As I read through these comments I am absolutely staggered -- and depressed -- by the hostility to the notion of protecting ideas for a time.
Here's my question: do you think that there would have been such an explosion of knowledge in the world if ideas had not been protected these last several hundred years?
Nick Carr is concerned about one thing: that his readers value the quality of his writing. Why else would he use florid prose such as "truth is self created though labor"? What the hell does that even mean, anyway? I can self create the truth that rocks fall by picking one up and dropping it. Is that labor? Maybe in Lazy Nick's world.
Barack Obama is a world-class buck-passer. Worse, he doesn't understand government: the patent office works the way it works because it is a bureaucracy. It is not an efficient organization, and any money it "saves" will be used to maintain its current cost structure. Want proof? Look up Parkinson's Law, which is best summed up as "work expands to fill the time allotted to do it." Really people, get a clue. If offends me that Americans are so f-----g ignorant or stupid or both as to believe in a snake oil salesman like Barack. It especially offends me because I'm one of of the dumbf--k Americans who voted for Barack. Argh!
Jeff Shattuck
http://www.cerebellumblues.com
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this is a sad post and a sad debate
Glyn,
Do you really believe that the people who wrote copyright law didn't understand what they were doing, namely writing down protections of ideas?
By the way, if this matters to you at all, why are you not participating in the discussion? Sad.
Jeff
C'mon people!
As I read through these comments I am absolutely staggered -- and depressed -- by the hostility to the notion of protecting ideas for a time.
Here's my question: do you think that there would have been such an explosion of knowledge in the world if ideas had not been protected these last several hundred years?
Jeff
Nick Carr is concerned about one thing: that his readers value the quality of his writing. Why else would he use florid prose such as "truth is self created though labor"? What the hell does that even mean, anyway? I can self create the truth that rocks fall by picking one up and dropping it. Is that labor? Maybe in Lazy Nick's world.
Jeff
Barack Obama is a world-class buck-passer. Worse, he doesn't understand government: the patent office works the way it works because it is a bureaucracy. It is not an efficient organization, and any money it "saves" will be used to maintain its current cost structure. Want proof? Look up Parkinson's Law, which is best summed up as "work expands to fill the time allotted to do it." Really people, get a clue. If offends me that Americans are so f-----g ignorant or stupid or both as to believe in a snake oil salesman like Barack. It especially offends me because I'm one of of the dumbf--k Americans who voted for Barack. Argh!
Jeff Shattuck
http://www.cerebellumblues.com