permaculture

["Lee Flier" <lflier@mindspring.com>]

Interesting thoughts as usual, John.

>I suggest transcending/replacing such institutions (academia, corporatia)
>rather than being absorbed ("accepted") by them.

That is where I am headed too, but I don't think those two things are
mutually exclusive.  Infiltration from within is one method of
transcending/replacing. :-)  'Course, it's not the only way, and I hope we
all remain open to other ways.  But it IS one method that can work, in
conjunction with other stuff.

>For those who want PC to become a "profession," I suggest reading Ivan
>Illich on the manifold pathologies of "professions" - or just reflect on
the
>consequences of the medical profession, the legal profession, the academic
>professions, the technical professions, etc. etc.....

Yeah I agree.  While it would be "nice" to make a living from PC and some
people manage to do it, I tend to think of PC the same way I think of being
a musician (which I am): in order to serve its integrity properly we may
need to dissociate it from the idea of making a living from it.  If, in the
process, we still manage to make a living from it, great!  But I won't
compromise my ideas or hoard information in order to protect my livelihood.
DISCLAIMER:  I am not accusing anyone in particular of doing that, either.

>My experience is that the more I desire to control something, the more
>clearly I am reminded (sooner or later) that "control" is an illusion.
>Perhaps we can simply rejoice that offshore pirate printing presses are not
>churning out millions of illegal copies of the designer's manual, intro to
>PC and so on...?  Then again, at half the price or less maybe more people
>would pick up a copy...wanting to have our cake and eat it too seem to be
an
>ongoing systemic complication.


Heheh... I have no desire to "control" PC - only to remind people that we
have a responsibility to its integrity.  I don't doubt for a minute that
lots of people will ignore that responsibility, but I do think Bill did the
best thing he could do to maintain some mechanism for quality control while
still allowing maximum freedom of choice and "anarchy".

As for having our cake and eating it too.... yeah.  I struggle with this
idea a lot myself.  You may know there's a big war going on within the music
industry right now over whether web sites and software such as Napster
(which allows the free trading of MP3 files) should be made illegal.  Record
companies, of course, are the most threatened.  But artists themselves seem
to be divided down the middle: some feel that the proliferation of their
music on the Net, even if it's pirated copies, will only do them good
because it will widen their audience.  Others feel it's nothing but petty
thieving of their intellectual property.  I can see both sides of that
argument.  On one hand, I wish I could devote more time to my music and
didn't have to program a computer to pay the bills - which would mean I'd
have to make enough money from music to quit my job.  On the other hand, the
real reason I play music is for its own sake, to reach people, not to make
money.  And I believe all art should be created for this reason alone.  Art
created for commercial purposes is rarely any good, although some good art
does happen to become commercially viable.  But, does that mean all artists
and musicians are doomed to either starving, compromising their integrity,
or finding another job which will take away from their ability to do what
they do best?  I think the same could be said of permaculturists.

How can we allow for freedom of distribution while still making sure that
individuals with something to offer can pay the bills, without compromising
integrity?  I don't know if we can ever answer that question satisfactorily,
so we usually have to make choices that lean toward one side or the other.
I don't have any problem with Bill's desire to protect his copyrights on his
books, etc.  The guy certainly deserves credit and compensation for his
work.  I guess I just have trouble with a society where this has to be done.
I think people should be scrambling to disseminate his work as widely as
possible, and at the same time people should make sure that he never wants
for material needs.  Sorta like if you're a master drummer in Africa or
India - you will never have to worry about where your next meal is coming
from.  Artistic merit, and intellectual contribution, should be recognized
for its intrinsic value alone and not for the paper or other medium it's
printed on.

Oh well, I can dream, can't I?

--Lee

***********************************
Lee A. Flier
lflier@mindspring.com
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
http://lflier.home.mindspring.com