[linux-audio-user] Re: Attracting more Linux audio developers

[Rob]

On Saturday 23 December 2006 12:54, Carlo Capocasa wrote:
> How about Linus Torvalds. Who is he, nobody? Or is he somebody
> after all but mysteriously hacks the Linux kernel dreading it
> while all he really wants to do is watch American Idol?

I think you misread my post.  It wasn't a critique of you having 
a vision, it was a specific critique of one aspect of that 
vision.  Specifically, your vision requires something from the 
people who would rather just sit there and watch American Idol 
than do something constructive.  You propose a:

> society where money is no longer necessary because people
> trust they will be able to sustain themselves and work for the
> satisfaction of accomplishing what they want to.

What about the people who just want to sit there and watch 
American Idol?  What work would they do to provide their 
satisfaction and how would it differ from what they do under 
capitalism?  

Or are they simply irrelevant and expendable in your vision?  Do 
their desires just not matter?  Because I'm pretty sure they're 
a majority of the population, at least in the US.

Leaving behind the people whose greatest desire is to be able to 
do nothing but consume entertainment, what about the people 
whose passion is creating little cat toys out of Q-tips, or 
candles that smell exactly like broccoli?  Doesn't the buck stop 
there as far as value goes?  Have you ever considered how 
horrifying your vision is when applied to fields like law 
enforcement?  "Well, no, I don't get paid, but I have the 
satisfaction of carrying this gun wherever I like."  And have 
you ever met a farmer, who was not independently wealthy prior 
to his starting a farm, who tended a gigantic farm to feed 
thousands of people just for the satisfaction?

As for me, sure, I'd be ecstatic to work 40 or 60 hours a week on 
free software and then be able to go somewhere and just get a 
stack of frozen pizzas as part of a "gift culture".  But I'd be 
working on the projects I cared about.  And the only reason I'm 
writing a ZIP file component for Gambas is because I need it to 
write an ODF component which will be useful to several of my 
clients who pay me a lot of money.  In the absence of the 
requirement that I serve someone else for a living, that 40 to 
60 hours would be spend writing a game called something 
like "Penguins and Balloons" that almost no one but me would 
care about.  In fact, it might very well just be spent playing 
other people's games on the Wii, if the Wii were even possible 
in a system without competition.

The problem is not your vision.  The problem is that unlike free 
software or city building, your vision makes demands on 
everyone, whether they share your vision or not.

> first place, unconsciously. So I'm telling you now: You can do
> anything you like. You can! You can! 

I do!  I do!

> Free food. Free shelter. Free clothes. Free toys. Free rides.

OOooh, Free Willy!

Rob