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Re:George Orwell is out of copyright. What happens now? by waterhouse on Friday January 01, 2021 @10:49AM (#25604057)
So someone could publish a version of 1984 that had certain characters completely expunged from the text, and others added.
Re:George Orwell is out of copyright. What happens now? by TuringNYC on Friday January 01, 2021 @11:32AM (#25604376)
>> So someone could publish a version of 1984 that had certain characters completely expunged from the text, and others added.

No real need to publish anything, we're living a variant of it every day. Without much creativity, we could map so many day-to-day things in 2020 to items in 1984.

Re:George Orwell is out of copyright. What happens now? by Jerrrry on Friday January 01, 2021 @12:55PM (#25605073)
We are much closer the Brave New World than 1984.
Re:George Orwell is out of copyright. What happens now? by HarryHirsch on Friday January 01, 2021 @02:56PM (#25606292)
Are we? Where do we find characters like Mustapha Mond? Instead we got the likes of Bezos, Musk and Zuckerberg. No opinion about David Shaw and Jim Simons.
Re:George Orwell is out of copyright. What happens now? by Jon_Lowtek on Friday January 01, 2021 @02:41PM (#25606106)
as can be seen by the caste system created due to abandoning natural birth in favor of genetically engineered babies being made at scale in factories.
Re:George Orwell is out of copyright. What happens now? by albertkawmi on Friday January 01, 2021 @03:58PM (#25607028)
Your comment reminded me of this web comic comparison https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/biblioklept.org/2013/06/08/hu...
Re:George Orwell is out of copyright. What happens now? by majewsky on Friday January 01, 2021 @04:53PM (#25607589)
Re:George Orwell is out of copyright. What happens now? by waterhouse on Friday January 01, 2021 @06:00PM (#25608204)
I've seen this a few times. I'll say what I said last time:

If many people are substantially harmed by wasting their time and energy on distractions, then those who waste less time will outcompete them. Whether the mechanism is common wisdom analogous to "don't drink alone or before the evening", parents teaching their kids in certain ways, religions that consider much "wasteful" entertainment to be sinful, or genes that contribute to conditions perhaps resembling autism where colorful flashy video registers as annoying or even painful, the problem seems likely to create its own solutions.

One of the premises of "Brave New World" is that all children are raised by the State, and are forcibly (a) oxygen-deprived in the womb to limit their intelligence and (b) subjected throughout childhood to indoctrination and hypnotherapy to make them say "I'm happy and content with my life, and my only desire is to chase consumer goods". I'm not sure why so many people seem to forget this.

Re:George Orwell is out of copyright. What happens now? by lawtalkinghuman on Saturday January 02, 2021 @07:02AM (#25612209)
> I'm happy and content with my life, and my only desire is to chase consumer goods

Seems a pretty good summary of the whole wellness/"gratitude"/mindfulness culture that now exists and seems to think that an epidemic of mental ill-health can be fixed through breathing exercises and meditation apps for one's smartphone.

Re:George Orwell is out of copyright. What happens now? by 5cotto on Friday January 01, 2021 @10:58AM (#25604122)
Ironic considering Orwell plagiarized the plot of 1984 in the first place.
Re:George Orwell is out of copyright. What happens now? by karaterobot on Friday January 01, 2021 @11:45AM (#25604476)
I downvoted this, since it's a drive by insult without any kind of support provided.
Re:George Orwell is out of copyright. What happens now? by wrycoder on Friday January 01, 2021 @03:39PM (#25606803)
If plot plagiarism was a crime or even morally reprehensible, half the books in my town library would have to be destroyed.
Re:George Orwell is out of copyright. What happens now? by maskedoffender on Friday January 01, 2021 @11:42AM (#25604456)
He was inspired by C. S. Lewis' that hideous strength.
Re:George Orwell is out of copyright. What happens now? by lukifer on Friday January 01, 2021 @12:23PM (#25604801)
Interesting, I hadn't heard that, do we know that definitively? (THS was the only one of the Space Trilogy I never read, I should correct that.)
Re:George Orwell is out of copyright. What happens now? by zabzonk on Friday January 01, 2021 @12:47PM (#25605008)
Orwell reviewed That Hideous Strength and said it had some good points. But it's definitely the weakest in the trilogy, and definitely did not influence 1984 in any obvious way. Still worth reading, though.
Re:George Orwell is out of copyright. What happens now? by maskedoffender on Friday January 01, 2021 @09:49PM (#25609858)
It's a very hard read. It took me several times to get into it.
Re:George Orwell is out of copyright. What happens now? by sideshowb on Friday January 01, 2021 @12:54PM (#25605070)
Having read both I can't speak for where Orwell drew inspiration, but I never noticed any similarities
Re:George Orwell is out of copyright. What happens now? by rightbyte on Friday January 01, 2021 @11:01AM (#25604142)
Plagiarized of what by who?
Re:George Orwell is out of copyright. What happens now? by HarryHirsch on Friday January 01, 2021 @11:04AM (#25604168)
He may be talking about the underrated Swastika Nights. A new world, after memory of the old one has been erased is part of the plot, as is a secret manuscript.

That said, stories and plots have been retold ever since the beginning of literature. Here's a lovely article about various versions of the well-known story about the Baalshem being asked to intercede for a sick child: https://brill.com/view/journals/jjtp/22/2/article-p127_2.xml

Re:George Orwell is out of copyright. What happens now? by grzm on Friday January 01, 2021 @11:04AM (#25604172)
Yevgeny Zamyatin's We. (1921) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_(novel)
Re:George Orwell is out of copyright. What happens now? by UncleSlacky on Friday January 01, 2021 @12:28PM (#25604847)
Also Jack London's "The Iron Heel": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Iron_Heel
Re:George Orwell is out of copyright. What happens now? by jonny_eh on Friday January 01, 2021 @12:41PM (#25604944)
Taking inspiration isn't plagiarism
Re:George Orwell is out of copyright. What happens now? by Jon_Lowtek on Friday January 01, 2021 @12:50PM (#25605038)
books of the same genre share motifs and themes
Re:George Orwell is out of copyright. What happens now? by Jon_Lowtek on Friday January 01, 2021 @12:51PM (#25605043)
H.G.Wells - The Sleeper Awakens https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sleeper_Awakes