I believe in natural selection, not only in the gene pool, but in the market too. In all our intelligence we love to set up blocks in the form of strict copyright laws for enjoyment of art… (which I read a great paper about, calling it a “Human Only Phenomenon”).
Like most laws (compulsory education, immigration laws, minimum wage, health care) they were made with good intentions, despite creating a handful of new problems least of which is debt and less freedom, and have tattooed themselves onto our culture, but thankfully concerning copyright, natural selection in the form of technological advances has made it so that intellectual property is much much easier to consume.
We are currently in a limbo where our unnatural but well intentioned laws and the beneficial advances of our society are crashing together.
I don't know if more authors and creators will be able to support themselves, they may have to do more things in front of audiences or make their particular art live, or any number of things I can't predict because I'm one person and simply cannot predict the invisible hand/natural selection of the market. What I do know is that, when TV appeared books didn't disappear. When the printing press was invented, we didn't destroy ourselves with knowledge like most religious leaders predicted (however we did become more free thinkers and less religious, just like they predicted). My point is that the never ending spectacle Art: The Human Phenomenon will not stop playing in human minds and on the human stage.
However enforcing current copyright laws endangers our much beloved privacy and personal freedoms.
