First of all, I think it's fun to stay home and write a blog on Saturday night. That's what playing live music does to you. Home becomes so valuable, so many options present that normally are unavailable, it's like this personal playground. Sweatpants. Netflix. Our couch which is admittedly more comfortable than my bed. It's all there.
BOOYAKASHA!*
*Popularized by Ali G (who's creator went on to Borat fame) Booyakasha is a word derived from the Irish word "buíochas" (pronounced bwee ah kuss) which means "glory to" "or praise be". Oliver Cromwell sent 1,000's of Irish to the plantations in Jamaica, and a lot of Irish words made it into Jamaican patois.
Second, the internet is freakin' awesome. Are you kidding me? I can write to our Welsh buddy, Richard the Lizard, far away in Wales, without waiting days for a letter to return his pragmatic and dignified response. I can find out how far I need to drive to the nearest late-night doughnut dispensary, compare doughnut prices, and maybe even email a buddies' BlackBerry to pick up a whole sack-full on the way over. I can bank, buy, blog, bide my time and generally buck around on websites full of information I don't need to know, but get off on learning about.
This is big news for humankind in general. From a psychological standpoint, I'm somewhat surprised people's heads don't spontaneously explode more often from the shock of information overload, or their withdrawal from such. We are nowhere near equipped to deal with the amount of information coming directly at us from screens, screens and more screens. Screens that are increasingly connected to the internet. Phones, game consoles, the back seat of taxi cabs are all wired. Sometimes I find myself checking my Blackberry as if it were another tab on my internet browser, while I'm working in front of my computer itself! Que Ridiculo, NO?
But beyond that anxious feeling (followed by overwhelming relief) I get when I'm temporarily disconnected from the information super-highway, the most important part of the internet revolution lies in the fact that the world-wide-web brings information onto a level playing field, for everyone with access to an internet connection. Beyond that, the content is largely free, baby! For now...
Take it from a musician... people find a way to make anything you put on the internet free to others. As I've discussed in previous posts, I'm nothing close to opposing the phenomena. I can think of no better way, no better third-party endorsement, than having a fan put our music on the internet for others to share in. I'm pretty sure Lars Ulrich is the only musician rich enough or greedy enough to ever truthfully get all bent about file-sharing.
The big picture is that people in Benin, Belarus, and Boise, Idaho can access the same information and we all know that information is power. Information is power to raise a healthy family, prevent disease, grow food more efficiently and eventually, create a world where hate and ignorance have no place to hide from knowledge and tolerance. If all those 2012 conspirators have one thing that might be close to reality, it's the unifying force of the internet that could lead to some harmonious new world order. I can foresee some technological breakthrough that gave EVERYONE internet access to be a global game-changer, a golden age of communication and cooperation amongst humans never seen before in history.
However, some governments, like China's, would rather their citizens not even read this blog. They might realize the prohibitive nature of their laws and rise up against a regime not praised for its human rights record to begin with, while their government tries to leave citizens in the informational dust.
It's something I didn't think about a lot growing up with the internet constantly at my fingertips. How does this massive, diverse system of information and entertainment perpetuate itself? How did it come to be and how does it continue to be search-able in a coherent and easy way? It's the like the universe has some sort of secret librarian that wants to set this knowledge out for your taking or leaving. It's beautiful. It's incredible. And it may not stay this way forever.
For the first time since its creation, the United Nations is debating the future of what most in the West regard as a rightfully unregulated sphere. The news was shocking to yours truly. There will be no more mysterious librarian-of-the-universe to send me info over the internet wavelength once the burly, ineffective, slow-moving body of the UN gets involved. What's more, there's talk of removing the one aspect of the internet so crucial to it's magic, the fact that it's free.
This was at issue as Google and Verizon held talks this fall about whether "tiers" of internet service are a good idea or not. This would mean some people would be able to pay for a faster "tier" of internet than other consumers. While such a service would inevitably be profitable for companies like Google, the online giant has maintained that anything but an "open" internet would be a bad idea. This sentiment carried over into criticism of meetings held last week at the UN, designed to propose the idea that the world's governments should have a greater role in regulating the internet.
The division of opinion with regard to whether political bodies should regulate things like commerce and communication on the internet is interesting. Developing nations, who are not so focused on free speech as we might be here in the US (China or Iran), want to have a big say in what is available to their average citizen online. Industrialized countries like Brazil and India also want to regulate the internet for the vast commercial benefit inherent in controlling the biggest social invention since the neighborhood block party.
I find it admirable that countries with much to gain in controlling internet service delivery, the US and its allies, called the UN talks "offensive" because they represent an attempt to gain control of something that derives its vitality from its freedom, not its regulation. In the words of a very famous movie featuring puppet mannequins: "America, fuck yeah!".
But this carte blanche opposition to paying for internet service isn't all gummy-worms and sprinkles on the ice cream called technology. There needs to be well regulated ways to collect money for services involving intellectual property (listening to the songs I write or the books you read) because like it or not, artists have to get paid too. There are some pretty pretentious peeved-off penmen over in Hollywood right now who are getting the royal shaft on royalties for shows they've written on, shows that later end up online, for free, for anyone to download, leaving Gary the Writer penniless on the corner of Sunset Ave. and Desperation Blvd...
And don't we want to pay comedic writers, or songwriters, or all the cameramen, gaffers, grips, gapers and goombas in Hollywood and elsewhere, wherever creative art is distributed to the masses? Won't it make sit-coms funnier (please God), songs better, movies deeper (again, Lord help us please...)???
The bottom line is that the regulation of intellectual property (ie; figuring out how creative people get paid for their work online) in a society who virtually expects (and fights on a political level for) free internet content will be an area to watch in the coming years. Hulu and Grooveshark are always there for you while you wait...
