Jaron Lanier: open textbooks “appalling and preposterous”

“Jaron Lanier is certainly getting his share of press lately.
His latest guest starring role: a rant in Monday’s very special
episode of L. Gordon Crozier’s technology column for the Wall
Street Journal. Seems like Lanier is becoming a go-to guy when one
is in need of a sound bite denouncing “free culture” in all of its
radical and dangerous forms.

“It’s a perfect fit, too. To the world of traditional media,
Lanier must seem like the perfect spokesmodel: the dreadlocked
visionary who has journeyed for years in the virtual wilderness,
and has now returned to warn us of our horrible dystopian future,
in which all the creative souls of the world must deliver pizzas
because no one values their genius. What we call a commons, Lanier
calls “Digital Maoism”.

“Nothing new to us in the open source world — although it’s
been a while since anyone called us communists. With a straight
face, anyway.”

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