Creativity is a remix | Kirby Ferguson

421,592 views ・ 2012-08-10

TED


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:00
Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast
0
0
7000
00:16
We're going to begin in 1964.
1
16018
3291
00:19
Bob Dylan is 23 years old, and his career
2
19309
2973
00:22
is just reaching its pinnacle.
3
22282
2161
00:24
He's been christened the voice of a generation,
4
24443
2441
00:26
and he's churning out classic songs
5
26884
2460
00:29
at a seemingly impossible rate,
6
29344
1963
00:31
but there's a small minority of dissenters, and they claim
7
31307
4451
00:35
that Bob Dylan is stealing other people's songs.
8
35758
3739
00:39
2004. Brian Burton, aka Danger Mouse,
9
39497
4140
00:43
takes the Beatles' "White Album,"
10
43637
1913
00:45
combines it with Jay-Z's "The Black Album"
11
45550
1777
00:47
to create "The Grey Album."
12
47327
1824
00:49
"The Grey Album" becomes an immediate sensation online,
13
49151
1919
00:51
and the Beatles' record company sends out countless
14
51070
2760
00:53
cease-and-desist letters for "unfair competition
15
53830
3240
00:57
and dilution of our valuable property."
16
57070
3881
01:00
Now, "The Grey Album" is a remix.
17
60951
1992
01:02
It is new media created from old media.
18
62943
2397
01:05
It was made using these three techniques:
19
65340
2585
01:07
copy, transform and combine.
20
67925
3242
01:11
It's how you remix. You take existing songs,
21
71167
1922
01:13
you chop them up, you transform the pieces,
22
73089
1720
01:14
you combine them back together again,
23
74809
1840
01:16
and you've got a new song, but that new song
24
76649
1977
01:18
is clearly comprised of old songs.
25
78626
2734
01:21
But I think these aren't just the components of remixing.
26
81360
3313
01:24
I think these are the basic elements of all creativity.
27
84673
3044
01:27
I think everything is a remix,
28
87717
1811
01:29
and I think this is a better way to conceive of creativity.
29
89528
4691
01:34
All right, let's head back to 1964, and let's hear
30
94219
2993
01:37
where some of Dylan's early songs came from.
31
97212
3021
01:40
We'll do some side-by-side comparisons here.
32
100233
1877
01:42
All right, this first song you're going to hear
33
102110
1206
01:43
is "Nottamun Town." It's a traditional folk tune.
34
103316
2414
01:45
After that, you'll hear Dylan's "Masters of War."
35
105730
2581
01:48
Jean Ritchie: β™« In Nottamun Town, not a soul would look out, β™«
36
108318
4900
01:53
β™« not a soul would look up, not a soul would look down. β™«
37
113218
6598
01:59
Bob Dylan: β™« Come you masters of war, β™«
38
119816
4274
02:04
β™« you that build the big guns, you that build the death planes, β™«
39
124090
8605
02:12
β™« You that build all the bombs. β™«
40
132695
3069
02:15
Kirby Ferguson: Okay, so that's the same basic melody
41
135764
1922
02:17
and overall structure. This next one is "The Patriot Game,"
42
137686
3159
02:20
by Dominic Behan. Alongside that,
43
140845
1992
02:22
you're going to hear "With God on Our Side," by Dylan.
44
142837
2274
02:25
Dominic Behan: β™« Come all ye young rebels, β™«
45
145111
5258
02:30
β™« and list while I sing, β™«
46
150369
4530
02:34
β™« for the love of one's land is a terrible thing. β™«
47
154899
8212
02:43
BD: β™« Oh my name it is nothin', β™«
48
163111
5812
02:48
β™« my age it means less, β™«
49
168923
4528
02:53
β™« the country I come from is called the Midwest. β™«
50
173451
6819
03:00
KF: Okay, so in this case, Dylan admits
51
180270
1626
03:01
he must have heard "The Patriot Game," he forgot about it,
52
181896
2440
03:04
then when the song kind of bubbled back up
53
184336
1559
03:05
in his brain, he just thought it was his song.
54
185895
2311
03:08
Last one, this is "Who's Going To Buy You Ribbons,"
55
188206
1232
03:09
another traditional folk tune.
56
189438
1560
03:10
Alongside that is "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right."
57
190998
2297
03:13
This one's more about the lyric.
58
193295
1825
03:15
Paul Clayton: β™« It ain't no use to sit and sigh now, β™«
59
195120
6891
03:22
β™« darlin', and it ain't no use to sit and cry now. β™«
60
202011
7864
03:29
BD: β™« It ain’t no use to sit and wonder why, babe, β™«
61
209875
5945
03:35
β™« if you don't know by now, β™«
62
215820
3652
03:39
β™« and it ain't no use to sit and wonder why, babe, β™«
63
219472
5391
03:44
β™« it'll never do somehow. β™«
64
224863
2887
03:47
KF: Okay, now, there's a lot of these.
65
227750
2272
03:50
It's been estimated that two thirds of the melodies
66
230022
2014
03:52
Dylan used in his early songs were borrowed.
67
232036
2543
03:54
This is pretty typical among folk singers.
68
234579
1856
03:56
Here's the advice of Dylan's idol, Woody Guthrie.
69
236435
2363
03:58
"The worlds are the important thing.
70
238798
1530
04:00
Don't worry about tunes. Take a tune,
71
240328
1832
04:02
sing high when they sing low,
72
242160
1676
04:03
sing fast when they sing slow, and you've got a new tune."
73
243836
3208
04:07
(Laughter) (Applause)
74
247044
3997
04:11
And that's, that's what Guthrie did right here,
75
251041
1947
04:12
and I'm sure you all recognize the results.
76
252988
2607
04:15
(Music)
77
255595
5917
04:21
We know this tune, right? We know it?
78
261512
2395
04:23
Actually you don't.
79
263907
1413
04:25
That is "When the World's on Fire," a very old melody,
80
265320
2684
04:28
in this case performed by the Carter Family.
81
268004
2261
04:30
Guthrie adapted it into "This Land Is Your Land."
82
270265
2678
04:32
So, Bob Dylan, like all folk singers, he copied melodies,
83
272943
4320
04:37
he transformed them, he combined them with new lyrics
84
277263
2722
04:39
which were frequently their own concoction
85
279985
2397
04:42
of previous stuff.
86
282382
2261
04:44
Now, American copyright and patent laws run counter
87
284643
3663
04:48
to this notion that we build on the work of others.
88
288306
2723
04:51
Instead, these laws and laws around the world
89
291029
2667
04:53
use the rather awkward analogy of property.
90
293696
3722
04:57
Now, creative works may indeed be kind of like property,
91
297418
2443
04:59
but it's property that we're all building on,
92
299861
2309
05:02
and creations can only take root and grow
93
302170
2489
05:04
once that ground has been prepared.
94
304659
2716
05:07
Henry Ford once said, "I invented nothing new.
95
307375
2846
05:10
I simply assembled the discoveries of other men
96
310221
2003
05:12
behind whom were centuries of work.
97
312224
2587
05:14
Progress happens when all the factors that make for it
98
314811
2383
05:17
are ready and then it is inevitable."
99
317194
4030
05:21
2007. The iPhone makes it debut.
100
321224
4545
05:25
Apple undoubtedly brings this innovation to us early,
101
325769
2667
05:28
but its time was approaching because its core technology
102
328436
2497
05:30
had been evolving for decades.
103
330933
2046
05:32
That's multi-touch, controlling a device
104
332979
1982
05:34
by touching its display.
105
334961
1777
05:36
Here is Steve Jobs introducing multi-touch
106
336738
2419
05:39
and making a rather foreboding joke.
107
339157
2240
05:41
Steve Jobs: And we have invented a new technology
108
341397
2803
05:44
called multi-touch.
109
344200
2260
05:46
You can do multi-fingered gestures on it,
110
346460
2453
05:48
and boy have we patented it. (Laughter)
111
348913
3611
05:52
KF: Yes. And yet, here is multi-touch in action.
112
352524
4166
05:56
This is at TED, actually, about a year earlier.
113
356690
2021
05:58
This is Jeff Han, and, I mean, that's multi-touch.
114
358711
2468
06:01
It's the same animal, at least.
115
361179
1751
06:02
Let's hear what Jeff Han has to say about this
116
362930
1767
06:04
newfangled technology.
117
364697
1826
06:06
Jeff Han: Multi-touch sensing isn't anything --
118
366523
2168
06:08
isn't completely new. I mean, people like Bill Buxton
119
368691
2206
06:10
have been playing around with it in the '80s.
120
370897
1649
06:12
The technology, you know, isn't the most exciting thing here
121
372546
3199
06:15
right now other than probably its newfound accessibility.
122
375745
3062
06:18
KF: So he's pretty frank about it not being new.
123
378807
1933
06:20
So it's not multi-touch as a whole that's patented.
124
380740
2543
06:23
It's the small parts of it that are,
125
383283
2137
06:25
and it's in these small details where
126
385420
1304
06:26
we can clearly see patent law contradicting its intent:
127
386724
3118
06:29
to promote the progress of useful arts.
128
389842
3161
06:33
Here is the first ever slide-to-unlock.
129
393003
3184
06:36
That is all there is to it. Apple has patented this.
130
396187
2869
06:39
It's a 28-page software patent, but I will summarize
131
399056
2812
06:41
what it covers. Spoiler alert: Unlocking your phone
132
401868
3936
06:45
by sliding an icon with your finger. (Laughter)
133
405804
2937
06:48
I'm only exaggerating a little bit. It's a broad patent.
134
408741
3017
06:51
Now, can someone own this idea?
135
411758
2849
06:54
Now, back in the '80s, there were no software patents,
136
414607
2430
06:57
and it was Xerox that pioneered the graphical user interface.
137
417037
3161
07:00
What if they had patented pop-up menus,
138
420198
2918
07:03
scrollbars, the desktop with icons that look like folders
139
423116
4424
07:07
and sheets of paper?
140
427540
1987
07:09
Would a young and inexperienced Apple
141
429527
2349
07:11
have survived the legal assault from a much larger
142
431876
2869
07:14
and more mature company like Xerox?
143
434745
4080
07:18
Now, this idea that everything is a remix might sound
144
438825
2447
07:21
like common sense until you're the one getting remixed.
145
441272
4127
07:25
For example ...
146
445399
1650
07:27
SJ: I mean, Picasso had a saying.
147
447049
1239
07:28
He said, "Good artists copy. Great artists steal."
148
448288
3557
07:31
And we have, you know,
149
451845
2322
07:34
always been shameless about stealing great ideas.
150
454167
3128
07:37
KF: Okay, so that's in '96. Here's in 2010.
151
457295
1898
07:39
"I'm going to destroy Android because it's a stolen product."
152
459193
2909
07:42
(Laughter)
153
462102
1542
07:43
"I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this." (Laughter)
154
463644
3639
07:47
Okay, so in other words, great artists steal, but not from me.
155
467283
3504
07:50
(Laughter)
156
470787
2351
07:53
Now, behavioral economists might refer to this sort of thing as loss aversion
157
473138
3608
07:56
We have a strong predisposition towards protecting
158
476746
2219
07:58
what we feel is ours.
159
478965
1929
08:00
We have no such aversion towards copying
160
480894
1918
08:02
what other people have, because we do that nonstop.
161
482812
2733
08:05
So here's the sort of equation we're looking at.
162
485545
2475
08:08
We've got laws that fundamentally treat creative works as property,
163
488020
2657
08:10
plus massive rewards or settlements
164
490677
2785
08:13
in infringement cases, plus huge legal fees
165
493462
2197
08:15
to protect yourself in court,
166
495659
1663
08:17
plus cognitive biases against perceived loss.
167
497322
3504
08:20
And the sum looks like this.
168
500826
2143
08:22
That is the last four years of lawsuits
169
502969
2823
08:25
in the realm of smartphones.
170
505792
2566
08:28
Is this promoting the progress of useful arts?
171
508358
5771
08:34
1983. Bob Dylan is 42 years old, and his time
172
514129
5768
08:39
in the cultural spotlight is long since past.
173
519897
3326
08:43
He records a song called "Blind Willie McTell,"
174
523223
2609
08:45
named after the blues singer, and the song
175
525832
2186
08:48
is a voyage through the past, through a much darker time,
176
528018
3670
08:51
but a simpler one, a time when musicians like Willie McTell
177
531688
3150
08:54
had few illusions about what they did.
178
534838
2520
08:57
"I jump 'em from other writers
179
537358
2250
08:59
but I arrange 'em my own way."
180
539608
2565
09:02
I think this is mostly what we do.
181
542173
1717
09:03
Our creativity comes from without, not from within.
182
543890
3366
09:07
We are not self-made. We are dependent on one another,
183
547256
2921
09:10
and admitting this to ourselves isn't an embrace
184
550177
2825
09:13
of mediocrity and derivativeness.
185
553002
2834
09:15
It's a liberation from our misconceptions,
186
555836
2633
09:18
and it's an incentive to not expect so much from ourselves
187
558469
3083
09:21
and to simply begin.
188
561552
2735
09:24
Thank you so much. It was an honor to be here.
189
564287
2950
09:27
Thank you. (Applause)
190
567237
2777
09:30
Thank you. Thank you. (Applause)
191
570014
3384
09:33
Thank you. (Applause)
192
573398
3341
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7