May you live in interesting times!
"May you live in interesting times!" is an ancient Chinese curse, right? Well, seemingly, wrong. This is the earliest example, and therefore the defining moment, of this myth:
Eric Frank Russell, writing as Duncan H. MunroFor centuries the Chinese used an ancient curse: "May you live in interesting times!" It isn't a curse any more. It's a blessing. We're scientific and civilized. We've got so many rights and liberties and freedoms that one can yearn for chains for the sheer pleasure of busting them and shaking them off. Reckon life would be more livable if there were any chains left to bust.
U-Turn - Astounding Science Fiction, April 1950
Interesting Times
According to this article on the BBC the UK video industry is facing an "enormous" threat.
Illegal film downloads cost the industry £45 Million in 2003. The very same article finishes with this line "Total sales across the video industry rose from £2.05bn in 2002 to £2.42bn last year". I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong, but my cheesy maths tells me sales increased by almost 20%, with the 'piracy' losses being under 2% of total sales.
An "enormous" threat? Well, certainly not to sales.
I seem to remember one of the benefits of the DVD format over VHS was that DVDs were cheaper to produce. Yet somehow DVDs have always cost a fiver more than Videos. It's the same deal with CDs. More expensive to buy, cheaper to make. It seems to me somebody has upped their profit margin.
An "enormous" threat? Well, certainly not to profits.
From what little I can remember of my Economics courses, money is the key indicator in the market economy. Supply and demand, market equilibrium, etc., etc. So, anyway, it seems to me that money lost through piracy also indicates something. Just my personal opinion, but I think it's consumers forcing the market into equilibrium regardless of the artificial attempts of the suppliers to skew the market, and profits, in their favour.
An "enormous" threat? Bingo! Because just like the Poll-Tax taught the British that Tax was optional, piracy is teaching us the same lesson. Only this time it's a lesson we're learning about the market economy. Which should make for interesting times.
Only... isn't that an ancient Chinese curse?