JARON LANIER, FATHER OF VIRTUAL REALITY TECHNOLOGY, ACCLAIMED AUTHOR AND MUSICIAN, TO SPEAK AT CANADIAN MUSIC WEEK
March 12 during Global Forum, Fairmont Royal York Hotel, downtown Toronto
Lanier to address the explosion of free content online, and its impact on artists and individual creativity, at March 12 “Global Forum” keynote speech
Influential thought leader Jaron Lanier will address the deep and far-ranging consequences of free content online at this year’s Digital Music Summit Global Forum Breakfast. Sponsored by CRIA and the Department of Foreign Affairs & International Trade Canada, the panel will take place as part of the Canadian Music Week conference in Toronto, 8:30 – 11 a.m. on Friday, March 12. Known as the father of virtual reality technology, Lanier is a highly accomplished computer scientist, musician, composer and visual artist who is making big waves with the publication of his new book, “You Are Not a Gadget”.
Described in a recent New York Times review as “lucid, powerful and persuasive” (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/15/books/15book.html?ref=books), the book has generated intense debate on what Lanier calls “hive thinking” and “digital Maoism” – the explosion of free content and collective work online, and the undermining of individual creativity.
In his book, Lanier writes, “The basic idea of this contract is that authors, journalists, musicians and artists are encouraged to treat the fruits of their intellects and imaginations as fragments to be given without pay to the hive mind. Reciprocity takes the form of self-promotion. Culture is to become precisely nothing but advertising.”
He continues, “We're well over a decade into this utopia of demonetized sharing and almost everyone who does the kind of work that has been collectivized online is getting poorer. There are only a tiny handful of writers or musicians who actually make a living in the new utopia, for instance. Almost everyone else is becoming more like a peasant every day. And it's going to get worse.”
Lanier also argues that the “hive mind”, fed by online anonymity, can result in mob rule. The result: malicious attacks on individuals and institutions as seen every day in web-posted comments.
The “hive thinking” and “digital Maoism” Lanier describes are central to the challenges faced by virtually anyone involved in music today, from artists to record companies.
Lanier will be available for media interviews following the speech.
Please visit the Canadian Music Week website – www.cmw.net - to register for the Digital Music Summit, which includes the Global Forum.
Canadian Music Week is Canada’s leading annual entertainment event dedicated to the expression and growth of the country’s music, media and entertainment industries. Combining five information-intensive conferences; a trade exposition; a film festival; four awards shows and the nation's largest New Music Festival – Canadian Music Fest - CMW spans a five-day period from March 10 to March 14, 2010 at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel and various downtown Toronto venues, attracting participants from across the globe. For more information, visit www.cmw.net
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