Question: Is Google a threat to free culture?
Jonathan Zittrain: I think so far, Google's been a friend to free culture. Their business model, as it turns out, has been premised on openness, and on letting people basically do what they want to do. The fact that you can use Gmail as a file storage system, because you're just given so many free gigabytes, is an example of that. But Google applications, like almost every other web application development system, is a service rather than a product. It is a service offered to developers, rather than a one time platform, where once you launch your app into the welcoming arms of a consuming public who happen to run the platform for which the app was written. Google Apps means that if Google doesn't want an app to run on its platform any more, it could cut it off. And any lawyer worth his or her salt, consulting with Google, would say, "Well, you never know what's going to happen. You might as well reserve the right to kill any app at any time, for any reason." So long as that is the terms of service for those apps, whether it's on Facebook or Google or other platforms, you have a way to nip a generative blossom in the bud that doesn't exist on the PC. Kazaa could happen, and ultimately challenge the music industry to support the iTunes music store, and later Amazon, fully unprotected mp3 downloads for a fee. I'm confident that the music industry would not have gotten into any of that but for the fact that they were having to compete against pirated versions of their own songs. And in that sense, I think Kazaa was salutary, even though brazenly illegal, in many of its uses. If you can nip it in the bud under today's application frameworks, you would never even have that cycle take place. I would rather place my bets with the unbridled programming environment generating cool stuff than I would with the much more controlled environment where ultimately cool but initially worrisome stuff gets killed in its early stages.
Recorded on: Mar 8 2008
So far, Google's been a friend to free culture, says Jonathan Zittrain.
LinkedIn meets Tinder in this mindful networking app
Swipe right to make the connections that could change your career.
Swipe right. Match. Meet over coffee or set up a call.
No, we aren't talking about Tinder. Introducing Shapr, a free app that helps people with synergistic professional goals and skill sets easily meet and collaborate.
Space toilets: How astronauts boldly go where few have gone before
A NASA astronomer explains how astronauts dispose of their, uh, dark matter.
- When nature calls in micro-gravity, astronauts must answer. Space agencies have developed suction-based toilets – with a camera built in to ensure all the waste is contained before "flushing".
- Yes, there have been floaters in space. The early days of space exploration were a learning curve!
- Amazingly, you don't need gravity to digest food. Peristalsis, the process by which your throat and intestines squeeze themselves, actually moves food and water through your digestive system without gravity at all.
Steven Pinker's 13 rules for writing better
The Harvard psychologist loves reading authors' rules for writing. Here are his own.
- Steven Pinker is many things: linguist, psychologist, optimist, Harvard professor, and author.
- When it comes to writing, he's a student and a teacher.
- Here's are his 13 rules for writing better, more simply, and more clearly.
Can the keto diet help treat depression? Here’s what the science says so far
A growing body of research shows promising signs that the keto diet might be able to improve mental health.
- The keto diet is known to be an effective tool for weight loss, however its effects on mental health remain largely unclear.
- Recent studies suggests that the keto diet might be an effective tool for treating depression, and clearing up so-called "brain fog," though scientists caution more research is necessary before it can be recommended as a treatment.
- Any experiments with the keto diet are best done in conjunction with a doctor, considering some people face problems when transitioning to the low-carb diet.
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