In Review: Common as Air

4 mins read

Common As Air by Lewis Hyde
FSG 2010
306 pg, 252 pg text

Building from the evolution of individual property from tribal times to our present-day discussions of the boundaries of intellectual property, Lewis Hyde presents a history of the dual nature of the individual.

On one plane, each of us a new singular voice speaking, writing, creating. On another plane, each a communal spirit, drawing from heritage and culture, reflecting on and adding to a collective memory, pushing the “tribe” and humanity forward. Although the ultimate discussion of this book is the current controversy of intellectual property and corporate attitudes toward copyright, Hyde presents the current issue as arising from an historical progression. Tracing a broad take on a world of different cultures and societies, Lewis Hyde introduces a variety of approaches human beings took to the concept of “property,” and then progresses to the more ephemeral concept of individual creativity and to the split between the individual’s willingness (or unwillingness) to share such innovations and thoughts, and the communal rights or interests of the tribe.

This could be very dry reading as much of it describes the evolution of legal terms and concepts of “what is” property, but Lewis Hyde uses case descriptions and legal decisions as a motive force and keeps the narrative forward. In the same way that artists build upon the works of predecessors, Hyde shows that law and social constructs use the past as a descriptor and justifier of “the next step,” which in the case of intellectual property seems to result in longer terms of copyright and tighter strictures toward public use.

Hyde is quite honest about his perspective on this progression toward such exclusionary rights. He’s against it…. He views it as a stifling concept, which will limit the progress of the culture and create a society of the uninformed and infantile. However, he is very thorough and honest in presenting the interests of those who have created a work and why some degree of compensation is warranted. The question he does not answer (purposefully) is: where is the point between reward for the creator for the creation, and the rights of others in that culture to copy or build or deconstruct the work. What is appropriate artistic compensation and what is culturally debilitating greed? What is a genuine benefit to social intercourse and progress for humanity… and what is appropriate abuse by the “tribe,” to the detriment of the artist and in the long term, the social structure.

There are more questions posed than answers given in this very well-written book. And that is how it should be. Our culture and society (and genuinely the world’s) is at a philosophical, ethical, moral and spiritual crossroad. The answers for a society at such a place should be a collective answer, not a commandment handed down, but a demand from the collective. A demand for honest information, for shared ideas and discoveries, for progress for everyone, not just for the few. Nothing can be built if the tools and materials are locked away.

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