Larry Lessig: How creativity is being strangled by the law

Larry Lessig: How creativity is being strangled by the law
Chris Johnson
I thought this speech was extremely interesting relevant to what is going on in today’s time. New technology has made so many things available that we have never even dreamed of, and now we are looking for a way to deal with the baggage that comes with it. Lessing argues that laws and regulations are keeping us from reaching our full potential, and on this topic I completely agree with him. At the same time, I believe that if you create something there should be laws to ensure that others don’t take advantage of your creations. Here is where the problem is. We must find a proper balance between protecting the creators AND the creativity of the people. Regulations are way too strict, and because of this we are hurting creativity. I love the story Lessig told about the chicken farmers and the airplanes. It is absurd to think that there would be a law against a plane flying over someone’s land, but this is something that our lawmakers actually considered. This is the problem with regulations today. We think regulations are helping us but they are actually doing more harm than good. That being said if you create something you expect that creations to be safe from someone else just taking it and using it as their own. This type of regulation is good, but when someone is attempting to create something and they can’t because these same laws that protect other’s works is holding them back this is not right and something has to be done about it.