Well, I purposely used the US number from before the recent low, but this is all ballpark anyway. I'm not sure what specific country you are worried about, so I can only speculate. Germany is only at 1.4% and it has a "foreign" population of around 8% - but those seem to include other EU citizens... presumably you are not concerned about those. 4% identify as Islamic. Now granted, that is higher than the US's 1%, but I still don't see evidence to support your fears. How is a 4% minority a threat to the German "way of life", which of course changes dramatically over time with or without Islam.
The life time of a piece of software should also be taken into account.
I think the practical economic outlook of the entity should be taken into account. While it is possible that an artist or corporation plans their economic activity out 90 years into the future, I think 5 years or less is far more likely. Disney would have made Cars even if they "only" had 5 years to make money back on it - and push it to patent-territory like 15-20 years and it is a slam-dunk. The 90 year thing is preposterous and benefits only the rights holder, not society.
IP law is a socialist concept, and a tremendous interference by the government in the free market. The whole justification for IP is that it is good for society. Take that away and all you have is a blatant handout of a government-enforced monopoly.
I think your idea is sound, but in the case of Super Mario Brothers, I'd bet that it was written in assembly... there isn't much else to share except what is on the cartridge it came with.
I think that copyright law is too complex to burden the average person with. I don't think it is ethical to apply a law to the common man that cannot be fully described by lawyers who have spent their entire career studying it. Either simplify it greatly or make it apply to commercial trade only. Keep in mind that this would still close entities like Napster and isoHunt, since they are definitely in the commercial realm. Honestly I don't think it would change much at all, except the few poor souls who got burned at the stake by the xIAAs as an example to us all would still have their quality of life intact.
Who has more bargaining power? An individual, or a whole government?
I think you are making a point with someone that agrees with your position:)
Although I'd add that if an insurance company is large enough, it's bargaining power asymptotically approaches that of a government. Of course, organizations have costs associated with scaling (this includes government), so there probably is some ideal point on the size vs. overhead costs graph.
Just fly down to the USA if you have that much money and pay for service there.
This only works because you neighbor a country that will slurp up that demand. If you didn't have the US, you would probably need to set up some kind of a private system to placate the affluent. It would naturally arise unless you banned it.
If you offered me minimal care for an outrageous price at that moment, I'd jump at it.
Yes, my comment quite obviously only applies to elective stuff.
EU is 1.6, US is 1.8. Sure, Europe is lower but they are in the same general class. Remember that the US has a much larger immigrant population and immigrants have a higher fertility rate. Something like 40 million of the US population is foreign born - that's well over 13%. In contrast, the foreign born population of the EU sits at 4%. Increase that to 13% and watch the birth rate rise.
I can't comment on your theory about revolution in Europe. Historically it has been a pretty unstable place even without large numbers of immigrants, so maybe. But your theory seems at odds with common sense IMHO. First of all, why would people hostile to your country want to live there? Second, how is such a tiny minority going to overthrow the predominant culture?
It still lets me plan my life. More data is good, and you generally play the odds. I'm not planning to live to 100, even though I might.
Anyway, the choices aren't "destitute" and "well-off"... that's a false dichotomy. There is an infinite gradation between the two, and I'm talking about picking something along that continuum. At least some of my retirement will include an annuity as a safety net, no matter when I'm supposed to die. If they invent a potion that gets me to 130, I'll still have my annuity.
Don't be so sure that those are really your grandparents. Illegitimacy rates in Western culture run around 1 in 30, and you have two parents. That's a roughly 1/10 chance* that one of your grandparents aren't really a blood relative.
* I could have the math wrong, but it's probably close enough for a Slashdot discussion - your mom has as 1/30 chance of being illegitimate combined with the chance that your dad has a 1/30 chance of being illegitimate combined with your own 1/30 chance of being illegitimate.
You wouldn't change the way you live if you knew your expiration date? I certainly would. My wife and I try to save as much as we can because we have to assume that we will live to 80 or 90. If I took a blood test that said I was dead by 55, that's hundreds of thousands of dollars that I'd spend doing something else.
I have to admit a certain selfishness here. Like Durrik, the commenter above, I am tall and my knees dig into the seat in front of me on certain planes. At the right portion of the flight, I purposely keep my knees pressed hard against the seat so that it won't recline. They try for a few seconds and then give up once they figure it must be broken (or that I'm being a jerk). If I'm lucky, they won't try again for the rest of the flight.
Do you even really need to say that? I think it is pretty clear that I was talking about elective procedures. Anyway, where I live the ambulance is a government service. Oh, they charge you several hundred dollars, but it is a government service.
You most certainly can. My father-in-law is not a US citizen. He came to New York for a surgery, balked at the initial price estimate, and negotiated it down significantly.
I have health insurance, so have never needed to do this, but you certainly can negotiate price - they key is to do it BEFORE you receive care.
I used to go to a dentist that suggested that I pay him a lower fee than I was currently paying in dental insurance premiums. I didn't take him up on it, but it was tempting.
If people stop mining, then the currency stops being created... no matter - that will happen eventually anyway.. More likely, the price of bitcoins will continue to rise as usage does, and this will drive more people to mine. If usage does not increase, then who cares if they are mined or not?
It shouldn't surprise anyone that devices with a higher ASP tend to be in the pockets of people with more cash to throw around. I bet subway lines through rich neighborhoods command a higher ad price than on subways lines through blighted areas.
More likely, the path to economic domination will be followed by China, who will pick up where the US left off - just as the US picked up where the UK left off. It's all a continuum, unless some dramatic event hits the reset button.
While it is certainly true that it is an advantage to have the government at your back when you defend "your" property, historically it has been possible to do so without a government at all (or I suppose you become the government). All you need is more strength that the person or people who try to take what you possess. Ideas require a strong government to "protect" them for you - which is impossible to do on your own. The only way to protect an idea sans government is to keep it to yourself.
I've long maintained that copyright should be a commercial concept only - it is simply not fair to impose such a complex and hard-to-understand set of laws on regular people. I don't even think it would cost the copyright holders much money or change the current state of affairs. For example, ISOhunt (and Napster for that matter) clearly fall into the commercial realm and would still get shut down. Comcast and Verizon could still be compelled to impose "3 strikes" style limits. The idea that making a mix tape for your girlfriend violates copyright law is just ludicrous and just about every person in the United States of a certain age has violated that provision at some point. Why in the world do we allow this?
I'd go with "pretend". We pretend that ideas are like regular property, and all of this funny stuff flows from that unnatural concept. One day we'll look back on it the same way people today look at the East India Company or the Stationers Company. Beware the dangerous printing press!
Slashdot Mirror
Well, I purposely used the US number from before the recent low, but this is all ballpark anyway. I'm not sure what specific country you are worried about, so I can only speculate. Germany is only at 1.4% and it has a "foreign" population of around 8% - but those seem to include other EU citizens... presumably you are not concerned about those. 4% identify as Islamic. Now granted, that is higher than the US's 1%, but I still don't see evidence to support your fears. How is a 4% minority a threat to the German "way of life", which of course changes dramatically over time with or without Islam.
The life time of a piece of software should also be taken into account.
I think the practical economic outlook of the entity should be taken into account. While it is possible that an artist or corporation plans their economic activity out 90 years into the future, I think 5 years or less is far more likely. Disney would have made Cars even if they "only" had 5 years to make money back on it - and push it to patent-territory like 15-20 years and it is a slam-dunk. The 90 year thing is preposterous and benefits only the rights holder, not society.
IP law is a socialist concept, and a tremendous interference by the government in the free market. The whole justification for IP is that it is good for society. Take that away and all you have is a blatant handout of a government-enforced monopoly.
I think your idea is sound, but in the case of Super Mario Brothers, I'd bet that it was written in assembly... there isn't much else to share except what is on the cartridge it came with.
I think that copyright law is too complex to burden the average person with. I don't think it is ethical to apply a law to the common man that cannot be fully described by lawyers who have spent their entire career studying it. Either simplify it greatly or make it apply to commercial trade only. Keep in mind that this would still close entities like Napster and isoHunt, since they are definitely in the commercial realm. Honestly I don't think it would change much at all, except the few poor souls who got burned at the stake by the xIAAs as an example to us all would still have their quality of life intact.
Who has more bargaining power? An individual, or a whole government?
I think you are making a point with someone that agrees with your position :)
Although I'd add that if an insurance company is large enough, it's bargaining power asymptotically approaches that of a government. Of course, organizations have costs associated with scaling (this includes government), so there probably is some ideal point on the size vs. overhead costs graph.
Just fly down to the USA if you have that much money and pay for service there.
This only works because you neighbor a country that will slurp up that demand. If you didn't have the US, you would probably need to set up some kind of a private system to placate the affluent. It would naturally arise unless you banned it.
If you offered me minimal care for an outrageous price at that moment, I'd jump at it.
Yes, my comment quite obviously only applies to elective stuff.
LOL, good point. We are speaking hypothetically, are we not? So I can give her the same disease :)
EU is 1.6, US is 1.8. Sure, Europe is lower but they are in the same general class. Remember that the US has a much larger immigrant population and immigrants have a higher fertility rate. Something like 40 million of the US population is foreign born - that's well over 13%. In contrast, the foreign born population of the EU sits at 4%. Increase that to 13% and watch the birth rate rise.
I can't comment on your theory about revolution in Europe. Historically it has been a pretty unstable place even without large numbers of immigrants, so maybe. But your theory seems at odds with common sense IMHO. First of all, why would people hostile to your country want to live there? Second, how is such a tiny minority going to overthrow the predominant culture?
It still lets me plan my life. More data is good, and you generally play the odds. I'm not planning to live to 100, even though I might.
Anyway, the choices aren't "destitute" and "well-off"... that's a false dichotomy. There is an infinite gradation between the two, and I'm talking about picking something along that continuum. At least some of my retirement will include an annuity as a safety net, no matter when I'm supposed to die. If they invent a potion that gets me to 130, I'll still have my annuity.
West is heading towards a demographic death spiral
Immigration? It's what we do in the US to keep our population up.
Don't be so sure that those are really your grandparents. Illegitimacy rates in Western culture run around 1 in 30, and you have two parents. That's a roughly 1/10 chance* that one of your grandparents aren't really a blood relative.
* I could have the math wrong, but it's probably close enough for a Slashdot discussion - your mom has as 1/30 chance of being illegitimate combined with the chance that your dad has a 1/30 chance of being illegitimate combined with your own 1/30 chance of being illegitimate.
You wouldn't change the way you live if you knew your expiration date? I certainly would. My wife and I try to save as much as we can because we have to assume that we will live to 80 or 90. If I took a blood test that said I was dead by 55, that's hundreds of thousands of dollars that I'd spend doing something else.
Denying the person in front some sleep just so you are more comfortable is wrong.
Yup. Oh, well.
I have to admit a certain selfishness here. Like Durrik, the commenter above, I am tall and my knees dig into the seat in front of me on certain planes. At the right portion of the flight, I purposely keep my knees pressed hard against the seat so that it won't recline. They try for a few seconds and then give up once they figure it must be broken (or that I'm being a jerk). If I'm lucky, they won't try again for the rest of the flight.
The armrest can keep the solid parts of them away from you, but you still need to fight off the gooey parts.
Yes, my comment is quite obviously directed towards elective procedures. You'd be surprised how common those are.
Do you even really need to say that? I think it is pretty clear that I was talking about elective procedures. Anyway, where I live the ambulance is a government service. Oh, they charge you several hundred dollars, but it is a government service.
You can't negotiate a price
You most certainly can. My father-in-law is not a US citizen. He came to New York for a surgery, balked at the initial price estimate, and negotiated it down significantly.
I have health insurance, so have never needed to do this, but you certainly can negotiate price - they key is to do it BEFORE you receive care.
I used to go to a dentist that suggested that I pay him a lower fee than I was currently paying in dental insurance premiums. I didn't take him up on it, but it was tempting.
If people stop mining, then the currency stops being created... no matter - that will happen eventually anyway.. More likely, the price of bitcoins will continue to rise as usage does, and this will drive more people to mine. If usage does not increase, then who cares if they are mined or not?
It shouldn't surprise anyone that devices with a higher ASP tend to be in the pockets of people with more cash to throw around. I bet subway lines through rich neighborhoods command a higher ad price than on subways lines through blighted areas.
Silver was a very popular female name.
More likely, the path to economic domination will be followed by China, who will pick up where the US left off - just as the US picked up where the UK left off. It's all a continuum, unless some dramatic event hits the reset button.
While it is certainly true that it is an advantage to have the government at your back when you defend "your" property, historically it has been possible to do so without a government at all (or I suppose you become the government). All you need is more strength that the person or people who try to take what you possess. Ideas require a strong government to "protect" them for you - which is impossible to do on your own. The only way to protect an idea sans government is to keep it to yourself.
I've long maintained that copyright should be a commercial concept only - it is simply not fair to impose such a complex and hard-to-understand set of laws on regular people. I don't even think it would cost the copyright holders much money or change the current state of affairs. For example, ISOhunt (and Napster for that matter) clearly fall into the commercial realm and would still get shut down. Comcast and Verizon could still be compelled to impose "3 strikes" style limits. The idea that making a mix tape for your girlfriend violates copyright law is just ludicrous and just about every person in the United States of a certain age has violated that provision at some point. Why in the world do we allow this?
I'd go with "pretend". We pretend that ideas are like regular property, and all of this funny stuff flows from that unnatural concept. One day we'll look back on it the same way people today look at the East India Company or the Stationers Company. Beware the dangerous printing press!