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Everything is a Remix (Original Series)

Kirby Ferguson7 HN recommenders · recommended in 7 months, 2017–2026
YouTube
documentary · general · evergreen · 2017–2026 on HN

Kirby Ferguson's video essay series arguing that creativity is built on copying, transforming and combining existing work. It covers music, film and technology, then turns to copyright and patents.

HN invokes it constantly in debates over originality, copyright and AI training, and calls it the best explanation of creativity as remixing.

12 comments from Hacker News

@indiv02024-07 · in “Copying is the way design works (2020)”

Reminds me of one of my favourite video essays -- "Everything is a Remix" [0]. The video and this article cover the same ideas albeit with different examples. Which is funny on a meta level -- the article could be called a remix of the video. The video (if I recall correctly) goes a bit further, attacking patents/IP law as anti-creative. [0]: ▶ this video

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@combatentropy2022-01 · in “Copyright doesn't need 95 years to get the job done”

I find that most people don't understand creativity. If you believe an artist or inventor is some mystic sage who creates works ex nihilo , then you misunderstand creativity and attribute to it far too much. And therefore you might grant an artist a period of copyright that is longer than is really deserved or needed. Through much of my life, I have been accused of being "creative". In elementary school my class recognized me as the best at drawing. In fifth grade I wrote a book that was checked out so many times from the school library that it filled up the check-out card front and back. In high school, I made dozens of little movies with my friends. After college I was a graphic designer, and both of my employers expressed awe at my work. The best explanation of creativity that I have found is a video series by Kirby Ferguson called Everything Is a Remix, ▶ this video It shows what I always knew in the back of my head: that nothing I ever made was from staring at a blank sheet of paper. It was just me ripping off all my favorite things I had seen before. Everyone tries their hand at art, and often it obviously is a copy. My secret was that I would take a little of this, a little of that, copy 5 different things and mix them all together, rather than making a straight copy of just one thing. I wasn't trying to hide anything, it was just how my mind naturally worked. I thought one thing from one movie was cool, so I took part of that. I thought something else from a drawing was co

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@WallyFunk2021-09 · in “Ask HN: How can I get better at original thinking and being creative?”

Watch Everything is a Remix: ▶ this video I've been prolific over the years in programming and art & code, and about 99% of it was remixes of others work. I'm not ashamed of that - many artists draw inspiration from multiple sources. The trick is to put your own spin on it, not directly rip off someone else's work. Many artists will never tell you they borrowed from various sources, because they think that would come across as unoriginal and merely copying others work, but have a few beers with an artist and suddenly they start sharing their secrets...

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@alexpotato2026-08 · in “Patterns and problems in emerging multi-agent systems”

I would highly recommend the "Everything is a Remix" series on YouTube to show how a lot of "creative" work is really just combining different items. ▶ this video

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@rmbyrro2024-02 · in “Sora: Creating video from text”

I used to have the same view. Watching "Everything is a Remix" [1] helped me broaden my perspective. [1] ▶ this video

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