May 09
1
Control Reversal and P2P
Have you ever heard of “control reversal“?
It was a critical issue in the aircraft industry when planes were striving to break the sound barrier. Apparently what happens is that when a wing is not totally rigid and approached the speed of sound the ailerons respond in the opposite way to that which is anticipated, meaning that the pilot takes the opposite remedial action to that which is necessary. Several airplanes during WW II that crashed after steep dives were found to have damage that was inconsistent with impact only and were suspected of having broken the sound barrier. It wasn't until the flight of the X-1, piloted by Chuck Yeager, with an entirely rigid construction that the sound barrier was broken and these issues started to be understood.
So what has that to do with content and P2P?
The whole “digital paradox” is metaphorically like control reversal: Analogue was like flight before the breaking of the sound barrier. Digital is like flight afterwards. Crossing the sound barrier (no pun intended) makes the controls behave in an entirely different way to that which was intended…
Digital creates a new economic model and it requires a different way of thinking.
Adam Smith believed that there was a morality to all things. In fact his first book, “The Theory of Moral Sentiments”, was much better known during his life than “The Wealth Of Nations”, the book that is seen by many to be the defining work on capitalism.
What Smith believed is that there need to be regulations that govern the way that things are purchased and sold. He also believed that the regulations should protect people from the hand of the government.
I am sure that Smith, if faced with the dilemma of an entirely different operating environment, as takes place with the move from analogue to digital, would entirely understand the concept of control reversal.
I believe that he would realize that, faced with an entirely different kind of technology that enables mass distribution without manufacturing, but with production, that the regulations would need to not just be adapted but be re-written from the ground up.
In the current environment, legally, the role of the significant content companies is akin to that of governments. They do not have a light touch. They are monopolistic and do not constitute a free market by any moral definition of the term.
During the time that the speed of sound was being tested control reversal was identified and a solution was found by creating rigid structures for airframe manufacture. Now in the digital era, we need to create a flexible structure that reflects the dynamic changes that can take place with content. Of course it is critical that within that structure there is a means for the creators of creative copyrights to be remunerated.
What is important is that this happens without the influence of corporations whose only real interest is their own – regardless of the rhetoric that they may issue forth with.