The pirate's dilemma
Subtitle: how youth culture is reinventing capitalism
By: Matt Mason
Publisher: Free Press
Published: 2009
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 276
ISBN-13: 9781416532200
Subjects: Young adults; Attitudes; Subculture; Piracy (Copyright); Entrepreneurship; Information society
Description: Music journalist Mason, a former pirate radio and club DJ in London, explores how open source culture is changing the distribution and control of information and harnessing the old system of punk capitalism to new market conditions governing society. According to Mason, this movement's creators operate according to piratical tactics and are changing the very nature of our economy. He charts the rise of the ideas and social experiments behind these latter-day pirates, citing the work of academics, historians and innovators across a multitude of fields. He also explores contributions by visionaries like Andy Warhol, 50 Cent and Dr. Yuref Hamied, who was called a pirate and a thief after producing anti-HIV drugs for Third World countries that cost as little as $1 a day to produce. Pirates, Mason states, sail uncharted waters where traditional rules don't apply. As a result, they offer great ways to service the public's best interests. According to Mason, how people, corporations and governments react to these changes is one of the most important economic and cultural questions of the 21st century. Well-written, entertaining and highly original, Mason offers a fascinating view of the revolutionary forces shaping the world as we know it.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 245-268) and index.
Table of contents: title: Intro: Enter the lollipop; title: Punk capitalism: from D.I.Y. to downloading sneakers; title: The tao of pirates: sea forts, patent trolls, and why we need piracy; title: We invented the remix: cut-'n'-paste culture creates some new common ground; title: The art of war: street art, branding, and the battle for public space; title: Boundaries: disco nuns, the death of the record industry, and our open-source future; title: Real talk: how hip-hop makes billions and could bring about world peace; title: Ethernomics: pillow fights, happy slaps, and other memes that leave a mark; title: Outro: The pirate's dilemma: changing the game theory.