explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1228: Prometheus

2013-06-21T19:14:42Z

199.83.221.155:

Could this be an analogy for file sharing? {{unsigned ip|24.255.167.124}}

As '''an author''' of very expensive business software, I love the idea of giving it away and making money through "value added". I truly believe that most people who "steal" software would never have paid for it anyway. Similarly, when I worked for a clothing manufacturer, other companies were always copying our designs but we made more money than them because we were the place to go for the new stuff. [[User:Hax|Hax]] ([[User talk:Hax|talk]]) 10:19, 21 June 2013 (UTC)

I'd like to say something like "The title-text gives what might be a typical approach to movie dialogue in a typical (Michael) Baysian movie plot," but am not sure I'm correct and/or pithy enough.  [[Special:Contributions/178.98.31.27|178.98.31.27]] 12:48, 21 June 2013 (UTC)
:Do we also need to explain that this line is not in reference to an existing movie?  [[User:DanB|DanB]] ([[User talk:DanB|talk]]) 12:55, 21 June 2013 (UTC)

Does the returning what Prometheus stole explanation need to be that involved? I thought it could be interpreted as a simple play on words referring to "returning fire" since it's also just a phrase that means to return an attack? [[Special:Contributions/128.197.37.175|128.197.37.175]] 14:24, 21 June 2013 (UTC)

: Haha.. Vote to edit title text to "I'm here to return fire." However, I'm wondering if we've inverted the meaning through the ages, and if the etymology of the phrase won't reveal pacifist origins: returning the fire as in refusing to fight. Refusing to light a war-signal, or light arrows etc. [[Special:Contributions/220.224.246.97|220.224.246.97]] 16:40, 21 June 2013 (UTC)

I'm all for information freedom, but you CAN steal fire. You could take away the only spark/source of ignition/activation energy provision in the possession of the gods. Secondly, fire needs fuel to burn. Take away all their fuel, and you've stolen their fire. Alright, you have your own fuel? Fine, you're still stealing fire, because once you've discovered how to make a fire - you burn your fuel, release more combustible products, and choke the atmosphere (Though, we'd have snuffed ourselves out before we snuffed out Olympus). In any case, you're accelerating the {{w|heat death}} of the universe. But that's not the marrow of the bone of contention. Even the original Prometheus-v-Gods animosity arose because of information theft, and not 'property' theft. [[Special:Contributions/220.224.246.97|220.224.246.97]] 16:40, 21 June 2013 (UTC)

Could it also be a reference to Terry Pratchett's "The Last Hero?" Y'know, where Cohen the Barbarian (et al) decide to return fire to the gods...?
(-Aerych)

I immediately thought of The Last Hero too.

1228: Prometheus

2013-06-21T19:13:53Z

199.83.221.155: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1228
| date = June 21, 2013
| title = Prometheus
| image = prometheus.png
| titletext = 'I'm here to return what Prometheus stole.' would be a good thing to say if you were a fighter pilot in a Michael Bay movie where for some reason the world's militaries had to team up to defeat every god from human mythology, and you'd just broken through the perimeter and gotten a missile lock on Mount Olympus.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is about copyright and patent, which are temporary government-granted monopolies for authors and inventors. It refers to the cultural hero {{w|Prometheus}} in Greek mythology who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity. In this case, Prometheus claims that it is more like sharing than stealing because the gods still have the original fire. By analogy, uploading music, movies, and software is more like sharing than stealing because the authors and inventors still have the original files. Fire-sharing is a pun for {{w|file-sharing}}. "Fire wants to be free" is a pun for the slogan "{{w|Information wants to be free}}."

The title text refers to {{w|Michael Bay}}, the director of the movies ''{{w|Transformers (film)|Transformers}}'' and ''{{w|Armageddon (film)|Armageddon}}''. His over-the-top action movies often involve a character saying a witty line immediately before a heroic action. "I am here to return [fire]" could mean to retaliate against the gods. It could also mean to return the ancient discovery of fire that ironically enabled modern missiles.

==Transcript==
:[Prometheus holding a torch. Cueball pointing at him and talking to another person.]
:Cueball: Prometheus has stolen fire from the gods!
:Prometheus: Well, sort of.
:Prometheus: I mean, when you use a fire to make another fire, the first fire doesn't go away.
:Prometheus: So really, it's more like ''sharing''
:Fire wants to be free.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

1228: Prometheus

2013-06-21T19:13:05Z

199.83.221.155: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1228
| date = June 21, 2013
| title = Prometheus
| image = prometheus.png
| titletext = 'I'm here to return what Prometheus stole.' would be a good thing to say if you were a fighter pilot in a Michael Bay movie where for some reason the world's militaries had to team up to defeat every god from human mythology, and you'd just broken through the perimeter and gotten a missile lock on Mount Olympus.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is about copyright and patent, which are temporary government-granted monopolies for authors and inventors. It refers to the cultural hero {{w|Prometheus}} in Greek mythology who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity. In this case, Prometheus claims that it is more like sharing than stealing because the gods still have the original fire. By analogy, uploading music, movies, and software is more like sharing than stealing because the authors and inventors still have the original files. Fire-sharing is a pun for {{w|file-sharing}}. "Fire wants to be free" is a pun for the slogan "{{w|Information wants to be free}}."

The title text refers to {{w|Michael Bay}}, the director of the movies ''{{w|Transformers (film)|Transformers}}'' and ''{{w|Armageddon (film)|Armageddon}}''. His over-the-top action movies often involve a character saying a witty line immediately before a heroic action. "I am here to return [fire]" could mean to retaliate against the gods. It could also mean to return the ancient discovery of fire that ironically enabled modern missiles.

The title text might also be an oblique reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Hero The Last Hero] by Terry Pratchett, an illustrated Discworld novel in which the last hero, Gengiz Cohen, seeks to return to the gods "what the first hero stole", in the form of a sled full of explosives which he intends to use to blow up the gods' mountain home.

==Transcript==
:[Prometheus holding a torch. Cueball pointing at him and talking to another person.]
:Cueball: Prometheus has stolen fire from the gods!
:Prometheus: Well, sort of.
:Prometheus: I mean, when you use a fire to make another fire, the first fire doesn't go away.
:Prometheus: So really, it's more like ''sharing''
:Fire wants to be free.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]