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.

  • awsamation@kbin.social
    4·
    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
      33·
      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
        6·
        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
            2·
            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
              23·
              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.

              • awsamation@kbin.social
                2·
                1 year ago

                Do you actually care that much about the creative story behind the latest widget that was added to your new appliance? Are you going to be choosing the 30% more expensive option every time because of that concern.

                We aren’t talking about art here, very few people give a shit about getting a “personal connection” with their new toaster. We’re talking about buy use forget consumer goods. And if someone else is selling the same quality and the same features at a lower price, that’s the one that your average Joe will buy. And will keep buying until you can’t afford to keep making and selling yours because you can’t compete on the metrics that people care about most.

                • DudePluto@lemmy.world
                  1·
                  1 year ago

                  Yeah look at how every single conversation about supporting small businesses went on reddit. Users would rage day and night about the ills of megacorporations. But if you got them talking about supporting small business they’d come out of the woodwork to tell you they’re not paying a higher price. And with things being as tight as they are right now, that’s a logical conclusion. But it just goes to show that even if you sit someone down and explain to them that X thing they say they support absolutely cannot compete with the price of Y thing they say they hate - they will still side with their pocketbook 9/10 times

                  • awsamation@kbin.social
                    2·
                    1 year ago

                    Exactly.

                    Everyone loves to support local independent small businesses when it’s convenient. And some people even have the gumption to hold to those ideals when it’s difficult. But the vast majority don’t care most of the time.

                    When big business makes it cheaper and more convenient to buy from them, most people will. I’m just as guilty of that as anyone else. When money and time are plentiful I love supporting a local bakery for lunch and a local book store for that greeting card. But when I’m pressed for time or money is short, it’s straight back to Walmart to get a card and an entire meal for the price of one baked snack from the local place. And in 10 minutes instead of half an hour.

                    And the megacorps don’t need a majority market share to win. They don’t even need a large enough market share to be profitable, they just need to make sure your market share is too small to survive. And once you fail, then they can change practices away from kill competition and back to make money.