We told you about that MIT Convergence Culture Consortium thing that took place over the weekend, and if you really want to delve in they have transcripts and what not, including that panel that DC’s Paul Levitz took part in. You can read a transcript here and here. It’s a little rough since it seems to have been typed as the talk was taking place, but it’s interesting reading. Levitz is one of the smarter people we’ve ever met — no lie — and his comments cover everything from James Fenimore Cooper to Wicked to the Batman TV Show to Tom Bombadil.

Paul: you do see it, and more as the geek logic permeates the culture. You see it in the alternate history stories. Our cultural ethos is leaking out. It says, you know this story so what happens if a piece of the story flips. If it feels right and is a living homage that departs and legitimately speculates then it is fine. But difficult to tell where the line is. Difficult to tell people; try to explain in business logic with studios. Ultimately not yet found a great objective language for it. You can forgive no Tom Bombadil but can’t put into a theory of what you can do or not.