Distributed Mind

This is an idea that I've talked about for a while, but I wanted to get something down on virtual paper as I've been thinking about it lately. We have discussed this before, I think, but these are some of my current thoughts.

Basically, I refuse to accept the categorization of media producers and consumers. I believe that we all, according to our abilities, should be content producers, and that we must refuse to live as mere consumers of what the Southern California and New York City producers think we should like. [Which I think makes me a content/intellectual property socialist.] This is part of why I dislike mindless movies - but for the millions of dollars they have available for production and promotion, I believe I or other people I know could produce movies of comparable interest, if not quality. Except that I want to emphasize that I don't believe that millions of dollars are necessary; I believe movies (or whatever) of quality can be produced for much less. The same is even more true of music and literature.

What is necessary to achieve this? Well, that's maybe not a trivial question to answer. Some elements that I believe will ply a part are the following though:

• An unwillingness to accept poor "art" in mass media. Certainly, we don't have to reject mass media, but we should be discerning and not waste our money in subsidizing bad media. When we see bad media, we should not be shy in complaining about it, and more importantly, we need to develop the courage to attempt to do better.

• This implies we need to better train ourselves, also. Take some guitar lessons or practice writing.

  Of course, do so mindfully - no need to repeat the empty cliches parroted in the television (which is actually improving in quality, to be honest) or past generations of hack writers. We don't need or want to repeat those mistakes - a certain degree of confidence is necessary, but so is humility at least as far as judging quality. We need to be more strict in regards to quality as critics of ourselves.

  Having said this though, we don't need to become as good as the best professionals - there will always be room for folk musicians, for example. And honestly, many folk musicians are better than many of the commercial performers!

• Be liberal with licenses. Don't lock things down so no one can hear it or read it or watch it. If you're really brave, let other people use it to produce their own new content - you may enjoy the new content they produce also.
• Of course, support other people in this endeavor. Know someone committed to producing their own distinctive art and setting it free to the masses? Give them some cash, go see their concert, whatever.