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Sean Lennon Asks Jaron Lanier to Imagine How to Make an Internet That Actually Pays

After his keynote address at the Festival of Ideas for the New City, which is happening right now in New York, everyone's favorite "dreadlocked web critic Jaron Lanier":http://motherboard.tv/2010/3/15/chill-out-the-internet-q-a-with-jaron-lanier...

After his keynote address at the Festival of Ideas for the New City, which is happening right now in New York, everyone’s favorite dreadlocked web critic Jaron Lanier fielded a good question from a person particularly interested in an Internet where creative types can actually get paid for their work: Sean Lennon. “When everything goes on sale for free, everyone is like ‘yay!’” noted the musician, his iPad under-arm. “But when the prices go back up — how do you make that transition? It’s almost like the cat’s let out of the bag. How do you get it back?” I captured the exchange on video, above.

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Thom Yorke notwithstanding, Lanier’s vision of a single-copy-web and a new kind of Internet social contract – one by which we not only start paying for the bits we consume but also get paid for the bits we produce – can be pretty hard to swallow for generations weaned on streaming gigabytes of free stuff at will. It’s a conundrum Sean’s dad might have found a way to dream about: Imagine all the people… getting rewarded for their creativity, with some cash, maybe a discount on their Internet bill.

Connections:
Jaron Lanier Wants To Kill Your Web 2.0: A Video Interview
Chill Out, The Internet: q+A With Jaron Lanier
Sharing and Free Are Good? Group-Think Again, Idiots!