Thinking about tiny airplane seats, paywalls & AI ethics
Do you like folks who recline seats and crush laptops? Do you like website paywalls?
When you fly from Auckland, New Zealand, to Dallas-Fort Worth, you have lots of time to think about the size of the seat in which you are sitting, especially when you bought the cheapest ticket possible. Trust me on this.
Thus, I recently spotted a Washington Examiner headline about a subject that, for many frequently fliers, is one of the most important, emotional subjects in their lives. In this case, it was also important that the headline was on a commentary by a writer I greatly admire, Timothy P. “Family Unfriendly” Carney.
The headline? “Reclining on a plane: It’s complicated.”
Complicated? I know people for whom this issue is as clear cut as “Thou shalt not kill,” if not more so. I know other people who believe it’s OK to recline an airplane seat, as long as you have politely followed a set of consent protocols more delicate and complicated than those taught in corporations about workplace conduct with the opposite sex.
As for me, I believe in the modest, slow, careful reclining of a seat after looking to see what the passenger behind me has or has not done with the fold-down tray table. I confess that I have, when someone rapidly reclines their seat to crush my laptop and/or knees, been known to moan loud enough to alert the pilot.
This brings us to the overture of Carney’s essay:
In exchange for a few hundred dollars, airlines give you a few cubic feet that are yours while they whisk you across the country or across the world.
Airlines also give you a special little button with which you can increase your cubic footage by a tiny bit and gain some comfort. It doesn’t cost you anything to press the button, but your additional square footage comes at the expense of the person behind you — and if he or she is working on a laptop, it might make typing hard.
The debate over reclining is fraught because it is tied up with many questions our culture too often leaves unasked and values we have forgotten. The New Yorker waded into this tricky question with a lengthy article.
OK, readers, raise your digital hands — are you pro-reclining or opposed to this complicated form of violence?
The Carney essay brings me to the other topic for this weekend’s thinker, one that — for legions of writers who earn crucial bytes of money online — can be just as complicated and emotional.
The subject? Paywalls that prevent non-subscribers from reading more than a few paragraphs, or at best one page, of articles in digital publications.
I would like to tell you more about Carney’s article, but I cannot do so, because the Washington Examiner is one of the thousand or so publications I wish that I could pay to read, but it is not one of the several dozen I can afford to read because of, you know, that whole retirement thing.
Thus, I wrote Carney a short email, since our online paths have crossed in the past. He’s a busy, productive guy, so I do not know when he will be able to read it. Here is a tweaked version of what I wrote.
I want to write about your airplane seat essay ... But I can’t because I cannot read it.
I cannot read it because of a paywall. I wish that I had enough money to pay for all of the material that I want to read (just as I wish more people had enough money to pay for what I write at Rational Sheep).
Ah, but what if I use AI to STEAL most of your content, somehow? Is that better than ignoring it? Then I will point people to your article, which is good, but the vast majority of them will not be able to read it because of the paywall, which leaves them in the same Internet-era business model trap that I am in. Right?
So, can you SEND ME the key paragraphs to your piece, with you getting a shout out for being such a kind fellow?
What a world.
tmatt
Guess what? I get emails every now and then from readers offering variations on the sad song I sent Carney. You see, once or twice a week, roughly 95% of Rational Sheep subscribers hit a paywall just like the one that shows up after this next paragraph.
That next paragraph: I would love for everyone to be able to read the rest of this post. However, Substack experts say that the only thing that pushes a healthy number of “free” subscribers to convert to the “paid” option (thus keeping an online newsletter alive) is using a paywall several times a week with original content. Yes, a paywall just like this one. Yes, this whole situation makes me feel sad and conflicted.
