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Re: Knowledge ain't property
Knowledge IS property. The fact that one typically transfers a reproduction of the knowledge, or communicates the knowledge, consequently without necessarily removing the knowledge from its original repository, does not stop the knowledge being property. If you teach someone the knowledge of arithmetic, you then both possess the knowledge of arithmetic. Each of you owns your own knowledge. Each of you can decide whether or not to sell it to anyone else. Each of you can decide whether to copy it onto paper in case you might otherwise forget it. We all have fences around our knowledge (privacy), whether the bone of one's skull, or the bricks in one's walls. Intellectual property is not an oxymoron. Contradiction arises not because of its intellectual nature, but because people continue to claim ownership of their IP even after they've sold it to you. That is clearly nonsensical, and, unethical. If I print "2+2=4" on a set of 10 cards, I own this IP. If I give you one of these cards then you own that card and the IP upon it. However, I still own 9 cards and the IP upon them. If I sell 8 more of those cards, then 10 people can end up owning the IP. If I sell my last card, then although I no longer own any cards, I still own the residual IP I used to create the card that yet remains within my intellect - until I forget it. The madness that makes people think they continue to own IP even after they've sold it is caused by copyright and patent law.
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