotiate means within which we can pursue it.
> Maybe the best we can do is "Don't be evil" or "Get what you can."
> But I think Michel is onto something when he speaks of getting beyond
> the avoidance strategies offered by resistance.....  at some point,
> people forget about what they are against and get into what they are

This makes me think of a slogan from the demonstrations in Spain - "I am
not against the system, the system is against me."

Best wishes,

Magnus

> for.
>
> Davin
>
> On Sat, Jul 16, 2011 at 9:44 AM,  <magnus at ditch.org.uk> wrote:
>>> At the inauguration ceremony, the Google representative said that the
>>> company is looking forward to
>>> the research outcomes, and that "they are glad to anticipate the
>>> outcomes,
>>> which will help us to
>>> make better products."
>>
>> Yes, it's worth extending our piratic probe to institutions, newly
>> created
>> and pirated. Open Access is one response to constraints on knowledge
>> sharing.
>>
>>> we are the products of Google, not clients, nor "pirates."
>>
>> An interesting point. Can you elaborate?
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>> Magnus
>>
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