Here's an idea.
Reality is disappearing, and your mobile phone is to blame.
[THEME MUSIC]
Saying that I love my phone is beyond understatement.
It's like saying that I love my record collection, coffee,
or pants.
My pants!
It's such an inextricable part of my life,
I can't imagine what I'd do without it.
I mean, I'd be fine, but sort of like without pants,
I'd feel a little naked.
I love being able to find restaurants, get directions,
use Twitter, send emails, take pictures.
Oh yeah, and, like, make phone calls or whatever.
No, but really, think about it.
How often do you use your phone as a phone
in comparison to the other billion things that it does?
Just take a look at mobile phone advertisements.
They advertise recording, documenting, sharing,
personalization, productivity, aloofness, disinterest,
disconnectedness, the mediated experience of everyday life.
Wait, what was I talking about?
Oh, right.
Mobile phone ads rarely show people actually making
phone calls.
It's all, this girl at the concert,
these guys with the dots, this phone that is you,
these people who aren't even looking at one another.
These people experience the world, their lives,
through a phone.
Their friends and even their selves
are transformed into the information transmitted
by their iMotoSungBoBerryPhone.
And because it's an advertisement,
they have a great time while they do it.
And are very attractive, and very well-dressed,
and the language of advertising is another video entirely.
But the point being that while it might be weird,
there is probably a grain of truth here.
We use our phones constantly, for everything.
They're great and helpful and make us more powerful.
Ubiquitous computing is awesome and important.
But there is a difference between technology as utility
and technology as lens.
Like, let's say you're at a Nickelback show
and you're taking photos, like the whole time.
Are you really even at the show if, all night long, there's
a screen between you and this handsome gentleman?
People two rows behind you, and French post-structuralist
philosopher and all-around Grumpy Gus Jean
Baudrillard might say, no.
No!
It's "Simulacra & Simulation," Baudrillard
talks about Jorge Luis Borges' extremely short story,
"On Exactitude in Science."
In it, Borges describes an empire
which is made a map, quote, "whose size was
that of the empire, and which coincided point
for point with it."
Over time, the impossibly large map
becomes part of the landscape.
Representation and thing being represented
become, confusingly, one and the same.
For Beaudrillard, this is an imperfect but beautiful
allegory for the simulation and what he calls hyperreality,
a reality constructed of images, some of which
might be of Chad Kroeger, which represent
but also mask true reality.
The real, Beaudrillard says, has been murdered
by an endless stream of images.
He had a knack for the dramatic.
Simulation, then, is the process which creates hyperreality,
the new real.
Beaudrillard writes that the real
is produced from miniaturized cells, matrices,
and memory banks-- models of control--
and can be reproduced an indefinite number of times
from these.
Welcome to the Desert of the Real.
Is any of this ringing a bell?
Like, when you look at photos of Chad on your phone,
are you fondly remembering the show?
Or are you consuming the empire's map of it?
And when you share those photos, like those people are
constantly doing on those advertisements,
are you sharing an experience?
Or are you sharing an idealized reference,
some kind of empty symbol?
Is your experience of a sunset still the same
if your strongest reaction is, "Oh my god, you guys,
that is some good Instagram."
Are people still people if they're expressed solely
by SMSes, Foursquare notifications, tweets,
or status updates?
Or worse yet, solely by YouTube videos?
I mean, how am I not myself?
How am I not myself?
[SHUDDERS]
OK.
I'll admit that some of this seems a little alarmist.
Screens and digital representations of things
are everywhere.
If we didn't want to experience the world this way,
we wouldn't, right?
Phones, tablets, computers, video games--
they all contribute to this hyperreality,
and we seem to be doing just fine.
We still to relate to one another,
have personal experiences, and sense of self.
I am a golden god!
And we're less bored.
Which is great, because people hate being bored.
Being bored stinks.
And also, we're more connected and more knowledgeable.
That can't be all bad.
Well, the point might not be that this arrangement is bad--
rather, that it's different.
Majorly different.
Recording, living, capturing, experiencing,
all happen constantly alongside one another,
thanks in no small part to mobile phones.
And it's only becoming easier-- or as Beaudrillard
might say, more seductive-- to think of real life
as images on a screen, to combine the map
and the thing being mapped.
Because it's more convenient, less risky and challenging.
It's cleaner, more attractive.
It looks, as a matter of fact, a lot
like a cellphone commercial.
What do you guys think?
Are the things you experience on your phone real life?
Let us know in the comments.
And if you're not taking pictures of Chad Kroeger
right now, please subscribe.
(SINGING) Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you.
Let's see what you guys had to say about "Happy Birthday"
and copyright.
So first and foremost, a bunch of people
pointed out some awesome videos that you should watch.
If you haven't seen them, you should check out
CGP Grey's "Forever Less One Day,"
the Barats & Bereta "Happy Birth Day"
song, the really amazing "Everything is a Remix" series,
and this really great video response made by plusECON.
So we'll put those somewhere, and then also,
links in the description.
Emma Long says that things that are very catchy
should be restricted from copyright, because they're
going to get stuck in your head and you're
going to want to use them and distribute them anyways, which
I think a lot of people would very much disagree with that,
but is an idea that I love.
darkmyro says that he doesn't necessarily
think copyright is a bad thing, in and of itself,
but that it's sometimes used for less-than-good purposes,
and wonders why Congress is so crazy about copyright
enforcement recently.
I think I have an idea.
Uh, I'll give you a hint.
It makes the world go round and rhymes with "shmoney."
RedRookieRebel wonders whether or not
the Idea Channel videos are protected
by copyright and if clips of them
can be used in a "My Little Pony" documentary.
The answer to both of those questions is yes.
I'm pretty sure that actually fair use will protect you
in that case, but even if-- whatever.
Go crazy.
You can use them.
Rico McGuffin wonders whether or not
every song is protected from public performance the same way
that "Happy Birthday" is.
And it's kind of complicated.
When it's just you and your friends singing a song,
or like, a small group of people, that's one thing.
But when it gets into public performance,
especially in a place that's commercial, like a restaurant
or like a music hall, that's when rights-holders
might want some cash.
elrognol says that they believe nothing should be protected
by copyright and that it should actually
be illegal to own an idea, which is something that I actually
kind of disagree with, as far left in the copy fight
as I tend to stand.
There's actually a really great paper--
we'll post a link in the description-- about the uses
and importance and history of intellectual property.
It's really good.
You should check it out.
To Trigfire and a bunch of other people
who asked why I was so upset that Disney bought "Star Wars,"
it's not necessarily that I think they're
going to make a bad movie.
It's just that they are two organizations who
are historically very well-known for holding on very tightly
to their intellectual property, which
is-- can be a little scary.
So that's why.
That's why I was upset.
And finally, there is actually a little cause for celebration,
because Idea Channel recently reached 100,000 subscribers.
So I just want to say thanks to everybody
for being such an awesome community,
for writing amazing comments, for always impressing
us, and coming on this weird idea journey with us.
So in celebration, I'm going to dance
like a fool for a little while.
Ready?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Thanks.
[THEME MUSIC]