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www/philosophy words-to-avoid.html
|
From: |
Richard M. Stallman |
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Subject: |
www/philosophy words-to-avoid.html |
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Date: |
Sun, 21 Jun 2015 14:20:31 +0000 |
CVSROOT: /web/www
Module name: www
Changes by: Richard M. Stallman <rms> 15/06/21 14:20:31
Modified files:
philosophy : words-to-avoid.html
Log message:
(Consume, Consumer): Major rewrite. The common points are now in
"Consume".
CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.207&r2=1.208
Patches:
Index: words-to-avoid.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html,v
retrieving revision 1.207
retrieving revision 1.208
diff -u -b -r1.207 -r1.208
--- words-to-avoid.html 11 Jun 2015 05:24:21 -0000 1.207
+++ words-to-avoid.html 21 Jun 2015 14:20:29 -0000 1.208
@@ -282,58 +282,81 @@
<h3 id="Consume">“Consume”</h3>
<p>
-“Consume” refers to what we do with food: we ingest it, and use it
in
-a way that uses it up. By analogy, we employ the same word to describe
-using other things in a way that uses them up. However, it is
-erroneous to speak of “consuming” information, music, books,
-software, etc., since using them does not use them up.</p>
-
-<p>Why is this perverse usage spreading? Some may feel that they
-sound sophisticated using a fashionable term from economics. However,
-the economics they implicitly refer to is inappropriate for the
-activity in question. Others may intend to limit discussion to an
-economic perspective, rejecting other perspectives such as ethical or
-social — which is narrowminded.</p>
+“Consume” refers to what we do with food: we ingest it,
+after which the food as such no longer exists. By analogy, we employ
+the same word for other products whose use <em>uses them up</em>.
+Applying it to durable goods, such as clothing or appliances, is a
+stretch. Applying it to published works (programs, recordings on a
+disk or in a file, books on paper or in a file), whose nature is to
+last indefinitely and which can be run, played or read any number of
+times, is simply an error. Playing a recording, or running a program,
+does not consume it.</p>
+
+<p>
+The term “consume” is associated with the economics of
+uncopiable material products, and leads people to transfer its
+conclusions unconsciously to copiable digital works — an error
+that proprietary software developers (and other publishers) dearly
+wish to encourage. Their twisted viewpoint comes through clearly
+in <a
href="http://www.businessinsider.com/former-google-exec-launches-sourcepoint-with-10-million-series-a-funding-2015-6";>this
+article</a>, which also refers to publications as
+“<a href="#Content">content</a>.”</p>
+
+<p>
+The narrow thinking associated with the idea that we “consume
+content” paves the way for laws such as the DMCA that forbid
+users to break the <a href="http://DefectiveByDesign.org/";>Digital
+Restrictions Management</a> (DRM) facilities in digital devices. If
+users think what they do with these devices is “consume,”
+they may see such restrictions as natural.</p>
+
+<p>
+It also encourages the acceptation of “streaming”
+services, which use DRM to limit use of digital recordings to a
+form that fits the word “consume.”</p>
+
+<p>
+Why is this perverse usage spreading? Some may feel that the term
+sounds sophisticated; if that attracts you, rejecting it with cogent
+reasons can appear even more sophisticated. Others may be acting from
+business interests (their own, or their employers’). Their use
+of the term in prestigious forums gives the impression that it's the
+“correct” term.</p>
+
+<p>
+To speak of “consuming” music, fiction, or any other
+artistic works is to treat them as products rather than as art. If
+you don't want to spread that attitude, you would do well to reject
+using the term “consume” for them. We recommend saying
+that someone “experiences” an artistic work or a work
+stating a point of view, and that someone “uses” a
+practical work.</p>
<p>See also the following entry.</p>
<h3 id="Consumer">“Consumer”</h3>
<p>
The term “consumer,” when used to refer to the users of
-computing, is loaded with assumptions we should reject. Playing a
-recording, or running a program, does not consume it.</p>
-<p>
-The terms “producer” and “consumer” come from
-economics and its treatment of material products. Thus, using them
-leads people to mistakenly apply to copiable digital data all that
-they know about the economics of uncopiable material products. Of
-course, this error is exactly the one proprietary software developers
-want people to make.</p>
+computing, is loaded with assumptions we should reject. Some come
+from the idea that using the program “consumes” the program (see
+<a href="Consume">the previous entry</a>), which leads people to
+impose on copiable digital works the economic conclusions that were
+drawn about uncopiable material products.</p>
<p>
In addition, describing the users of software as
-“consumers” presumes they are limited to helplessly
-selecting from whatever “products” are available in the
-“market.” There is no room in this mind-set for the idea
-that users can exercise control over the software they use.</p>
-<p>
-The limited thinking associated with “consumers” leads to
-outrages such as the CBDTPA (“Consumer Broadband and Digital
-Television Promotion Act”) which proposed to
-require <a href="http://DefectiveByDesign.org/";>Digital Restrictions
-Management (DRM)</a> facilities in every digital device. If all the
-users do is “consume,” why should they object?</p>
-<p>
-The shallow economic conception of users as “consumers” tends
-to go hand in hand with the idea that published works are mere
-<a href="#Content">“content.”</a></p>
+“consumers” refers to a framing in which people are
+limited to selecting between whatever “products” are
+available in the “market.” There is no room in this
+framing for the idea that users
+can <a href="/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html">directly
+exercise control over what a program does</a>.</p>
<p>
To describe people who are not limited to passive use of works, we
suggest terms such as “individuals” and
-“citizens” — not “consumers.”</p>
+“citizens,” rather than “consumers.”</p>
<p>
-The problem with the word “consumer” has
-been <a
href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/11/capitalism-language-raymond-williams";>
-noted before</a>.
+This problem with the word “consumer” has
+been <a
href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/11/capitalism-language-raymond-williams";>noted
before</a>.
</p>
<h3 id="Content">“Content”</h3>
@@ -1051,7 +1074,7 @@
<p class="unprintable">Updated:
<!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2015/06/11 05:24:21 $
+$Date: 2015/06/21 14:20:29 $
<!-- timestamp end -->
</p>
</div>