Kirby Ferguson

there's a great youtube doc about everything being remixing which i highly recommend https://www.everythingisaremix.info/

I consider myself a remixer. Related, I recommend this video series on the topic: http://www.everythingisaremix.info

Exactly. Every patent that I've seen (for example, Apple vs. HTC) boils down to complete bullshit. I'd welcome someone finding a non-bullshit patent that Android is clearly violating (possibly something with Java? They don't use any of the JVM technology and I don't think I could consider programming language semantics patentable). Relatedly: Google seems to feel entitled to copy whatever it wants. Android copies the UI from the iPhone. Places copied data from Yelp. Google+ copies from Facebook. Their coupon thing is a clone of Groupon. And yet it’s Google that acts as though it has been offended when these competitors fight back. For a man who is so in love with Everything is a Remix [1], this strikes me as an odd position. Once things like this are up for grabs, you can start pointing fingers all the way back to the first transistor. There's a thick line between "remix" and "ripoff" and I've yet to see Google cross it in a significant manner. [1] http://www.everythingisaremix.info/

It's also almost 50 years since "An Open Letter to Hobbyists"[1]. It's amazing that in the last 30+ years, the "hobbyists" managed to turn the entire software industry by 180°, and that Microsoft themselves are reliant on that work. Bill even specifically mentions musicians. By 1976, when blues was only ca 100 years old, most bands would play what we now call "covers", credit each original writer on the back of the record, and there was no shame or stigma around it. Art builds on art, and "stealing" is probably the most important part of the process[2]. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Open_Letter_to_Hobbyists [2]: https://www.everythingisaremix.info/watch-the-series/

For a visual form of the same argument, but more about music and film, see everything is a remix: https://www.everythingisaremix.info/ It's been submitted to HN many times but has never spawned any discussion: https://hn.algolia.com/?q=everything+is+a+remix

In the words of Kirby Ferguson, Everything is a remix. https://www.everythingisaremix.info/

Homepage: https://www.everythingisaremix.info/ The 2012 original, remastered in 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJPERZDfyWc

Cory Doctorow's written a lot about conspiracy theories. Or you could look at https://www.everythingisaremix.info/.

Everything is a remix video series is worth watching in this topic. It covers how every musician from Led Zeppelin to recent artists "remix" existing melodies. Also, how remix is done in other genres (e.g. movies): http://www.everythingisaremix.info/watch-the-series/

Aside from the monomyth, Star Wars was actually the fruit of George Lucas attempting to do a Flash Gordon film but failing to secure the rights. Edit: This talks about Star Wars's influences, and is also great and everybody should watch it: http://www.everythingisaremix.info/watch-the-series/

This is not scientific, but there was an excellent video series called "everything is a remix" http://everythingisaremix.info/watch-the-series/

This is still my favorite demonstration of the concept and coverage of the topic: http://everythingisaremix.info/watch-the-series/

Obligatory link to Everthing is a Remix: http://everythingisaremix.info

This seems like a great time to post the phenomenal Everything is a Remix [1]. Part one discusses movies, part two film, and part three discusses interfaces for computers, with special emphasis on Xerox PARC, Apple, and the Mac. 1. http://everythingisaremix.info/watch-the-series/

Yes. I'd figure out a way to give some attribution to the original creator of said idea. Check this out. http://everythingisaremix.info

Indeed. The Everything Is A Remix series has been great for showing this. The 3rd part actually covers Apple and their "inventions", too, but all are very interesting, and even enlightening: http://everythingisaremix.info/watch-the-series/

There's a nice video series about why the primitive moral idea "stealing is wrong" wreaks havoc in the world of ideas: http://www.everythingisaremix.info/

This is less of a hard line than http://everythingisaremix.info PG's argument is that the world is changing and the definition of property should change to match. But Everything is a Remix argues that ownership of ideas has always been problematic, because it's never been possible to cleanly separate an idea from its antecedents.

I think it would be best to compose a short video that outlines all of the problems, as that's even more accessible to people. I've seen a few videos that are long, and a few videos that are inaccurate/vague, but no definitive explanation of the issue. Here's the best video I've found so far: http://www.everythingisaremix.info/protect-ip/

In part, I agree with you, but I can't help but think of the innovations that were a direct result of the iterative 'Try Harder' approach, not the 'Try Better' one. Watch this to truly get an understanding of the value of trying harder, not better: http://www.everythingisaremix.info/

Who has an ounce of originality in your opinion? http://www.everythingisaremix.info/

I am really disappointed in the reaction of Maisel, and other photographers who're supporting the result of the lawsuit. Even if Baio copied the image pixel-by-pixel, what harm was done? Did anybody buy the Bloop because of the album artwork? Or because of the music? Come on, people! Show some common sense! A fine of a few 100 dollars would have been enough. On a tangential note: this is well worth a watch: http://www.everythingisaremix.info/watch-the-series/ No wonder pop music today is so crappy.

Since we're being pedantic... What the human race perceives as creativity is largely mashup of what others have done in a new way. Mozart? Derivative of music played by instruments. Van Gogh? Derivative of people painting on canvases. Once you start being too picky about what an idea is, you start to lose sight of what makes the idea awesome or why creation is so much fun in the first place. Highly relevant to this: http://www.everythingisaremix.info/

There's a great video essay series known as "Everything is a Remix" by Kirby Ferguson [1] if you have an hour to spare. Ferguson uses the trends of music sampling as a base for how artists draw inspiration from others. The controversy of sampling has been used across genres, include around minute 9 Ferguson points out that Led Zepplin were considered ripoffs for their appropriation of Jake Holmes. Axis of Awesome also has a "chord progression song" [2] that makes fun of how similar many pop songs are. The video draws a nice parallel to how so much in our world serves as "inspiration" for our own works, but acknowledges the controversy around using a single source as "too much inspiration". Especially as we move into whatever copyright arguments are getting made toward AI right now, I think it serves as a nice outline on why this is such a complicated matter. [1] https://www.everythingisaremix.info/everything-is-a-remix-2023 [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I

agree. http://everythingisaremix.info/

I have an interesting story about inspiration. Fresh out of Brigham Young University, a man named Stephen Hales was having trouble figuring out a logo for his design agency, Stephen Hales Creative. He had spent weeks working on concepts for the logo but nothing felt right, until one day he was getting into his car when he accidentally spilled a drink of coffee or something similar. When he looked at the ground where the beverage had splashed, he saw what appeared to be the silhouette of a bearded man clutching at his scalp, a representation of the design process: both frustrating and enlightening. He used the spilled drink as inspiration for what would become — and is still, today — the company logo. Anything can be inspiration, depending on the lens you have on when you encounter it. Research has shown that even subtle things we don't consciously acknowledge have an impact on our ability to solve problems or generate ideas (i.e. to "inspire" us). The trouble is that, because we aren't always consciously aware of what is inspiring us, we credit creative "sparks" to current conditions and stimulus, even if what really sparked that solution or idea in your mind was really inspired by a billboard you passed on the freeway four days ago or a book you read when you were younger. As a result, we waste quite a bit of time "seeking" inspiration. We feel like understanding where others gets their inspiration will somehow magically help us to find it ourselves more often. But…

Have you heard of Rocket Internet - (Samwer brothers) they have become experts in how to copy recently funded companies although hated by startup communities everywhere. Worth googling them and you will likely find lots of information. They are strong at execution putting alot of money and people on a project from day 1. If you zoom in on a couple of cases such fab.com or airbnb.com, it is intesting to observe what happened. In Fab.com's case, Rocket internet were getting geared up to copy Fab as Fab was growing fast. Jason Goldberg wrote a letter to all the designers on fab.com and published a post on his own blog saying that it was pointless to copy them. Fab.com deals with designers, and designers hate when people copy them so it was very likely designers wouldn't want to have anything to do with a copy and the rocket clone failed. Airbnb bought smaller competitors, not the rocket clone managing to get around the clone that way. Then there is the question, "are clones useful?" In some cases, very much so. If a startup wants to expand fast, one avenue it can take is to grow fast in a large city and then acquire the smaller clone startups elsewhere which have already tested how the idea needs to adapt to that context. This would be faster than organic growth. Lastly, you realise everything is a remix. http://www.everythingisaremix.info/everything-is-a-remix-the-ted-talk/ Almost every idea is a copy of the last. I used to work for an extremely famous designer, people…

> It can come up with something novel, but only by combining whatever present That's what artists do. Long before LLMs, Kirby Ferguson made this observation in "Everything is a Remix" [1] in the context of Copyright and IP disputes. He has since updated it with a chapter explaining how GenAI works on the same principles. In short, "combining whatever present" is the only source of novelty. [1]: https://www.everythingisaremix.info/watch-the-series/

Everything is a Remix https://www.everythingisaremix.info/watch-the-series