[OT] Where ill conceived copyright laws can lead

[Timothy Miller]

Evolution optimized the human brain to cope effectively with ownership of a physical object bigger than a pea and no larger than a barn. Ancestral humans did not own land, for instance. 

Until recently, people didn't own many abstractions. Maybe a stock certificate or the deed to a house. Our evolved moral intuitions do not clearly address ownership of an abstraction.

Now, most people own abstractions. To own an ebook, an Mp3 or a software license is to own an abstraction. The human brain is not prepared to deal with that. The human brain was promoted to its level of incompetence when agriculture was invented and people started living in cities.

In the 21st century, all possible answers to complex questions of intellectual property will be unsatisfactory and contentious. I need to get used to that. Others may suit themselves.

Just my opinion.

Cheers,

Tim


On Oct 11, 2012, at 10:50 PM, Peter Haworth wrote:

> That's not copyright, that's patent, different thing although just as weird!
> 
> One problem with copyright laws is that, as with a lot of laws, they are
> different in every country.