My 8 bit PSP

Last night I did something which quite frankly has left me in a state of shock and confusion. I successfully hacked my Sony PSP; doing three things. 1) Using a corrupt line of code in the game Grand Theft Auto, I was able to take over the system's operating system, which is routinely updated by Sony, and revert back to a now defunct operating system. 2) I then installed a Nintendo emulator onto the PSP, which tricks the old operating system into playing Nintendo games. 3) I downloaded a bunch of Nintendo games from websites, and can now play Zelda, Metroid and Super Mario Bros. on my PSP.

The shocking element in all of this is not the illegality aspect or the further indicia of the rapidly evolving technological age in which we live. What is shocking is that some moron like me was able to do it. I know practically nothing about computers, though all it took to learn how to do this was watching a 10 minute clip on youtube where some 14 year old kid shows how to do it, then following the step by step instructions on his website. Actually installing a Nintendo emulator was a different and more difficult step; as I found most of the emulation websites instructions to be filled with overbearing jargon and a bunch of abreviations I didn't understand.

As to the illegality or potential illegality of all this; I like most people of my generation really don't care. However, it is not because I don't understand that it is illegal, or that there is some ethereal degree of separation working that makes it feel like I am not stealing, as so many pundits like to claim. Rather, I simply do not feel a valid ethical reason to not engage in this. Goods are made and sold in a society based on capital and labor. It takes capital and labor to make a toaster, so I probably shouldn't steal a toaster. But what if toasters could be made for free, with no labor? And then let's say that these toasters which cost nothing to make can be delivered to your home at no cost. The rationale for collection becomes too strained; if the person who makes the toaster didn't expend anything to create it, why the hell should they be compensated? When the toaster becomes part of the vast ether of infinte reproduction, a stable royalty collection system must be established; and the fact that it took the music, film and gaming corporations literally five years to come up with a viable royalty based system after the illegal system had been created, they have nobody to blame but themselves. If diamonds began magically falling from the sky and never stopped, nobody would pay a cent for a damn diamond ring ever again. If Cadillac Deville's began magically falling from the sky to no end, nobody would ever buy a Cadillac ever again. Consequently, as long as video games are falling from the sky, I see no reason to buy one.