There's a fine line between "fair use" and a "derivative work". For better or worse, the copyright system forces companies to be very aggressive about enforcing their intellectual property rights, lest they drift into the public domain.
As to whether fine artitsts get a pass, the jury is out. Jeff Koons rather famously lost a lawsuit over his sculpture based on a photograph by Art Rogers. As to whether either work is worthy of the term "art" is another story.
And didn't we see aged superheros (albeit not previously copyrighted ones) on The Tick?
"Rocket From The Sockets!"
OK - I'm a bit of a newbie here, but here I go head first without checking the depth of the water...
It's possible to be both well rounded and a geek, and both goals need to be encouraged and supported in our children. I, too, am one of those people who will sometimes slip and say something that reveals a co-worker's ignorance. Thankfully, I've been fortunate enough to have been surrounded mostly by people who saw these moments as a chance to learn, not a chance to be stupid. (There's something to be said for having been a non-lawyer at a law firm.)
As a child, I had two real academic passions, math and foreign language. Well, knowing what I know now, linguistics probably would have been the thing for me. Unfortunately, no one was there to tell me that I could do this (including advisors at Bronx Science - great teachers, great students, crappy guidance). Instead I got packed of to engineering school (with "why don't you think about pre-med" ringing in my ears) carrying the lower-middle class striver's burden. I hated it and dropped out. So much for force-fed geekdom.
Many years later, I finished my degree. In the process, I took several literature classes and German, both of which I loved. Then I quit my job and got an MBA. Yes, an MBA, the most general of graduate degrees, except perhaps for "interdisciplinary studies." I found the same mix of well-rounded geeks and know-nothings that I found in my workplaces. By and large, the know-nothings just wanted their ticket punched and the geeks really wanted to learn some problem solving techniques, which is what B-school is really all about.
I have to offer Lois the response that we need BOTH managers and steelmakers, and that really good steelmakers are often (usually) the wrong people to manage a steel plant. I've seen many good companies run onto the rocks because engineers and technicians were playing manager, and they became blinded in their attachment to a particular product or business model and couldn't react to change. (Remember Wang Computer? Great product in it's day, but they never caught on to the whole distributed computing model, so they dried up and blew away, taking billions of dollars of value with them.)
So, how do we deal with the militant know-nothings in our daily lives? I see three options - Teach, Ignore or Subvert. And subversion is easier than you might suppose.
And as for me, I landed as an independent marketing consultant. While it's far from formal, a lot of what I do could be considered applied linguistics. Plus I get to use my analysis skills. And my clients pay me to be smart, and while I need to be sensitive to their feelings, they expect me to surprise, challenge and educate them. Not a bad gig for someone that society tried to make into an "anorak."
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2003 | 3 |
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