Ohne weitere Begründung hatten die Polizisten kurz vor dem Start den Tian’anmen-Platz vollständig abgesperrt, sodass einige Starter, die von weither angereist waren, enttäuscht wieder nach Hause gehen mussten. Gemessen an der Vergangenheit dieses Ortes muss man dennoch zugeben, dass die Staatsmacht ihren Dienst mit einer relativen Gelassenheit verrichtete.

Eli Berniker made a noteworty statement about the fundamental irrationality of our culture:

Economics is an artifact of culture. The notions of plenty and scarcity that are the foundaitons of economics are cultural artifacts. We, who are awash in plenty, must act as if we live in want so that there is sufficient “scarcity” to sustain economic activity. This fundamental irrationality has added many degrees of complexity to the economic universe.

Let’s assume that economics is indeed an artifact of culture. One could say that by applying the notions of plenty and scarcity to information, DRM systems will introduce this fundamental irrationality into the digital space.

On the other hand: on the same mailing list Edwina Taborsky, a professor of anthropology states:

in my view – culture is an ‘artifact’ or expression of economics. Not the other way around. Those ‘notions of plenty and scarcity’ aren’t made up. They are real – and a smart society has to adapt to the realities of the environment. You can’t grow wheat in the arctic [...] I’ve always taught that societies are LOGICAL adaptations to the realities of a particular environment.

Assuming that culture is an artifact of economy one could say: the architecture of the digital space was founded upon the principles of an Economy of Ideas resulting in a culture of sharing ideas and source code. Now the people who came into power through an”Economy of Objects” in the physical space introduce DRM systems in order to change the environment and as a logical consequence the culture of the digital space.

After all it looks as if Economy – Culture is a control-loop and in the digital space DRM systems can be used to change it’s parameters – which is reason why the introduction and application of DRM systems must be regulated by Politics.