[PLUG-TALK] Software Patents

Jeme A Brelin jeme at brelin.net
Mon Feb 14 22:40:49 UTC 2005


On Mon, 14 Feb 2005, Russ Johnson wrote:
> OK, I took "The rights of the people are restricted for the benefit of a 
> few." to mean that others have rights to information that I have.

No, the right being restricted is the right to share information with one 
another freely.  It is restricted so that a privileged few can profit by 
exploiting the secret.

> You benefit from the knowledge that *I* expended time and effort to 
> gain.
>
> You gain it with little effort when it's given to you after the time and 
> effort have been expended by another.

That's the most wonderful thing about information.  Many gain enormously 
from the efforts of a few.

You asked why that should happen and I can't for the life of me figure out 
what that question means.  Why should the depth and richness of knowledge 
grow and spread?  For the mutual benefit and instruction of mankind, of 
course.

Why should others benefit from your work?  That question doesn't even make 
sense in any kind of civilization.  Everyone benefits from the work of 
others all the time.  The experience of society is a benefit you gain from 
the effort of others.  Imagine if you'd had to develop a spoken and 
written language from scratch at birth!  We benefit from the effort of all 
those that came before us as well as our contemporaries.  It only seems 
natural that we would want to increase those benefits for our 
contemporaries and those that come after us.

J.
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      Jeme A Brelin
     jeme at brelin.net
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