Analysis: The Ecstasy Of Plagiarism

Ideas are neither created nor destroyed, therefore the notion of originality is false. Originality cannot exist if every thought and idea are preexisting, because it is proven that as human beings, we are naturally inclined to copy one another. Specifically in art, it comes to no surprise that artists can become heavily influenced by another’s artwork and unconsciously copy them. In some instances, this would be considered plagiarism and or copyright infringement, but to Jonathan Lethem, it is a gift. In his piece, “The Ecstasy of Influence: A Plagiarism” he discusses the obscenities of privatizing ideas and opinions, because it restricts creativity. By forming false entitlement on something that was never truly yours, other individuals suffer
Although people fail to realize that an act of borrowing something is merely having an admiration for something. In the art world, it is stressed that there need be a common ground, so that things are not owned but shared. This correlates with the democratization of knowledge in the educational system. In “Project Classroom Makeover” by Cathy Davidson, she encourages reformation of our entire educational system in an unconventional way. She wants to disband hierarchal order in classrooms to make knowledge more democratized and crowdsourced, because she believes it would boost student morale as well as their creativity. Both Lethem and Davidson would agree that creativity has taken a backseat to entitlement and the idea of originality. If society chose to acknowledge that ideas and information are preexisting then they would not be hesitant to share them in education and in art
Crowdsourcing involves the use of technology in order to connect with individuals to find a solution to a problem collectively. Crowdsourcing is weary of experts, because it would compromise the possible outcome of the product. Davidson mentions that, “Crowdsourced thinking is very different from credentialing or relying on top-down expertise. If anything, crowdsourcing is suspicious of expertise, because the more expert we are, the more likely we are to be limited in what we even conceive to be the problem, let alone the answer” (51). This suggests that experts do not help, but hinder the process of crowdsourcing. Since crowdsourcing is done between peers or someone that has the same amount of knowledge as you, it is more likely that a solution will be found. It comes to no surprise that individuals succumb to the ideas and instructions from experts if they are present, so it is best if they are not involved. The whole point of crowdsourcing is to share and receive information that would have otherwise been overlooked. Individuals are sharing their ideas and thoughts upon a situation without ridicule. This relates to Lethem’s term, gift economy, because it involves mutually beneficial exchange of resources. When individuals willingly share creative concepts, the recipients benefit from these “gifts” because in art culture people need