The Pirate's Dilemma: How Youth Culture Is Reinventing Capitalism

by Matt Mason

Book Overview

It started with punk. Hip-hop, rave, graffiti, and gaming took it to another level, and now modern technology has made the ideas and innovations of youth culture increasingly intimate and increasingly... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416532188
• ISBN13: 9781416532187
• Release Date: January 2008
• Publisher: Free Press
• Length: 276 Pages
• Weight: 1.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Timely and Enlightening

The Pirate's Dilemma forces us to question the basic assumptions underlying capitalism and classical economic theory. In a world with an ever-growing disparity between the rich and the poor, it is undeniably clear that western property and intellectual property laws are often out of touch with the way people use (or should use, if only they were permitted access) information and products. Rather than encouraging people to steal, Mason asks his readers to take a hard look at the status quo and query whether there is a better, more beneficial (in many cases, that also means more profitable) and equitable solution.

PROVOCATIVE, YES...IDIOTIC, NO

Certainly the ideas expressed in The Pirate's Dilemma are controversial and provocative - and clearly intended to be so. Idiotic? Hardly. The author does not advocate piracy for its own sake, nor does he glorify graffiti as an art form per se, but in each case he posits the potential for positive social good that is perhaps an unintended consequence of these self interested practices. For instance, piracy can force companies to do more than run to its lawyers - by forcing the companies to compete with the pirates, economic advantage accrue to society at large as well as to the company itself. In essence, the author makes a case not for theft, but rather, for economic efficiency (making at least one person better off and nobody worse off), achieved perhaps by one's (the pirate's) own self interest which translates ultimately into a larger social good. Does this sound familiar? If this is idiocy, I'm all for it!

Must read!

This was a thoroughly enjoyable read. It was witty and funny, laugh out loud funny at times, but also very engaging and at times down right frightening. At the risk of sounding cliche, I'd say it was mind-blowing. It's the kind of book that makes you suddenly see things that were in front of your face the whole time. It also provides shocking insight into how mainstream economic and cultural practices started off in fringe niches and how piracy, instead of being the enemy of capitalism is actually pushing it forward. From the nun who invented disco, to punk rock's influence on the world of business, to the piracy of a future filled with 3D printers and the "internet of things" this book is filled with so many insider stories that you really couldn't make up. It's impressive that a book filled with that many crazy stories is also so informative. I guess truth really is stranger than fiction. Since reading this book I have suddenly noticed many examples of the effects of piracy, youth culture and the new media in play, check Mountain Dew's new Democracy campaign for a good example. There's also a lot more interesting examples on his blog, thepiratesdilemma.com which I check pretty regularly. I think anybody interested in youth culture, business, media, sociology, technology, music, or is just interested in a new insight on things needs to read this book. And yes I mean needs to.

Read This Book!

Earlier this year Matt (the author) sent me a message and said that he was writing a book about how corporations have trouble adapting to the changing times and needs of people in the Information Age. Just recently he started his blog The Pirate's Dilemma (http://thepiratesdilemma.com/) that explains this phenomenon further every day. I couldn't wait for the book to drop so I asked him to shoot me one...one was already forthcoming and it appeared in the mail the very next day via his publicist. Let me break it down for y'all: As we all know, youth culture has helped to change and reshape the world over and over again throughout history. Ever since World War 2 ended and the world at large became aware that teenagers even existed, the world hasn't been the same since. The old saying is that necessity is the mother of invention, whenever there has been an overlooked or under represented segment in society they have made their presence felt by creating their own culture. This culture usually comes with it's own brand of music, dancing or a style of dress. Once this culture hits the public consciousness then corporations develop the need/want to turn this audience into consumers of their product and convey a message to them that they "get" you and support your lifestyle. The thing is that since the advent of cool hunting and mass advertising has oversaturated the marketplace people can just tune out all those advertisments. Furthermore, with so many advances in technology today the knowledgeable consumer can pretty much create their own products and cut out the big corporations. Since these same corporations are trying to jump on that new niche culture to gain a cache of cool, these new niche markets/cultures have adapted to the climate and become harder and harder to nail downby ad agencies. The same 40 songs being played over and over again on the radio that all sound exactly the same have driven many listeners away and res. The same old stories about Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and whoever's been kicked off the reality show du jour getting reported on your daily news rather than real journalism has driven people away from the news media. Where do these people go? Well, since we have the technology at our disposal we begin to bridge those gaps ourselves, pooling our collective resources, sharing information and creating that we we can't find in existance currently. This in turn pisses of these big businesses and corporations. They are usually slow to adapt to change and they want to stay in power. This struggle for leverage and ownership goes on between big businesses and the consumer. The consumer wants more leeway, looser boundaries, more input and better service from the provider and big business tries to tighten the reins and throw lawsuits at these pirates threatening the status quo. The way they see it, these pirates are causing them to lose money. The way the consumer sees it, we weren't going to spend the money because