a blog about information
Imagine there was a significant risk of a life-threatenic epidemic of some medical condition or the other. Imagine there was a vaccine or perhaps an antidote for this condition. Imagine there was only one patent-holder. Imagine that the short-term demand for the medicines far exceeded the supply capacity of the patent holder. Thankfully people far … Continue reading “Musing on IPR and DRM”
Have you ever heard of Richard Butler? A man, who, according to Jim White in the Daily Telegraph, “hit the council where it hurts; he has kicked it in the red tape.” A delightful story that you can read here, without a paywall in sight. The story’s simple. Council wants to build road through man’s … Continue reading “On collaboration and Prisoner’s Dilemmas and the Power of Many”
A few days ago I wrote about David Freedman’s piece in Inc magazine, where he, in Carr-like fashion, suggested that collaboration doesn’t work, that crowds don’t have wisdom, that workgroups fail most often when they’re faced with making a decision. I took some issue with the statements. I then suggested a number of false or … Continue reading “More on social software and consensus”
I’ve now finished reading the whole essay and all the comments. Fascinating. Lanier says some very interesting things, as do his critics. I could regurgitate all the things said and summarise them for you, but that’s not my style. I could write a long impassioned response to the essay, pretending to be learned enough to … Continue reading “On Lanier’s Digital Maoism”
I feel at ease. For once I am not confused. At least I am less confused than I was earlier. You remember the sequence of posts I wrote about opensource and gatekeepers? [Those new to the conversation can find them here, here, here, here and here, in chronological order. Alternatively you can enter “gatekeeper” into … Continue reading “Counting what counts: Musing about Wikipedia and Drosophila”