Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity by Lawrence Lessig

By Lawrence Lessig

Lawrence Lessig, “the most vital philosopher on highbrow estate within the web era” (The New Yorker), masterfully argues that by no means ahead of in human heritage has the facility to regulate artistic growth been so centred within the arms of the strong few, the so-called colossal Media. by no means sooner than have the cultural powers- that-be been in a position to exert such regulate over what we will and can’t do with the tradition round us. Our society defends unfastened markets and unfastened speech; why then does it let such top-down keep watch over? To lose our lengthy culture of loose tradition, Lawrence Lessig indicates us, is to lose our freedom to create, our freedom to construct, and, finally, our freedom to visualize.

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These dynamics leave powerful imprints. In areas where wolves have been extirpated, for example, no new aspens are able to grow above browse height (about seven feet). Where wolves have returned, aspens are once again able to grow above the reach of hungry elk due to the ecology of fear. In such cases this creates a gap in tree ages, with lots of old aspens, no middle-aged aspens, and lots of young ones. To document the indirect effects of wolves, I have been measuring elk vigilance behavior (how much time they spend with their heads up scanning for predators versus with their heads down, eating) tree ages and stand dynamics, and songbird biodiversity.

Quickly we saw evidence that we had traveled in the right direction— wolf scats deposited tellingly every hundred feet or so as bold territorial markers. Occasionally we found enormous, dinner-plate-size grizzly scats. Above the sweet music of riverwater flowing over stones we heard the unmistakable braid of wolfen voices, and around the next bend in the trail heard something big crashing through the woods. This place was not Quantifying Wildness 11 for the fainthearted. Hooting and hollering to let the animals know we were there, we cut upslope.

For some long moments we stood speechless at being vouchsafed a glimpse of a trophic cascade in action. My friend wanted to check out the carcass, but I told him no, that it could mean disturbing the wolf and causing it to abandon its meal. Soon ravens would be homing in on the kill. Grizzly bears and cougars would arrive soon after, drawn by raven calls and the coppery scent of fresh blood. And so we left on that fine autumn morning, talking spiritedly about the eloquent demonstration of the ecology of fear the wolves had provided.

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