Everything Is A Remix (Full Film)
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN brings it up in discussions of originality, invention, copying and attribution, including AI art.
What it is
Kirby Ferguson's film argues that creativity is built from copying, transforming and combining existing works, examining music, film and technology. It makes the case that everything is a remix.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2013 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Recommends WestCoastJustin · 2013-08 · on “Researcher controls colleague’s motions in first human brain-to-brain interface”
> doesn't seem to have broken any new ground, only mashed together two existing technologies I'd argue that new inventions are created by mashing existing technologies, often emerging or bleeding edge, and creating something new. Henry Ford didn't invent the combustion engine, transmission, suspension, etc, but he did mash these things together into something new. What we are seeing in the video and research is something new and pretty exciting if you take it a couple steps further. Think about replaying these signals, building a play book, etc. ps. If you have some time to kill, I would check out this video called, "Everything Is A Remix", which talks about this idea @ [this video]
Recommends icegreentea · 2015-11 · on “StarCraft: The past, present and future”
You will enjoy this documentary (Everything a Remix). [this video] Hardly 'scientific'... but how do you quantify copying.
Cites visakanv · 2015-01 · on “Everyone’s stealing jokes online. Why doesn’t anyone care?”
Yep, you're right. As a writer, marketer, creator and consumer of content, I enjoy thinking about things like this. I've witnessed my work being plagiarized and edited before. I personally accept it as just the way reality is– some people are lazy about attribution, and other people like feeling talented and special when they diliberately share others' content without attribution or remixing. The answer to "Why doesn't anyone care"- it all boils down to incentive structures. "Parody accounts" can steal with impunity. "Casual randos" can steal with impunity. - If you're an artist, and faceless, nameless folks plagiarize your work, going after them actually makes you look insecure or clueless.
Cites zxvkhkxvdvbdxz · 2025-01 · on “GenAI Art Is the Least Imaginative Use of AI Imaginable”
Indeed, one could argue that everything is a remix of pre-existing expressions. This, of course does not rhyme well with current copyright laws. [this video]