by
Jaron Lanier
Copying a musician's music ruins economic dignity. It doesn't necessarily deny the musician any form of income, but it does mean that the musician is restricted to a real-time economic life. That means one gets paid to perform, perhaps, but not paid for music one has recorded in the past. It is one thing to sing for your supper occasionally, but to have to do so for every meal forces you into a peasant's dilemma.
how can you see a phrase like "economic dignity" and not roll your eyes? what does it even mean? what does its usage say about capitalism realism and the extent to which this author has bought into it?
the main problem here is that he foresees musicians not getting paid (enough) for their music in the future, but is apparently incapable of imagining a world where you don't need to "get paid" in order to survive ... his projections for tech are spot-on, but his projections for the political sphere are extremely reactionary and naive