It’s so damn interesting though to be doing this. I feel like I have a front seat to a really cool … thing. I don’t even know what it is. I think it’s really interesting that i brought the price so close to stealing and made the movie so easy to get and made it so clear that it’s a human offering it that it sparked a debate about pirating.To steal from someone and not feel bad, you either have to be a sociopath or view the act differently. One way is to remove “Someone” from the equation. You’re not stealing from a person. Big companies do a lot to help people view them as less than human. I heard a speech by Noam Chomsky who said that corporations are like super humans. They cannot be hurt like a human can and they never die. They are not succeptible to scrutiny or accountability. This makes them more profitable. If companies want to enjoy these benifits to some degree they have to live with what else comes with being not human. You miss out on compassion, forgiveness, comraderie, empathy, trust — all kinds of shit.
The other thing is I can only do this because I’m an individual and I can decide what my risks are that are acceptable and I can make my own goals for what is success. So I forwent (is that a word?) a lot of conventional routes and tried this. I am risking and there may be a celing to the success, but for me it’s okay. I feel like as of this year, I make enough money as a standup my goal now is to bring the cost down for those who buy my stuff. I really mean that. It makes me much happier. Also I did see that there might be a tremendous upswing to this. I was really excited about this material and I though it would be really cool to just put it out there myself witha little electronic hat that only takes fives and just see what happens.
Hi I’m Louis C.K. and this is a thing : IAmA. (Slightly edited punctuation, by me.) Whether people are, generally speaking, reluctant to steal from other people — whereas they don’t mind stealing from corporations — is an interesting question. Some will be reluctant, sure, but how many? I suppose we will find out. It would be really gratifying if this model (not unlike the one Cory Doctorow has been using for a few years now in the book trade) works for a lot of people; but I have a suspicion that it will work best for artists and entertainers who have the ability to generate a distinctive aura of shared trust with their audiences. And not everyone has that, even artists and entertainers who are extremely popular.