I'm going to toss in a quote from the Moderators' Forum that I made that gave me the idea for this thread:
Quote:
In psychotherapy there is a pattern of behavior that we observe wherein the patient recognizes a problem and applies a solution. If this solution works, then the patient continues to use it. If it doesn't, then the solution is abandoned.
Now, here is where things go terribly wrong. The new solution will cotninue to work for as long as it is applied to the original problem or problem type. Howeve, being the good little monkeys we are descended from, we start applying the new solution to other problems, with the sometimes correct belief that problem/solutions sets are interchangeable.
When the new solution at first does not work, instead of abandoning it as a bad idea, we do it more. After all, this is the solution that works. Based on the "more is better" principle, we just ramp up the new solution over and over.
At that point, the new solution goes from being the new solution to being the new problem. It generally takes a long time for us to recognize that the solution has, in fact done this, so we just keep doing more and more. Until a newer solution to the new problem presents itself and the cycle restarts from scratch.
Example: A woman is raised in a family environment where conflict is discouraged and she feels that she is blamed for anything that goes on with her sibship. She finds that, if she perceives that she is about to be blamed, she can avert the drama by rusing in to explain herself to her mother, who will then walk away from conflict. Later in life, whenever she feels some level of threat, she rushes to make a huge explanation of the situation, being very pushy in her assertions, because no one seems to listen to her. She becomes labeled as someone who is always creating crises for no reason.
If you put the DRM and the DMCA shtuff into this framework, it all becomes exquisitely clear as to why we are living in these times. What is called for is a new solution that is not seen as the panacea, but just a solution for now, with new solutions to new problems later on down the line.
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I think that the whole DRM/no DRM debate is really discussing quite the wrong thing. I feel that DRM is a solution to an antique problem and that what is needed is a newer solution. One that does not rely on the concept of "owning" something by holding it in your hands.