True. The usual reply to that is “we need to reward the creators of information the same way we reward the creators of physical objects,” and that was the position I had accepted until recently realizing, certainly we need to reward the creators of information, but not the same way—by the same kind of mechanism—that we reward the creators of physical objects. (Probably not by coincidence, I grew up during the time of shrink-wrapped software, and only re-examined my position on this matter after that time had passed.)
Property laws aren’t based on their owners having created them though. Ted Turner is not in the land reclamation business, and if I go down a disused quarry owned by another and build myself a table, I don’t gain ownership of the marble. All defenses of actually existing property rights are answers to the question “how do we encourage people to manage resources sensibly”.
True. The usual reply to that is “we need to reward the creators of information the same way we reward the creators of physical objects,” and that was the position I had accepted until recently realizing, certainly we need to reward the creators of information, but not the same way—by the same kind of mechanism—that we reward the creators of physical objects. (Probably not by coincidence, I grew up during the time of shrink-wrapped software, and only re-examined my position on this matter after that time had passed.)
Property laws aren’t based on their owners having created them though. Ted Turner is not in the land reclamation business, and if I go down a disused quarry owned by another and build myself a table, I don’t gain ownership of the marble. All defenses of actually existing property rights are answers to the question “how do we encourage people to manage resources sensibly”.