Re: A Question of Ethics

[Andrew Plato <intrepid_es -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

> People have protected "trade secrets" for centuries, 
> by the simple expedient of keeping their secrets 
> unobserved and close to home.  An artisan produces 
> wonderful work, that others just can't manage to 
> duplicate.  His stuff is valued over the work of 
> others because of it's unique beauty or utility. 
> He can preserve that advantage only as long as he 
> doesn't reveal how he does it. 

So the only way for a pharmaceutical company to protect its new cancer
drug is to never give it to anybody.

Yeah, that's practical. 

> People innovate. That's what they do. The current 
> climate of "intellectual property" merely encourages 
> them to innovate in certain ways and to protect 
> their work in certain ways. If copyright and related 
> laws were to shut down tomorrow, there'd be some 
> upheaval for a couple of years, and then things would 
> rapidly settle down into a new version of "business 
> as usual".  Many of those who profit from the current 
> artificial structure would lose out. 

What will happen Kevin is a return to a Dark Ages mentality. Powerful
sources, like the church, will control all information and dole it out at
an even more restricted manner. Why?

Without safeguards that their hard work and investments are protected in a
public arena, those organizations will be forced to lock up every design,
theory, and product they have. 

In other words - tyranny.  If you remove the laws to protect intellectual
work, you will be handing even more power to the large companies and
governments to control even more. Giving you the exact reverse of your
intended intellectual utopia. 

This is the problem with many "good ideas."  They have unintended
consequences and they fail to take into account simple concepts of human
nature.  You assume everybody is decent and respectful of each other's
work - when that is hardly the case. Most people are selfish, ignorant,
spiteful, and rude. They will gleefully stab you in the back to get ahead.
Thus, any system that hands power to the thieves, hands power to the most
evil elements of our society. 

If you produce something, you have a right to protect it from theft.
That's about as close to "natural law" as it gets. Just because is a pile
of electrons, does not mean it is any less important than a physical item.


> Some would be 
> flexible and agile enough to make the cross-over and 
> be successful in the new way, and others who had not 
> previously been hugely rewarded would begin making 
> more money from their work.  Mostly, I believe the 
> replacement model would favor smaller enterprises 
> and craftsmanship.

What new way? The new "I CAN STEAL ANYTHING I WANT WHENEVER I WANT AND
NOBODY CAN DO ANYTHING TO ME"  new order?  Yeah, right.  That's nuts. 

> I consider it my right to defend my person, my home, 
> and my other physical property against anybody who 
> wants to take it or damage it. This is so, because 
> a) I want it that way, and 
> b) I reliably extend the reciprocal rights to all 
>    other persons.
> 
> By contrast, protection of my so-called "intellectual 
> property" is merely a privilege, and I can't really 
> count on it lasting much longer, much as I can't 
> guarantee I'll protect anybody else's claims.

So I can steal your works of art, duplicate them, and then sell them
freely. Is that correct. Because if so, I'd really like to start stealing
things and making money off them. It would be a total deal - I invest
NOTHING and I get all the rewards. That's a deal for me. 

Kevin, you and others just don't get it. You cannot remove the profit
incentive and have a functional system. Others have tried and failed. It
does not work. Period. 

Removing all intellectual property rights would remove profit incentive.
People could not earn money from their hard work - so they wouldn't do it.
Why on earth would anybody produce music, books, movies, etc. if those
works could be copied, redistributed, and used without the author's
consent? 

They wouldn't. If there is no profit to be made, nobody would do it. And
don't even tell me that people would somehow come to accept this new
Marxist world.  They wouldn't. 

Andrew Plato 

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