Intellectual Property should be abolished - change my mind! - Lemmy.world
lemmy.world
I am strongly convinced that the possession of ideas and creations of the intellect is not possible. In my opinion, only physical things can be possessed, that is, things that are limited, that is, that can only be in one place. The power or the freedom to do with the object what one wants corresponds to the concept of possession. This does not mean, however, that one must expose everything openly. This is ultimately the difference between proprietary solutions, where the “construction manual” is kept to oneself, and the open source philosophy, where this source is accessible to everyone. As the title says, I would oppose this thesis to your arguments and hope that together we can rethink and improve our positions. Please keep in mind that this can be an enrichment for all, so we discuss with each other and not against each other ;)

Hey mateys!

I made a post at /c/libertarianism about the abolition of IP. Maybe some of you will find it interesting.

Please answer in the other community so that all the knowledge is in one place and easier to discover.

  • PropaGandalf@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    23·
    1 year ago

    How so? I agree with you that this measure will fundamentally change the reasons for innovation. Innovation itself will no longer be lucrative because you cannot be sure that you will be rewarded for your research.

    In my opinion, it will rather arise from the urge to deliver a better end product with which one can differentiate oneself from the competition for some time. Or out of a thirst for knowledge that is fuelled by the fact that all knowledge is openly accessible. Or from the sense of community that comes from working together on a project to improve one’s own skill and improve the circumstances for all.

    • Alteon@lemmy.worldEnglish
      61·
      1 year ago

      Intellectual property protects smaller innovators from larger companies. Imagine if you developed a novel process for solving a problem much cheaper than current methods. Now imagine if you started making some serious money doing this, and it starts to make some noise. What’s to stop Amazon from just copying your process, and making it better/cheaper? They have the money to completely down you out.

      Without Intellectual Property upkeep rights, any megacorp will just copy your idea and sell it for less at a broader scale, and cut you out of the market.

      • bionicjoey@lemmy.caEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        That happens now anyway with corpos who operate in countries that don’t respect IP law, or those that are so big they can just lawyerfuck the creator. It’s really just a form of security through trust and social contract. It doesn’t truly protect the creator.

    • Holodeck_Moriarty@lemm.eeEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      I do think it’s helpful to ensure that companies feel comfortable spending money on development, but it stifles innovation and progress when we can’t open up the playing field after they’ve already made boatloads of money.

      How many medications out there are still printing money when a generic would cost like 5 cents? How many creative projects get censored or scrapped because they too closely resemble some megacorp’s IP? How many technologies are out there that can’t be openly built upon because some company owns the rights and wants to milk it for another decade?

    • awsamation@kbin.social
      0·
      1 year ago

      None of those motivations you listed actually need IP to be abolished though.

      If you’re trying to differentiate yourself from the competitors, having IP protection is jn your favor. The large corporation you’re competing with can’t just swoop in and destroy you by making an identical product at a such a loss of profit until you run out of money.

      If you’re fueled by creating open source knowledge, well you can already do that. You can choose to release your IP into the world for anyone to use unrestricted.

      And for a sense of community, well that’s just the second point again. Abolishing IP was never going to make you feel community with Amazon. But having IP isn’t preventing you from having community with individuals. You can still work on a project together without abandoning the idea of IP ownership.

      • PropaGandalf@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
        11·
        1 year ago

        But why do we need it then anyways? It is a kind of paternalism of the people and a restriction of their freedom. The argument that IP should protect small businesses from big bad businesses is, in my opinion, inaccurate. It’s the big companies that sit on their patents or hoard their licences and make a fortune.

        • awsamation@kbin.social
          0·
          1 year ago

          Because those big businesses are only motivated by the profit possibilities.

          If you take away that protection then they’ll just stop trying. They don’t give a shit about any of the motivations you listed. They’ll wait for you to come up with something new, then use the advantage of their size to force you out of the market. You’ll end up either giving up or trying again at which point they’ll just repeat the cycle.

          And there’s nothing you can do to stop them because now they can be as open and blatant as they want with directly using your exact plans.

            • awsamation@kbin.social
              0·
              1 year ago

              And you’re going to compete with them on price then? Even when they can and will sell every unit at a loss until you’re driven out of the market. Unless you’re wealthy enough to be part of the good ol boys club, you can’t afford to play that kind of game. They can.

              • PropaGandalf@lemmy.worldOP
                12·
                1 year ago

                No, not on price, on orginality. On the stories you can tell about the creation of your product. If everything around you gets automated, created by AI, copied by big corpos and soulless copycats you will have the choice: Cheap and uninteresting or maybe a bit more expensive but with a personal connection. It’s your decision to choose.