Is everything a Remix?
Kirby Ferguson has put together a fantastic short video series that nicely describes an idea I’ve been trying to highlight in my research for a long time – that very few “breakthroughs” are really about creating something truly new, but instead are more about copying, slightly transforming, and combining other people’s ideas.
Simply: breakthroughs are a myth, and copying is king.
In the series of 3 videos linked to below, he shows how even masterful / novel contributions to music (video 1, highlighting Led Zeppelin), movies (video 2, highlighting Star Wars), and technology (video 3, highlighting Xerox before the Mac) are really remixes. Very powerful ideas that run counter to society’s views on creativity!
Everything is a Remix Part 1 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.
September 8, 2011 at 4:38 pm
So where does this leave us on plagiarism?
September 12, 2011 at 10:31 am
I think this is a great question. To me, the issue is in the way we think about ‘copying.’ One way is to think about plagarism, which is simply the idea of taking someone else’s ideas and passing them off as your own. Another way is to think of it as ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’ as Isaac Newton once said. I don’t think we should be afraid of copying. I think most great innovation is a large part copying and a small part inspiration. This requires, of course, giving credit / royalties / etc. to whom they are due, but to move ahead in science and society I think we should embrace what has been done to enable what can be done.