Melancholy elephants
by Spider Robinson · first published 1984
17mentions
8recommended by
12HN commenters
2010–2026first – last mentioned
67% recommend33% neutral
Why HN recommends it
A short science fiction story about perpetual copyright and its effects on art and creativity. It reads quickly and remains relevant to current copyright debates, especially for those interested in intellectual property.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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I always bring this up whenever copyright extension is mentioned: Spider Robinson's "Melancholy Elephants" [1], a worthwhile read on the effects of a super-long copyright extension. The story itself is under a Creative Commons license. [1] http://spiderrobinson.com/melancholyelephants.html
on “2018 Is the Last Year of America's Public Domain Drought” ↗This really reminds me of a short story someone on HN recommended a while ago: "Melancholy Elephants," written by Spider Robinson. http://spiderrobinson.com/melancholyelephants.html
on “Lana Del Rey, Radiohead, and the Difficulty of Making Original Music” ↗There's an amazing story by Spyder Robinson that expolres exactly that: Melancholy Elephants, http://www.spiderrobinson.com/melancholyelephants.html It was published in 1983 and won Hugo Award for Best Short Story. It's as relvant today, as then. Even more relevant.
on “What’s Entering Public Domain in 2021: The Great Gatsby, Music by Duke Ellington” ↗spider robinson's short story "melancholy elephants" is relevant here: http://www.spiderrobinson.com/melancholyelephants.html
on “Infinite Copyright Is Killing Culture” ↗…submit patent application is truly novel without any invalidating prior art is probably very low." A great scifi short story that examines this eventuality in the context of art & perpetual copyright : Melancholy Elephants, by Spider Robinson. http://www.baen.com/chapters/W200011/0671319744___1.htm
…the Roald Dahl short story The Great Automatic Grammatizator, which, although dated, examines the possible consequences of automatically generating literature. I also think of the sci-fi short story Melancholy Elephants by Spider Robinson, which examines how perpetual copyright would negatively impact music (there are only so many novel melodies that are pleasant to listen to): http://www.baen.com/chapters/W200011/0671319744___1.htm
on “Pentametron Reveals Unintended Poetry of Twitter Users” ↗Reminds me of the great scifi short story Melancholy Elephants by Spider Robinson, which examines how perpetual copyright would negatively impact music (there are only so many novel melodies that are pleasant to listen to): http://www.baen.com/chapters/W200011/0671319744___1.htm
on “I analyzed the chords to 1300 songs for patterns. Part 3 – Interactive Discovery” ↗You guys ever read 'Melancholy Elephants' by Spider Robinson? http://www.spiderrobinson.com/melancholyelephants.html
on “Why Isn't Gatsby in the Public Domain?” ↗I recommend you read Melancholy Elephants, a short novel on copyright by Spider Robinson, I read it years ago and it stuck in my brain http://www.spiderrobinson.com/melancholyelephants.html you might like it
on “The deception of “buying” digital movies” ↗This is basically the theme of Spider Robinson's Melancholy Elephants from 1982 (http://spiderrobinson.com/melancholyelephants.html full short story). Hugo winner, and if you haven't read it it's both highly relevant and a quick read.
on “Ed Sheeran Demonstrates How Copyright Is Destroying Musicians” ↗…http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=213421 This would've been detected by the duplicate detector I suggested here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1012215 The question is whether that's a good idea? I'm reminded of the story "Melancholy Elephants" by Spider Robinson in which a good case is made for forgetting old stuff and allowing new stuff to reinvent, regenerate and possibly reinvigorate ancient ideas. Link to the story: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1055430
on “Adaptive mind: "Is Google Making Us Stupid?"” ↗Reminds me of Spider Robinson's Melancholy Elephants. http://www.spiderrobinson.com/melancholyelephants.html
on “Appeals Court Says It's Okay to Copyright an Entire Style of Music” ↗This bill reminds me of the 'Melancholy Elephants'[0] story by Spider Robinson, about the dangers of unchecked copyright. [0]: http://www.spiderrobinson.com/melancholyelephants.html
on “European parliament committee approves vote on ‘disastrous’ copyright bill” ↗Spider Robinson explored this in his 1983 story, Melancholy Elephants: http://www.spiderrobinson.com/melancholyelephants.html --- start quote --- There are eighty-eight notes. One hundred and seventy-six, if your ear is good enough to pick out quarter tones. Add…
on “I became the world's most prolific DJ, using code” ↗No end? Spider Robinson, Melancholy Elephants: http://www.baen.com/chapters/W200011/0671319744___1.htm I'd agree that at some point being "creative" feels like just another kind of killing time with minesweeper or crossword puzzles or whatever.
on “Why aren't smart people happier?” ↗