The Virtue of Sharing
Just like Alvin Toffler said, the world has entered The Third Wave, which is in other words, the Information Age. The Information Age has introduced the human race to its second renaissance, where creative minds can blossom their imaginations. Those brilliant souls such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, etc have brought remarkable innovations and ideas to this world rather than paintings and sculptures. However, our culture has not come to terms with this intangible intellectual property. Amid countless disputes and debates surrounding the issue of protecting intellectual property, I would like to take the side of the resistance.
To begin with, we must take a look at the definition of monopoly in order to understand why getting access to intellectual property via illegitimate route is not a theft. The monopoly is a state of a market where a single supplier determines the price of a particular commodity. In this unfair market where the law of supply & demand is nullified, the consumers are completely helpless. Customers do not have any choice but to succumb to the overpriced product. For example, Microsoft, a dominant software company that controls 95% of its kind suggests its software MS Windows Home Premium 7 for 300 dollars. In the face of absurd price, consumers have the rights not to get ripped off.
Also, Robin Hood, the righteous and heroic outlaw might show us some light to this puzzling matter. Robin Hood is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor." Please do not misunderstand. I am not trying to justify robbery. Clearly, no matter how innocent his intention was, there just cannot be a compromise or negotiation over theft. Then here is the question. Are those who benefited from Robin Hood responsible for the theft too? Is picking up bread crumbs lying on the floor a robbery? An American programmer named Bram Cohen invented a program called Torrent. Nowadays, Torrent has opened up the new world of information for each and every one of us. Is being introduced to a more effective means of accessing information a crime? Remember, it is Robin Hood to be blamed, not the innocent public.
The Torah, which consists of religious obligations and civil laws any Jewish must follow states that 'homosexuality is an abomination and punishable by death.' However, if you question any Rabbis alive on this planet over the legitimacy of applying capital punishment on gays, their answers would be somewhat different from the texts. There is a Latin saying "Vox populi, Vox dei." In English it means "the voice of the people is the voice of God." In ancient Jewish society, putting homosexuals to death was a dominant and righteous voice over homosexuality. However times have changed and so did even the most absolute and concrete point of view over homosexuality. As we can see, certain values change over time. Even though intellectual property is in the category of corporeal property and therefore being protected by constitution, given the fact that the constitution should reflect social agreement and understanding of its members, amendment should be in order as the gap between the public's actual conducts and ethical actions they have in thought seems to diverge and collide significantly.
Intellectual property has existed since the beginning of the human civilization. But it has not been long for the human kind to set a price on intangible ideas. No one has ever taken out a patent on the idea of cooking raw meat with fire. No one has ever tried to obtain the exclusive rights to the number '0'. Sharing intellectual property has its own meaning not because it is a resistance to the overly set price of the monopoly market or because Robin Hood of the digital age has appeared to free the helpless souls sitting in front of computer. Not because it is high time for the concept of the intellectual property to be changed. It is because sharing intellectual property can contribute to the greater good of the human race. Had it not been for Isaac Newton sharing his calculus equations free of charge, only God knows how many more years, maybe even decades it would have taken to put a small step on the Moon.
The Virtue of Sharing
ReplyDelete201300476 EIT Byungwook Kim
Just like Alvin Toffler said, the world has entered The Third Wave, which is in other words, the Information Age. The Information Age has introduced the human race to its second renaissance, where creative minds can blossom their imaginations. Those brilliant souls such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, etc have brought remarkable innovations and ideas to this world rather than paintings and sculptures. However, our culture has not come to terms with this intangible intellectual property. Amid countless disputes and debates surrounding the issue of protecting intellectual property, I would like to take the side of the resistance.
To begin with, we must take a look at the definition of monopoly in order to understand why getting access to intellectual property via illegitimate route is not a theft. The monopoly is a state of a market where a single supplier determines the price of a particular commodity. In this unfair market where the law of supply & demand is nullified, the consumers are completely helpless. Customers do not have any choice but to succumb to the overpriced product. For example, Microsoft, a dominant software company that controls 95% of its kind suggests its software MS Windows Home Premium 7 for 300 dollars. In the face of absurd price, consumers have the rights not to get ripped off.
Also, Robin Hood, the righteous and heroic outlaw might show us some light to this puzzling matter. Robin Hood is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor." Please do not misunderstand. I am not trying to justify robbery. Clearly, no matter how innocent his intention was, there just cannot be a compromise or negotiation over theft. Then here is the question. Are those who benefited from Robin Hood responsible for the theft too? Is picking up bread crumbs lying on the floor a robbery? An American programmer named Bram Cohen invented a program called Torrent. Nowadays, Torrent has opened up the new world of information for each and every one of us. Is being introduced to a more effective means of accessing information a crime? Remember, it is Robin Hood to be blamed, not the innocent public.
The Torah, which consists of religious obligations and civil laws any Jewish must follow states that 'homosexuality is an abomination and punishable by death.' However, if you question any Rabbis alive on this planet over the legitimacy of applying capital punishment on gays, their answers would be somewhat different from the texts. There is a Latin saying "Vox populi, Vox dei." In English it means "the voice of the people is the voice of God." In ancient Jewish society, putting homosexuals to death was a dominant and righteous voice over homosexuality. However times have changed and so did
even the most absolute and concrete point of view over homosexuality. As we can see, certain values change over time. Even though intellectual property is in the category of corporeal property and therefore being protected by constitution, given the fact that the constitution should reflect social agreement and understanding of its members, amendment should be in order as the gap between the public's actual conducts and ethical actions they have in thought seems to diverge and collide significantly.
ReplyDeleteIntellectual property has existed since the beginning of the human civilization. But it has not been long for the human kind to set a price on intangible ideas. No one has ever taken out a patent on the idea of cooking raw meat with fire. No one has ever tried to obtain the exclusive rights to the number '0'. Sharing intellectual property has its own meaning not because it is a resistance to the overly set price of the monopoly market or because Robin Hood of the digital age has appeared to free the helpless souls sitting in front of computer. Not because it is high time for the concept of the intellectual property to be changed. It is because sharing intellectual property can contribute to the greater good of the human race. Had it not been for Isaac Newton sharing his calculus equations free of charge, only God knows how many more years, maybe even decades it would have taken to put a small step on the Moon.