Sunday, February 24, 2013

[mtdobdth] External genius and copyright

Ancient Romans had a concept of a "genius" responsible for a person's creativity that was external to the person himself or herself.  Creativity in a person was a manifestation of that external divine force.

This Roman cultural influence persisted until the Renaissance, when humanism displaced it.  It was then when the human creator of a creative work began to be considered important, more than just a conduit for the divine universal creative spirit who did the creating.

Modern ideas on copyright are a direct descendent of humanist thinking, pessimistically suggesting that significant copyright reform cannot be accomplished without a nearly unimaginable change in fundamental philosophy of how the world works.

Inspired by the Elizabeth Gilbert TED talk.

No comments :