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

[Carlo Capocasa]

> 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:

Well, actually not so much. I simply don't only have a vision for
myself, but also for other people. The whole world, in fact.

> 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?  

I believe the people who want to just sit there and watch American Idol
are simply picking the best of the options someone else is giving them,
because the happen not to believe they can create anything they imagine.
In fact, the concept of creating your own stuff is so alien they don't
even think about it that way. But, if someone came along and made a few
other suggestions, and be it as messages interwoven in American Idol for
starters, over time that phenomenon would become irrelevant, if only
because there's enough farmers feeding them who don't mind feeding them
for free because the farmer has an awareness it isn't necessary to get
compensation directly from them so he can get what HE wants to consume.

> 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.

No, of course not! As long as they watch American Idol, they watch
American Idol, and that's ok. It doesn't mean you point a gun at them
and force them to march with a flag that says 'Linux Audio'. But it does
mean you find ways of raising their awareness that they don't have to
nine-to-five to survive, which will naturally have the effect of them
wanting to, for example, listen to music created by free spirited
musicians, which is what linux audio is all about. (The software's just
software, but the people who made it are free, to varying degrees).

> 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?

I have a very specific theory on how the Universe works. I say that
unless you are strongly subconsciously afraid of the Vigilante, you will
not be of interest to the Vigilante. Same thing for the criminal. So if
somebody enjoys eating babies, unless you have something of that nature
going on in your psyche you will have nothing to do with that situation,
and if you do, somehow talking that person into a more enlightening way
of life might just what it takes for YOU to get rid of that part of
yourself.

On the other hand, law enforcement the way we have it is no better. It's
 not like cops are there to help you as much as people demand them
because they are a way of feeling secure. When the underlying insecurity
goes, the necessity for cops goes as well, as well as all government.

'Manifestation of the collective insecurity of people' is a great
definition of government, as far as I'm concerned.

> 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.

I believe that when you abandon competition, so many resources are freed
up that nobody could care less if you play games all the time except
yourself. So what would happen is, over time you would lose interest in
all games except a very specific type, and then you'd notice you'd be
the most competent guy around to create that type of game because you've
been thinking about it most, and then you'd do it, for the pure joy of
making it, and for all the people who enjoy it.

And when are most basic problems (food, shelter, clothes, family) are
solved, and when no one's elbowing around and worrying whose logo is
written in the most places, that will happen a lot faster than it has
now. For example, rumours have it there is technology that can grow
crops at the speed of time-lapse video, that are shut down for reasons
of 'competitive advantage'. It is amazing how much technology that could
simply automate all our daily 'necessities' is being held back simply
because of 'competitive advantage'... or perhaps an even more sinister
reason, to keep control of people. When you get rid of that control, by
creating your own options in your mind, all this great stuff starts to
blossom, and time we NEED TO spend on things dwindles.

In other words, for a while we'd be working on free food and shelter and
clothes, but once that's all in place... And when there's nobody there
to destroy it that will happen very quickly... WHO COULD CARE LESS IF
YOU SIMPLY PLAY GAMES ALL DAY? Or create candles that smell like
Broccoli, for that matter, simply 'because you can'?

> 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.

Unlike, of course, capitalism, that places demands on absolutely nobody,
especially not young people who are dreaming of a life of fulfillment
and adventure.

What I'm talking about here is replacing SIXTEEN YEARS OF DRUDGINGLY
BORING SOUL-SUCKING 'EDUCATION' (more like detention to me) and then a
lifetime of drudgery and humiliation (if I'd be experiencing that,
American Idol'd be the first thing on my mind when I come home) with
about fifteen minutes a day of focused attention of an otherwise fun and
adventuresome life. Fifteen? Yep. Once you believe things are possible
and get rid of your fears and all things tend to speed up some.

> OOooh, Free Willy!

Can be found at your local gay bar.

And if you help me the bar will be free as well.

Carlo