Larry's still not happy
Mark and I went along to the SCL's annual lecture last night to see Prof Larry Lessig talk about "corruption 2.0". I'd not seen him speak before (though I've followed the output from his blog for some time). Once I'd got used to his staccato powerpoint style (does every word really need a separate slide for emphasis?), I was (predictably) wowed and convinced by many of his arguments.
I particularly liked his (more familiar) arguments about the scope and effect of copyright insidiously expanding to make contemporary "read write" culture illegal - though his point that legislators do just get things wrong (climate change, copyright extension, recommended diets) - and the lack of US privacy legislation - made me feel suitably indignant. As I was supposed to feel.
And the "remix" section was great too. It's never a bad thing to be reminded about some of those classic YouTube moments, such as Blair and Bush duetting to Lionel Ritchie's "Endless Love". I've always been a big fan of some of the "mashups" my pal William puts on his Christmas compilation CDs, notably including the Beatles' "Christmas Time Is Here Again" with Boston's "More Than a Feeling".
I was only sad that there weren't more people there to see the performance. In a theatre holding up to 460, I reckon there were no more than 100 people present. Was this because the SCL had been over-ambitious in its choice of venue? Or the conflict with the Chelsea v Liverpool match? Or the fact it was a Wednesday night? Or is Prof Lessig too radical for the taste of most tech lawyers?
I found it very enjoyable & like you I was disappointed by the relatively poor turnout for such a high profile speaker.
I rather like his presentations - the staccato style worked for me.
And I got him to autograph my copy of "The Future of Ideas" :)
Posted by: Geeklawyer | May 01, 2008 at 12:30 PM
Laurence Eastham at the SCL has pointed out that a write-up of the event (and an MP3 of Prof Lessig's performance) is not available online. Take a look here for more info:
http://www.scl.org/editorial.asp?i=1812&r=2£0£0£0£0£0£2£0£1£
Posted by: Peter | May 12, 2008 at 11:52 AM