[antlr-interest] Philosophy of open source

David Piepgrass qwertie256 at gmail.com
Mon Jul 2 12:07:42 PDT 2007


> David wrote "Again, I think it's a limitation of our
> laws/institutions, and you can't blame Ter for it." That so-called
> limitation is actually a noble foundational principle of actual
> civilization: the concept that one's work morally belong's to one's
> self. It is no accident that the 20th century was the most brutal in
> human history - it was the era of the opposite principle
> (collectivism) put into the widest action, "from each according to
> their ability, to each according to their need."  Anybody who wants a
> fully fleshed-out treatment of the consequences of each principle
> (individualism vs. collectivism) should read the classic novel Atlas Shrugged.

An interesting take; mine is rather different. I think you are talking
about communism vs. capitalism; but I believe in neither. I don't
think the idea "from each according to their ability, to each
according to their need" has ever truly been implemented; communism is
a far cry from it, as its track record of meeting people's needs is
pretty poor. Its track record of utilizing their abilities is not that
great, either. Capitalism, on the other hand, has tended to be brutal
in its purest form; the oppression of labor that occurred when
capitalism went unchecked was the very thing that spawned its
opposite, after all. In many ways I think today's first world
societies have found a balance between the two, and I think that's
good.

I believe in market principles, in human rights, and in a balance
between government regulation and individual freedom.

One of those government regulations is copyright, and that's what I
think this is really about. I don't think that copyright should be
abolished but I think an alternative should be provided, so that
making money is not *required* to be tied to restricting access to
information. Did it ever occur to you that maybe Ter would give away
his book if he were paid a lot of money to do so?


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